A week after finishing this book, I have to say, I still don't know what to make of it. This book was a marked departure from the first book. Where th..Show More »e first book felt like a normal teen story, complete with protective parents and high school relationship drama, The Calling is more of a survival story then anything else. I thought this book could have been a bit shorter - there was not as much intrigue or character development as the first installment, and was mostly a blow-by-blow action story.

With the main romantic character missing for most of the novel, I did not feel the same anticipation or thrill at watching Maya's relationships play out. For the most part, the way she interacted with the people around her (Daniel, Cory and Sam), did not change much. The small realizations that she did have were not major when it came to her character development as a whole. And by the end of the book, I felt like she was still the exact same person that she was at the beginning of the book - just a little more informed about the St. Clouds and Nasts. But, alas, as I have read Armstrong's other books, the information that was revealed about these organizations held little intrigue for me, as I was already familiar with them.

Overall, I did not think that this book was as strong as The Gathering, or the first trilogy of Dark Powers books. However, the end of this novel leaves me highly anticipating the third book, which I feel will be a lot stronger then this current novel. If you are a fan of the Dark Powers books, I would still recommend reading this one, despite the shortcomings, as I feel this novel is just a stepping stone towards what should be a great book!

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This series goes as follows The Gathering: FANTASTIC!!! The Calling: Pretty good The Rising: ehh...

The final installment of this series felt..Show More » like it went in circles and by the end they were pretty much back to square one. The Rising felt more like a middle book then a finale. I have read a lot of Kelly's books and this one felt the least like her to me. A of all there is a love triangle (KILL ME) and B of all there wasn't much of a conclusion. The lack on conclusion to the series makes me wonder if we are really done with this story... I hope not.

Narration is amazing as always Jennifer Ikeda can do no wrong in my book.

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