The Summoning (The Darkest Powers 1)

I'm going to be honest. I didn't want to like this book. It's about a fifteen year old girl who can see ghosts. The premise is great but starting it I had so many reasons to doubt it. But alas, Kelley Armstrong wrote characters that made me flip page after page. Sometimes it's hard to find main characters that I like. They're either whiney, snobbish, or make stupid decisions. However, I actually liked the main character in The Summoning. She was bold and brazen in all the right places.

The twist of the book wasn't too surprising, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I liked that this wasn't a paranormal romance. The plot takes center stage and is what drives the book. It did leave off at a cliff hanger, so I've already bought the sequel. The only criticism I have is that at some points it was rather difficult to picture the action, but it never held me back from reading it. We didn't get many answers in the book, so hopefully the sequel will start to clear things up. It was a good, fast read that had nice pacing and some worthy characters.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes good story telling, mysteries, and short (as in not tall) female characters :)

As a little girl Chloe Saunders was afraid of the basement, not because of imagined monsters or the dark, but because of the ghosts she saw there.

As a 15 year-old Chloe has attributed the memories of the ghosts she saw as a little girl, to the an overactive imagination. Until one day at school she is terrorized by the ghost of a janitor that is horribly burned, and the whole school witnesses the event. The school officials have Chloe sent to Lyle House, a place where teens like her learn to live with their pyschiatric diagnoses. At Lyle House, the staff encourages her to accept that she has schizophrenia, and their she meets others who have similar problems;Rae, a girl who likes to start fires; Derek,a boy who is supposed to be increduibly volatile and dangerous; Tori, a girl with severe and sudden mood changes; Liz, who destroys things when she is angry; and Simon, who is apparently placed at Lyle house for no reason.

Intially Chloe is somewhat willing to accept her diagnosis, she takes her meds, goes to therapy, but the ghosts still plague her. She eventually begins to question the motives of the staff at Lyle House and her diagnosis , after one of the teens is taken away to be relocated, and she sees what she begins to believe might be the teen's ghost, a prank by another shows her how strong her powers are, and a dark secrect under Lyle house is uncovered.

The beginning of the book is slow , but towards the middle it definitely gains momentum. By the end of the book the reader is thrown into a interesting situation with promises for an intriguing sequel. Readers suspecting a paranormal romance, based on the book's cover will be suprised if they read this book. Although The Summoning has elements of romance infused throughout , and several of the charcters have relationships, this book is also an excellent read for those who like ghost stories,fantasy, an intriguing plot, and a brillant start to a series.

Ages Group: 13 and up

Content: References to ghosts, references to people dying in fires and after experiments, an unfounded suggestion that charcters may have been engaging in sexual activity, references to mental illness,suggestions that one charcter may have been killed, curse words bi...

Reader reviewed by E.M. Woods

Whoo-hoo for necromaning necromancers! (Hey is necromancing even a word?)

Chloe Saunders wanted to be NORMAL.  But after seeing ghosts and being sent to a group home for the "crazy kids" , becoming normal just isn't possible anymore. Maybe controlling her powers to raise the dead and having a love life is still in the range worth reaching, though. Wizards, werewolves, necromancers(people who talk to ghosts), potential demons, excitement, adventure, and romance are in store for you.

- Second best YA ghost story I have read. (check out Project 17, if you would, it is great!)

- I love the characters.

Reader reviewed by Yan

At the age of 15, Chloe Saunders is sent to a place for crazy people. Why? Because she sees dead people. No, seriously. Everything seems normal, or at least as normal as you get when everyone there is considered crazy, until her roommate is sent to the hospitable.

An addicting book from start to finish. Kelly Armstrong writes the characters so beautifully that I even hated some of the characters because of how well she's written them, and vice versa of how well I grew fond of some. She create an atmosphere where you can hate someone in the very beginning but love them in the end even if you don't want to.

Between a necromancer, a poltergeist, a sorcerer, a half-demon, and a werewolf, you've got your complete circle of magical beings. Everything is well explained about them so I definitely did not feel lost. Another good point since I have read books that never explains things and I'm constantly lost.

With a mixture of action, adventure, fantasy and a hope-to-be soon romance, the Summoning is a must have book for every YA reader. A surprise twist of fate ends the book at a cliffhanger so I'm eagerly waiting for the sequel, the Awakening!