The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong | Review

*SPOILERS!*

Sixteen year old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn't know much about her background - the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip - but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.

Until now.

Strange things have been happens in this claustrophobic town - from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend's hidden talent for "feeling" out people and situations, the the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel...different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya's biological parents and it's easy to suspect that this town might have more than it's share of skeletons in its closet.

*not my image*

I bought this book and the rest of the trilogy a long time ago, but I never felt a pressing need to read them. They'd been gathering dust on the shelf for a year or so until a few days ago when I thought I'd finally let them prove themselves to me. I'm already a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong's previous works, so I did have big expectations for this book. 

Unfortunately, The Gathering didn't live up to them. That's not to say the book is bad - it's not - it's just not very good either. This book is one of those very predictable YA novels with a not so original story line and very flawed characters. By flawed I mean that our main character (and thus all her friends) shuns a girl for trying to copy her homework in year 7. 

Alright, let's get down to it. I do think that Kelley Armstrong is an exceptional writer, and have always loved her writing style in the past. She creates worlds that I fall in love with, worlds that might seem relatively predictable at first and then you suddenly realise how beautifully unique they are. The Gathering is anything but unique, because from the get-go I could predict everything that was going to happen. I'm usually quite good at predicting future story lines in YA novels because they all tend to follow the same themes, but this book took that to a whole new level. 

While this book is well written, the predictability let's the author down. From the first time you read of our resident bad boy, you know what's going to happen. I love being surprised when I read books, and The Gathering didn't give me that. What it does give you, however, is one of the most annoying protagonists ever. Holier-than-thou, self-righteous, and annoying, Maya really isn't someone I'd ever want to spend time with. Sure, she goes to one of the best academic schools ever, and puts a lot of pressure on herself to do well, but I can find absolutely no excuse for how highly she thinks of herself.

In protagonists, I find that to be the biggest flaw. If they think too highly of themselves, and think they're always on the moral high ground, or are just annoying, I struggle to keep reading. However, the very outburst prone supporting characters (of which there are a lot) kept my interested. Multiple characters had multiple different angry outbursts just for the hell of it, which kept me entertained when Maya was being boring. 

I know I sound very negative about this book, but I don't hate it that much. It's an easy YA read about shape-shifters, and I guess I should've guessed from the start that I wasn't going to enjoy it. I despise books about shape-shifters, werewolves, zombies, and angels, so I'm kind of an idiot for picking this series up in the first place. However, The Gathering is a fun read and I couldn't help staying up until 2am to binge read it. 2.8/5 stars to this book, as our protagonist Maya really lowered the bar. I will read the rest of the trilogy, and probably review them on Gypsies & Pixies as well if you guys are interested. Until next time, I love you little pixies!