** No judgment until the next book **

Maya Delaney lives in a small town on Vancouver Iceland with two hundred inhabitants. Although may not sound very exciting, if it was not the thing that everything happens for a research group of the St. Clouds. These founded the city, built the houses where living Maya and her friends built the private school, in which they go, just about anything there is in the city. Might sound scary, but if you always get the best of the best, you would be crazy to complain. Everything seems pretty normal in Maya life, until one day, Serena, the captain of the swim team, and Maya's best friend, comes while swimming killed a stranger unusual has much interest in the children of the city and the new at the school, Rafe, a eerie interest has to get to know Maya. Because Maya is really nothing special. She loves nature, the animals in the park, where she lives and comes with every good. Perhaps it is on the mole that looks like a paw.

What is behind Rafe's interest and that of the stranger? And why is everyone satisfied with the accidental death of Serena? Hides the research institute something? The more questions the Maya goes to the bottom, the more danger waiting for them ..

To be honest, I have a little hard done me with the summary of the book. The first book in the new series of Kelley Armstrong, "The Darkness Rising series" is definitely different than any of the books your preceded "The Darkest Powers series". Who is a continuation of, will be disappointed. It was not, as the author clearly made it clear that this will not be the case. I was disappointed yet and it is difficult for me to me to judge, without making comparisons.

The Gathering sets the groundwork for a trilogy, whose future after this book is just as open as before the book. It is of skin-walker, people who can transform into any animal, of witches and of the institution that is known to us from the Darkest Powers series. There are some names in the book, which are already known to us. But otherwise happened rather little. In the first third of the book actually happened no more than the relationship between Maya and Rafe, the envy of other friends on this very and the strange events. Between Maya and the animals of the park In the last third then some tension coming on. Only the book is then suddenly end and you sit with the incredulous feeling because that one has anything overlooked.

I myself do not know exactly what to make of the book. It is wonderfully written like any other book of Mrs. Armstrong. It brings the happenings as good on paper that they act credibly to be clichéd without. The feelings of the protagonist and the supporting characters are empathize, sometimes subtly, sometimes not, and they are all one so sympathetic that you get the feeling to see old friends again. But all this does not help hide the fact that the story about what is really important, namely this Darkness Rising, is pretty weak.

I reserve my judgment until the next book and admit this, in the hope that the tension then follows and is constant, four stars. A reading pleasure it was definitely, though a bit too much youth book format and too little fantasy.

The sequel to 2012 shows under the name "The Calling / The Calling (Darkness Rising)".

Anyone who the Darkest Powers series should not have read, I recommend that you read this in advance. Not only is this really good. It helps some aspects and names in this book to understand.

The Darkest Powers
The Summoning (Darkest Powers)
The Awakening: Darkest Powers Book 2
The Reckoning: Darkest Powers Book 3