Review: The Calling by Kelley Armstrong

Book: The Calling (Darkness Rising #2)

By: Kelley Armstrong

Published: April 10th 2012

Published By: Harper

Description: Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the mark of what she truly is -a skin-walker. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly everyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it's only a matter of time before she's able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents.

Now Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. Then they're kidnapped, and after a chilling helicopter crash, they find themselves in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home.

In THE CALLING, the sizzling second book in the Darkness Rising trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong pumps up the romance, danger, and suspense that left readers of THE GATHERING clamoring for more.

My Thoughts: I didn’t much like the first book in this series, but I tried my absolute best to give this series another chance, hoping that by the second book, I may be more invested in the series, and like it a bit more. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

The book starts off right where the last ends, with all the kids stuck in a helicopter after almost being kidnapped once before. Things happen, the plane crashes, and the kids are once again on the run in the woods.

My problem with this series is not that it’s bad. It doesn’t necessarily suck, though it is a bit predictable and anticlimactic. Still, it doesn’t suck. My problem is that I don’t see the real reason for it to be a series. What I feel so far is that this story is one large story that the author decided to make into three for no real reason. I feel like not much happened in the first or second books by themselves, but, if put together, the two may make me feel the same was I would feel were I 2/3 of the way through one book. (Does this make sense?) I just don’t get it, nor do I really like it. . There wasn’t enough that happened in each book to warrant the feeling of completion or wholeness I should normally get at the end of a book, even a series. It just bored me to death.

Unfortunately, I have to give this series 2 stars. I will not be reading anything else in this series.