The Reckoning

by Kelley Armstrong

I've really enjoyed the unique story of this trilogy, but I have to say, the last book was a bit of a disappointment.

Chloe, Tori, Derek and Simon have just escaped the Edison Group again and are hiding out with the group fighting against the Edison Group. Once again, a large part of the beginning of this book is spend doing very little. The action comes all at once, at the end, and involves a lot of twists, turns, and constantly flipping allegiances (Are these people really on our side? No! Let's run away! Wait, maybe they are. Let's stick around. Wait! We have to run away!)

Mostly, this book did not feel like it should be the end. The ending is pretty ambiguous as far as endings go, and many, many aspects of the plot were left unexplained. Some things were brought up in the storyline of this book only to be dropped casually a few chapters later. If this series was slated to continue in additional books, I would assume these things would come up in the next book, but as this is the final book, it seemed like the plot wasn't as well thought-out as it should have been.

On the positive side, Armstrong does a pretty good job of subtly reminding the reader what has happened previously. I didn't remember many details from the previous books, but whenever I'd start to be confused, there were some helpful hints placed into the narrative that reminded me of what I was supposed to know. Still, this is the 3rd book, and doesn't stand alone. If you're gonna read the series, start with The Summoning.

The Awakening

by Kelley Armstrong

I really wasn't sure if I would like this series when I started it, but soon found that the beginning to the trilogy, The Summoning, was very engrossing. So when the sequel came out earlier this year I was eager to read it.

It has been a while since I read the first book, and I could only remember vague details about the plot. I was worried that I would have trouble following the plot of this book. Thankfully though, the author does a wonderful job of placing clues throughout the book to remind you of what occurred previously. Our main character, Chloe will simply mention previous events during the narration when it's important to the current events. It seemed like every time I'd start to think, "Wait, what happened in the last book?", I'd find the very next sentence answered my question.

The characters are interesting and varied. We see less of Rae in this book and more of the annoying Tori, who you can't hate completely because you feel bad for her. Chloe, Tori and the boys Derek and Simon continue to try to piece together what's really going on with the mysterious Edison society and how it will effect their futures. This is where my complaint lies however. The bulk of this book consists of the group running away, almost getting caught, escaping, getting found, nearly getting caught again, and then, again, barely managing to escape. A lot of new questions are posed, but few are answered. I understand that this is the middle of a series, but it really FELT like the middle book - a continuation of a previous story with relatively little resolution. I was finally starting to feel like we were moving out of the run away/just avoid getting caught cycle when the book ended on a cliff-hanger. Frustrating.

That being said though, I'm eagerly awaiting the final book and hoping for all the resolution that this part was missing.

The Summoning

by Kelley Armstrong

This book comes to me courtesy of Dani - both her recommendation and her gracious loan of the actual book!

I finished the book on Saturday in the Rose Garden at about 8:45am! What an odd place to be reading a book you say? Well, yes, it was slightly odd. I was at Women of Faith and I brought it with me to read while we waited.

I liked this book, even though it takes it a while to really get going. The first 2/3rds of the book is sort of shrouded in mystery. You and the main character think you know what's going, but then everything starts to seem slightly off. Well, either I'm dumb, or was just too tired to be reading, but it took me forever to figure out what was really going on. For example, I didn't deduce what was truly wrong with Derek until about 1 page before the author explained it!

At the end, the pace of the novel really picked up and there was a really cool twist thrown in to boot!! (Another thing I did not see coming AT ALL. haha)

Now I am faced with the greatest problem of book reading: I've finished the first book of a series, it ended with a great cliff-hanger, and the second book isn't slated to be released until the end of April! Now begins the arduous wait.