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    The Gathering
    The Gathering
    The Gathering
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Gathering

    Written by Kelley Armstrong

    Narrated by Jennifer Ikeda

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Strange things are happening in Maya's tiny Vancouver Island town. First, her friend Serena, the captain of the swim team, drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. Then, one year later, mountain lions are spotted rather frequently around Maya's home—and her reactions to them are somewhat . . . unexpected. Her best friend, Daniel, has also been experiencing unexplainable premonitions about certain people and situations.

    It doesn't help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret, and he's interested in one special part of Maya's anatomy—her paw-print birthmark.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 12, 2011
    ISBN9780062036520
    Author

    Kelley Armstrong

    When librarians finally granted Kelley Armstrong an adult card, she made straight for the epic fantasy and horror shelves. She spent the rest of her childhood and teen years happily roaming fantastical and terrible worlds, and vowed that someday she'd write a story combining swords, sorcery, and the ravenous undead. That story began with the New York Times bestselling Sea of Shadows and continues with Empire of Night. Armstrong's first works for teens were the New York Times bestselling Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising trilogies. She lives in rural Ontario with her husband, three children, and far too many pets.

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    Reviews for The Gathering

    4/5

    553 ratings69 reviews

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    • 4/5
      excellent book. four stars, because although this will be a series, the book ended at such a cliffhanger it feels incomplete.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this story and I couldn't stop listening to it.
    • 4/5
      Very good. Gets very exciting at the end. Started the next book already...
    • 2/5
      Usually, I don't read young adult books, they are too much immature to me. But I decided to give a try to The Gathering regarding the fact that it was written by Kelley Armstrong whose works I generally enjoy.

      If I had to describe this book using only one word, I would call it plain. The beginning is very slow, after the good and full of action prologue, the story slows down and the rest of the book is almost completely action-less. The characters are nice but they are entirely indifferent to me. I just didn't care about them and their thoughts or reactions. And the whole story is so simple. I wish it was more developed. Also, the world created by Armstrong is nothing special. As I said, a plain story.

      The good thing is that the teenage characters were acting like the real ones would. They were not childish or silly. They actions looked real.

      What I really hated is the lack of the ending. A book is not a tv series, for God sake! If I wanted the whole 'to be continue' thing, I would watch one. I absolutely hate cliffhangers. There could be some unsolved threads but I like my story to be complete. Especially that I don't have a desire to read another book in this series.
    • 3/5
      Unfortunately, this was very slow in getting started. I stuck with it because I had enjoyed her previous paranormal YA trilogy and was expecting something. But it took up to about page 220 for that something to happen. The first 200-odd pages are simply teen school life, crushes, hates, bullies, friends, yadayadayada. There are tiny hints of what is coming so it is no shock when it does. But finally the plot gets going, the paranormal aspects arrive and the action is fast-paced; the reading page-turning. I liked the ending and will read the next book, hoping it will jump straight into the plot where the characters have been left at this point. This book could have been better if the first two hundred pages had been reduced to perhaps two chapters, seriously.
    • 5/5
      I hoped I would like this one since I've been having a paranormal book slump, well I didn't, I loved it. What or who helped was Maya, I so love me some strong willed heroine. Maya might not have been a bad ass chick but no one messes with her, especially with best bud Daniel beside her.

      So, the short version of Maya's life goes like this, Maya lives in a small town or hamlet known as Salmon Creek which also resides on an island. This island is a planned drug research community, the people of Salmon Creek aren't privy to what goes on in the facility and at the moment they seem fine with that. Maya lives a normal life with her parents except cougars(or mountain lions) seem to follow her around. That's doesn't seem too strange until things get even stranger. When a woman shows up on the island claiming to be a reporter doing a story on the minuscule size of the population in the town and asking questions about the young people who reside there, Maya and Daniel start to wonder about the strange death of their friend Serena a year earlier. Then Maya has a run-in with a woman claiming to know what Maya is and it doesn't sound good at all. Then Rafe, one of the most recent residents of Salmon Creek starts to show renewed interests in Maya and knows more about her than she herself does. And the strange doesn't stop there, Maya was on information overload about who she is and more mysteries keep popping up.

      Speaking of mystery, this book has a butt-load of them. Suspense and mystery are the secondary themes of this story, you get a lot of supernatural and a pinch of mystery and adventure to go along with it. I was thinking what the heck, something else to figure out what the hell is going on, but it was all good, it just made the story more exciting. I could tell that there was something fishy going on in that town, I mean hamlet, the drug research facility thing seems kinda shady. One of the questions on my mind was, who is actually working there, is it the people that live on the island? That would explain if how secretive things are.

      I love Maya's spirit and strength, how she doesn't make the scary things in her life get her down. I love Daniel's scary guy, good guy image and his spidey senses. I love Rafe's determinedness to do what he needs to do to help his sister. Thrilled with myself for finally reading this book after sitting on my to-read shelf for ever. Can't wait to see what happens next.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was a good book. The characters were likeable. It takes place in a small town and we quickly learn along with the teenagers that something isn't quite right. The kids start showing special powers.
    • 3/5
      Twilight fans looking for a read-alike might consider this series. Conspiracy, mysterious mountain lions, and above all, an attractive bad boy.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this new series with its suspense, romance and action. Not surprising, there was a waiting list for the digital title of this book on library2go; borrowed the school's copy and was glad I did. Not up there with Hunger Games for me, but a good read.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this book as much as -- or perhaps more than -- the Darkest Powers trilogy. I enjoy these characters more than Chloe and company (though I do like both) and the setting appeals to me. I look forward to seeing the final release version.

      (Note: this review is about the beta version of The Gathering.)
    • 3/5
      I love Kelley Armstrong and even if I don’t get her books as soon as they come out, I still make sure to grab them when I can. She is a favorite of mine. So when I was finally able to pick up The Gathering, I was super excited and started reading it almost immediately.As always the writing and story were fantastic. Easy to read and addictive. You want to keep reading. However, I just didn’t connect with the characters. I liked Daniel and Maya was alright but other than that I just didn’t care about them. I didn’t life Rafe at all. There were only one or two tiny parts where I smiled because of him.I honestly think The Gathering would have gotten at least four stars instead of three if I felt more connected to the characters, because other than that, this was a great book and I can’t wait to read book two, The Calling.
    • 3/5
      The Gathering is the first of a series of three books. I had some trouble with this book because I kept wondering when I was going to get to the real story. By the time I finally got to the meat of the story, the book abruptly ended in the middle of a forest fire of unexplained origin. The beginning of the book was about the mysterious death of one teenager who was captain of her swim team and yet drowned in a lake. The other teenager who survives becomes the protagonist. The rest of the story mildly unfolds. A young teenage girl in a small Canadian town who tries to deal with her parents and figure out her relationships with friends is a pretty familiar plot line and doesn't change until the middle of the book when we finally get clues about the possibility of the young girl being a skin-walker. Though we see signs throughout the rest of the book that this might be true, there is also a murder and several unsolved mysteries that the author leaves hanging at the end of the book. The book does attempt to grab the readers' emotions at several points in the story, it just doesn't grab hard enough. I'm not yet sure if I want to take the time to read the other two books in the Darkness Rising series.
    • 4/5
      Somehow my rating and review for this book was lost, so it won't be as detailed as before.

      This is another book series for Kelley Armstrong and another one that I loved reading. I think I like this one more, but only a little bit.

      I loved the main character Maya, she is strong, level-headed and a natural leader. The beginning is building the world up and getting to know the characters. The main action doesn't start til close to the end and will continue on into the next book.

      I didn't mind that about this book, since I loved getting to know the characters and Maya is not annoying to read from her POV.

      I would recommend this book and the series to anybody. I read them all quickly and enjoyed them very much.
    • 5/5
      I really liked this and couldn't believe it was over when I was reading the last page. It seemed too short to me but am really looking forward to book 2.
    • 3/5
      I love Kelley Armstrong and even if I don’t get her books as soon as they come out, I still make sure to grab them when I can. She is a favorite of mine. So when I was finally able to pick up The Gathering, I was super excited and started reading it almost immediately.As always the writing and story were fantastic. Easy to read and addictive. You want to keep reading. However, I just didn’t connect with the characters. I liked Daniel and Maya was alright but other than that I just didn’t care about them. I didn’t life Rafe at all. There were only one or two tiny parts where I smiled because of him.I honestly think The Gathering would have gotten at least four stars instead of three if I felt more connected to the characters, because other than that, this was a great book and I can’t wait to read book two, The Calling.
    • 5/5
      Kelley Armstrong is one of my fav authors.
      I have been so excited to read this series and just kept putting it off because I wanted all three in my hands before I started.

      I read her other series, The Darkest Powers and I loved it. I love how both these stories are connected and yet they are so different.

      It makes me happy that I recognize names and places. (:

      I can't wait to get through the series and see how everything ties in together.

      LOVE IT!!!!
    • 5/5
      I hoped I would like this one since I've been having a paranormal book slump, well I didn't, I loved it. What or who helped was Maya, I so love me some strong willed heroine. Maya might not have been a bad ass chick but no one messes with her, especially with best bud Daniel beside her.

      So, the short version of Maya's life goes like this, Maya lives in a small town or hamlet known as Salmon Creek which also resides on an island. This island is a planned drug research community, the people of Salmon Creek aren't privy to what goes on in the facility and at the moment they seem fine with that. Maya lives a normal life with her parents except cougars(or mountain lions) seem to follow her around. That's doesn't seem too strange until things get even stranger. When a woman shows up on the island claiming to be a reporter doing a story on the minuscule size of the population in the town and asking questions about the young people who reside there, Maya and Daniel start to wonder about the strange death of their friend Serena a year earlier. Then Maya has a run-in with a woman claiming to know what Maya is and it doesn't sound good at all. Then Rafe, one of the most recent residents of Salmon Creek starts to show renewed interests in Maya and knows more about her than she herself does. And the strange doesn't stop there, Maya was on information overload about who she is and more mysteries keep popping up.

      Speaking of mystery, this book has a butt-load of them. Suspense and mystery are the secondary themes of this story, you get a lot of supernatural and a pinch of mystery and adventure to go along with it. I was thinking what the heck, something else to figure out what the hell is going on, but it was all good, it just made the story more exciting. I could tell that there was something fishy going on in that town, I mean hamlet, the drug research facility thing seems kinda shady. One of the questions on my mind was, who is actually working there, is it the people that live on the island? That would explain if how secretive things are.

      I love Maya's spirit and strength, how she doesn't make the scary things in her life get her down. I love Daniel's scary guy, good guy image and his spidey senses. I love Rafe's determinedness to do what he needs to do to help his sister. Thrilled with myself for finally reading this book after sitting on my to-read shelf for ever. Can't wait to see what happens next.
    • 3/5
      Maya is a 16 yr old girl living with her family in a corporate-established village on Vancouver Island. An adopted girl who knows she has Native roots but little else about her birth parents, Maya enjoys good friends, miles of woods to explore, and a loving family. The first chapter provides the underlying grief - her best friend Serena's dying at a local lake, in spite of Maya's attempts to save her. But strange things begin to happen: local cougars keep showing up to - mysteriously ?- protect her, a newcomer, Rafe, begins to take a deeper interest in her, and visitors to their tiny community are looking for them. Convoluted plot, much too much "telling" as opposed to just letting the story play out in parts, definitely has the elements of the supernatural, mysterious deaths, NW setting, and lots of interplay between characters. Maya's affinity for taking care of animals in the wild, her ability to climb, her enjoyment of the outdoors does provide a strong female protagonist. Over 300 pages so for readers who can be patient for Maya to find answers. Definitely cliff hanger ending.
    • 3/5
      READ IN DUTCH

      I actually got to pre-read the Dutch translation of this first book of the newest series by Kelley Armstrong.

      As I had never read anything by her before, I didn't really know what to expect. It turned out to be an interesting story about some Native American folklore, something I don't know anything about.

      Unfortunately, there were quite a few flaws in the story. Mostly I thought there were illogical connections between parts, and overall things were going quite easy for the main characters. Still, it was nice to read. Sometimes you don't want a very complicated book, and then this is perfect.
    • 3/5
      Yee Naaldlooshii means literally, “with it, he goes on all fours”, in Navajo language. I liked the story but I didn't love it, The Darkest Powers series is much better. In some ways, I predicted how the story will go because I read the first series prior. Though Rafe is cute, I got to admit I prefer Daniel and I have a feeling that he loves Maya more than a friend should. I hope they'll end up together. Let's see how the story will evolve in The Calling.
    • 4/5
      I didn't think I was going to like this book. In fact, I didn't think I was even going to finish it. Now, I'm a fan of Kelley Armstrong's Darkest Powers trilogy, i really liked those. So, I was a bit bewildered when I started this book and the intro and set up were just bad.
      Never fear, though, it does get better and it would that it's worth slogging through the first few bad chapters. What makes the first few chapters sketchy is just the set up is some bad writing. I mean, it may be my natural dislike for first person, but in the first few chapters, Maya came off as one of those typical perfect YA characters. Oh, you're a track star? how surprising. You love animals. Wow, you should get an award. It was like that for a few chapters, but all with the weird overtones of her best friend's death as well. So, I was confused...
      However, it does get better. Around when Maya goes to town to get a tattoo and the tattooists grandmother basically calls her a witch. That's when the fun begins.
      Maya actually isn't a bad YA heroine. She just kind of comes across as one in the first few chapters... No, but when she's faced with the issue of the 'player' at school, Rafe, chasing after her, I like how she handles herself. I actually ended up just really liking her in general, she handles every situation that's thrown at her with some measure of grace and when the 'big plot point' gets thrown at her she takes it and runs with it.
      I wasn't as impressed with Rafe... Is he really the romantic interest of the book? Because I wasn't feeling him... He annoyed me from the first half and just bothered me from the second. He had some great moments, especially when he was taking care of his sister, but then he had moments where he just didn't do it for me. Sometimes I think YA authors are trying to push the 'sexy bad boy' thing way too hard. This came across as trying a little bit too hard in Rafe's case...
      Daniel though, Daniel was great. Daniel and Maya's relationship was perfect (which means if he somehow turns into potential love triangle OTHER love interest, I will be seriously upset). I loved how he and Maya had a friendship that was just that, it was just friendship. I really hope it stays like that because it was great.
      I think it was the premise of the story that did it for me. I really liked the fact that Maya was a Native (or part Native?) and her attachment to animals and nature. I really liked that it's about Shifters into animals that aren't werewolves. That's great. Also the whole suspicious drug testing/genetic engineering plot was great when it was introduced even though it was left totally hanging.
      3.5 stars is a little more of an accurate rating for me... Overall a rocky start in the beginning but turned out to be a really enjoyable read all together.
    • 3/5
      Maya is a sixteen and living in the small town on Vancouver Island. One year ago her best friend drowned despite the fact that she was a champion swimmer. The loss never quite left Maya and she threw herself into her work of taking care of injured wild animals. She notices that she has an unusual knack for healing. Other strange things are happening in Salmon Creek not the least of which is the arrival of “bad boy” Rafe.

      I am a Kelley Armstrong fan so despite this being another YA entry I enjoyed it. Ms. Armstrong always amazes me in the way she changes her writing voice for YA fiction. The fact that this book draws in some of characters and institutions from both the Darkest Powers series and her mainstream adult books (one more to go in the Women of the Underworld series before she puts those characters away for a bit) was enjoyable for a long time fan.
    • 5/5
      Contemporary, Young AdultMaya is a sixteen-year-old that has been an ordinary teen that is from a small ordinary town. She doesn’t know much about her background other than she is adopted and has a paw-print birthmark on her hip. She never thought much about her who her birth parents are or how she ended up with her adopted parents. She just knows her adopted family lives in a tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.Things are happening that are making her wonder just what is going on in her small community. Strange things that don’t have any explanations. Like the fact that the mountain lions around the town are approaching Maya and her best friend’s hidden talent about “feeling” out situations and people. There is also the new sexy bad boy that makes Maya feel different than she has ever felt before. Now there are unexplained deaths around town and a mystery that seems to involve Maya’s biological parents. It is starting to look like their small town has a few skeletons in the closet. This is a trilogy that is starting out fast and if the other two books live up to the beginning this is going to be one trilogy that will be very hard to see end. While some of the questions get answers in the first book there are still enough to make readers want to get the other books just to see what will happen next and just what is going one and who knows what. The story takes some great twists and turns that has the plot moving along at a fast pace that keeps everything intriguing while not losing the reader in process. The characters are interesting and seems like anyone reader might know and yet with some paranormal elements that makes it different and fun. This is one for the keeper shelves.
    • 4/5
      Huh. Just had a weird moment as a book blogger. I have wanted to read The Gathering because I totally loved Darkest Powers series. But then I went to search for my reviews... and it was before I was blogging. It's hard to believe that moment of searching and remembering that this hasn't been an amazing part of my life for as long as I even thought. So. Here's a plug for an older series that is amazing. Derek was smoking hot and I loved the story line and I was pretty sad when it ended and I knew my time with the characters was coming to an end. So here I am three years late discovering the series and my love for her writing and characters that are easy to like. Maya has an affinity for the animals and she has a bordering on weird relationship with the bob cats in the area. And she really begins to wonder when she's called a witch by an old lady at a tattoo parlor when she went in to get work done on her birthmark, shaped like a cat's paw. I enjoyed the exploration into her abilities as well as the mystery with the rest of the town. The medical research, the focus on the teens, the death of Maya's best friend the summer before. I feel like it did take a bit to get set up in the paranormal aspect of the plot, but I didn't mind at all because I liked Maya as a character. The cast of secondary characters was great as well. Daniel, her best friend was great to read about. I loved the easy time they spent together and their natural sweet friendship. They were so open with each other and he is such a good guy, protective and strong that I was still half rooting for a relationship between the two. But as the synopsis suggests, the bad boy sexy new guy makes an appearance. Just like Maya since Rafe has done the catch and release with so many other girls, I was so weary of him and his advances on Maya. But the fact that he lets down his guard and his relationship with his sister I can't help but give him a chance. Plus the chemistry between him and Maya is pretty undeniable. I will definitely be continuing this series, but the ending to the first book didn't really give me a whole ton of closure. It felt like it stopped too soon with climax and not answering enough questions while still raising even more. But that aside, it was an enjoyable and quick read. Bottom Line: Fun paranormal set-up, lots of bad boy chemistry.
    • 5/5
      This book was much better than I expected. I loved the characters and the plot. The characters are very well developed. The plot was very well thought out. I cannot wait to read the next book. The only things that I did not like about this book was a few cuss words and a few sexual innuendos.
      I loved the characters of Maya, Daniel and especially Rafe. I also hope that I get to know more about Annie and I hope that she got away from the fire. I love the romantic tension between Maya and Rafe.
    • 4/5
      Not as good as The Summoning as a start of a trilogy but it was ok. Took me a while to get into it but I do like the way Kelley Armstrong writes. The book will grip you and you will want more and more. Maya is a strong female lead. Love interests Daniel and Rafe are great male characters. Daniel -strong silent type and Rafe sexy broody bad boy that's not so bad! 1st book ended on a good note, looking forward to the next one...
    • 5/5
      This book was absolutely amazing. I did not set my expectations too high because of how amazing the darkest powers series was. But it exceeded my expectations. I absolutely love how it was written and I can't wait to read the second book in the series :)
    • 5/5
      I will start by saying that although this is the first book in the series, it does follow on from the darkest powers series, three books with a different set of characters but which do tie in at the end. Although you could read this set on its own and follow the story, the characters from the first set do come into the picture later on, so I would suggest reading all 6, starting with the summoning. After reading the darkest powers series I was unbearably excited to get going with this set and find out how things end for the characters in darkest powers. This book has a new narrator and set of characters, all just as well developed as I have come to expect from Kelley Armstrong. Maya is strong, determined and a great lead. As you follow her through the confusing shifts in her life and find out more you will start to notice links to the other three books, this is where reading the other books first can be really helpful, it offers more of an incite into what is going on and lets you make some more educated guesses as to Maya's future. Overall I loved this book just as much, if not more than I thought I would. It didn't start off quite as fast paced as the summoning did but gives some time it picked up and left me unable to put it down.
    • 5/5
      I love Kelley Armstrong. This book did not disappoint. I was better than I was expecting. This series looks to be better than the previous teen series. This books is fast paced and has great characters. I can't way to seemwhere Maya, Daniel and Rafe. Let's not forget Annie. I will warn everyone though, this book does have a cliffhanger ending. The next book cannot come out fast enough.
    • 5/5
      Highly Recommended Tragedy strikes in the first chapter of this book, which shapes Maya Delaney’s future. Maya and her best friend, Daniel, spend a lot of time together. They live in a very tight knit community of about 200 people on Vancouver Island. The community is owned by St. Cloud Corporation and the adults all work for the medical research company. Because the kids live in such an isolated community, the St. Cloud company feels responsible in getting the best of everything; the best schooling, the best medical care, top notch coaches, etc. Maya has noticed a change within herself that when she is outside and can sense the energy of the forest. She spends a lot of time rehabilitating animals found hurt in the park and rock climbing. As the story goes on, Maya begins to notice things that seem strange, but she does not tell anyone. A new boy shows up in town and Maya is interested in him after he opens up to her. The action begins to build once a forest fire starts to spread towards Salmon Creek that appears as though it was deliberately set. The book ends with a scene in a helicopter leaving the reader wanting more.This is the first book of the trilogy and I have to agree with one of the reviews that said this book is the first part of a really long novel. The scene and the characters are still being developed. The reader sees early on the link between Maya and a were-shifter of some kind, but that only starts to be addressed towards the end of the book. Given that this is for a YA audience, it is probably a good thing that the book was split into 3 parts. I was pretty glad that I had the second book, so that I could continue the story.I would definitely recommend this book to high school students. It would make a good addition to any school or public library and I think it will be enjoyed by those who like the paranormal genre. Readers will learn a little bit about Vancouver Island and its largest city, Nanaimo. This book would be good in a paranormal book display. The characters are likable, it has romantic triangle, the action is good and the mystery is just enough to keep the reader wanting more. The first book definitely kept me wanting to read and I am looking forward to the next two books.