The Summoning (Darkest Powers, Book 1)

The Summoningby Kelley ArmstrongKelley Armstrong's first Young Adult novel introduces us to 15-year old Chloe Saunders who finds herself gifted with two things on the same day - her period and the ability to see ghosts. After a freak out at school from seeing a burnt up, deformed ghost, Chloe is sent to Lyle House, a group home for unstable teens. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Chloe wonders if she really was seeing what she thought, or if it could be brushed off as a regular mental illness. It's not until she discovers strange things about the other teens in the home, like Derek's super-strength, and Simon's strange abilities that she starts to realize she is supernatural. With Derek and Simon's help she learns she's a necromancer, Simon is a sorcerer and Derek? Well, he's still a mystery. Now Chloe is in the middle of a supernatural world where half-demons and werewolves exist and it seems the doctors at Lyle House may actually know more than they let on.As this is the first book of a trilogy (which I didn't know at the start!) it ends on a cliffhanger and to be honest, I don't know if I care enough to pick up the next installment (which according to Kelley Armstrong's website is called The Awakening.) After I read the book and before I wrote this post, I looked around for other reviews to see what the general feeling was. It seems I am sadly in the minority of those who did not really enjoy the book. I was disappointed actually to find as I read the book that I just was not into it and didn't really think it was going anywhere unpredictable. I am a huge fan of Bitten and Stolen, Armstrong's first two books in the Otherworld series. I remember when I discovered Bitten when it first came out and I was working in a mall bookstore. It was refreshing to find something new and exciting in a genre that I really liked. I have not been as huge of a fan of the other books in that series as I am of the first two, but they were all generally entertaining.Why I didn't like this book, I am not 100% sure. I think I am tired of books where the child/teen isn't listened to, or believed and the authority figures they thought they could trust might not be as trustworthy as they thought. I guess this is a natual recipe for plots in the fantasy/thriller world, but I am getting bored with them. I also found the characters weren't quite as three dimentional as they could have been. They were rather flat. Derek and his moodiness and everyone and their secrets, just got on my nerves after a while.Other reviews have stated the thrilling and chilling story lines and quite frankly, I didn't feel chilled or thrilled the entire time I was reading. Even the "action" scene near the end of the book was sort of rushed and anti-climatic.Perhaps the story and thrills will be better flushed out in the second book. Perhaps there was just too much to tell for the first book to really reach its potential. Perhaps I will check out the second book when it comes out in May 2009 (because likely by then I will have forgotten that I didn't really like this one and be desperate for something new to read. I know me, it'll happen just like that!).