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sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
💬:“The scene in the basement flashed back—Derek accusing me of talking to ghosts. Had he told Simon? Probably. I bet they had a good laugh at the crazy girl."
Armstrong, Kelley. The Summoning (Darkest Powers, Book 1) (p. 72). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: fiction, fantasy, young adult, urban fantasy, paranormal
📚Page Count: 396
🎧Audiobook Length: 08hrs 35mins
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3.5/5
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong is the first book in the young adult series "Darkest Powers" by the same author. Chloe Saunders starts seeing ghosts and suddenly her life is turned upside down within the next 24 hours. She ends up in a group home for unstable teens but there are things that she doesn't know about the group home, her peers, and even herself. The group home might be more than it seems, will Chloe figure out what the deal with this group home is and why she's been seeing ghosts?
I don't think this story is as interesting as it could be, but it still ends up being better than average. The majority of the story takes place in the group home and the repetitive scenery was a bit annoying and it wasn't as entertaining as the author aimed it to be.
I first read this when it was released in 2008 and I liked the story more back then, but this was still okay. I remembered about half of the details about this first book from the first time read it 16 years ago, but there were some details that I forgot all together. I think going into this story semi-unknowing means that I could somewhat experience the story in a similar way to the way I did 16 years ago.
I think this story was okay, I remember liking it a lot more when it first released but around that time I was in the book's target demographic, so it makes sense that I liked this young adult book back when I was a young adult. Rereading this was an interesting experience because I didn't remember all of the things that took place in this novel so some of the surprises and reveals were still surprising to me. Overall, this was an okay story with a good plot twist.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3.5/5
I listened to this audiobook on [LibbyApp.com]
Armstrong, Kelley. The Summoning (Darkest Powers, Book 1) (p. 72). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: fiction, fantasy, young adult, urban fantasy, paranormal
📚Page Count: 396
🎧Audiobook Length: 08hrs 35mins
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3.5/5
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong is the first book in the young adult series "Darkest Powers" by the same author. Chloe Saunders starts seeing ghosts and suddenly her life is turned upside down within the next 24 hours. She ends up in a group home for unstable teens but there are things that she doesn't know about the group home, her peers, and even herself. The group home might be more than it seems, will Chloe figure out what the deal with this group home is and why she's been seeing ghosts?
I don't think this story is as interesting as it could be, but it still ends up being better than average. The majority of the story takes place in the group home and the repetitive scenery was a bit annoying and it wasn't as entertaining as the author aimed it to be.
I first read this when it was released in 2008 and I liked the story more back then, but this was still okay. I remembered about half of the details about this first book from the first time read it 16 years ago, but there were some details that I forgot all together. I think going into this story semi-unknowing means that I could somewhat experience the story in a similar way to the way I did 16 years ago.
I think this story was okay, I remember liking it a lot more when it first released but around that time I was in the book's target demographic, so it makes sense that I liked this young adult book back when I was a young adult. Rereading this was an interesting experience because I didn't remember all of the things that took place in this novel so some of the surprises and reveals were still surprising to me. Overall, this was an okay story with a good plot twist.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3.5/5
I listened to this audiobook on [LibbyApp.com]
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
apeg's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Violence and Gaslighting
Minor: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
jimjamreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, and Murder
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
3 ⭐ CW: suicide, mental illness (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc.), Youth group home/force hospitalization, descriptions of corpses, descriptions of blood and gore, emotional abuse, Harry Potter references
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong is the first book in the Darkest Powers series. I went in knowing nothing about this book, which is why I mistakenly included this book in my witch stack. Instead we have necromancy. This book was released in 2008 so there are some dated references. This was a good read for Spooky season, but I think I would have enjoyed this more when it came out when I was actually in high school (holy sh*t I'm old).
We follow Chloe Saunders as she realizes she sees ghosts and can talk to them, but has been sent to a group home for teens with mental illnesses. She finds out that her diagnosis is wrong and that she is actually a necromancer, and she's not the only one at Lyle House with peculiar abilities. Lyle House is more than it seems.
The premise is certainly interesting and I like the different take from magic school to magic mental institution (although I feel like this could be problematic). The pacing in places was a bit weird. The beginning was slow then everything happened all at once and we end on a cliffhanger. I also found Chloe to be kind of annoying, I get that she's a late bloomer and sheltered a bit, but she still read younger than 15 to me. We do get an MC with a stutter.
This was a good read for Spooky season, but I don't think I'm interested enough to read the rest of the series.
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong is the first book in the Darkest Powers series. I went in knowing nothing about this book, which is why I mistakenly included this book in my witch stack. Instead we have necromancy. This book was released in 2008 so there are some dated references. This was a good read for Spooky season, but I think I would have enjoyed this more when it came out when I was actually in high school (holy sh*t I'm old).
We follow Chloe Saunders as she realizes she sees ghosts and can talk to them, but has been sent to a group home for teens with mental illnesses. She finds out that her diagnosis is wrong and that she is actually a necromancer, and she's not the only one at Lyle House with peculiar abilities. Lyle House is more than it seems.
The premise is certainly interesting and I like the different take from magic school to magic mental institution (although I feel like this could be problematic). The pacing in places was a bit weird. The beginning was slow then everything happened all at once and we end on a cliffhanger. I also found Chloe to be kind of annoying, I get that she's a late bloomer and sheltered a bit, but she still read younger than 15 to me. We do get an MC with a stutter.
This was a good read for Spooky season, but I don't think I'm interested enough to read the rest of the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Mental illness, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Blood
Minor: Child abuse
btwnprintedpgs's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Apparently I've never written a review for this one, despite it being an all time fave.
I'll admit, the book does have some stigmatised language by way of teenage judgement, but as a whole it holds up over time. A bit of paranormal, a bit of mystery, this book remains one of my favourites! Happy it was also the first book I decided to annotate, too.
I appreciated Simon and Rae more this time around. Since the future books mix up the cast a bit differently, I always forget about Chloe and Rae's dynamic, as well as the fact that Chloe really only knew Liz for like a week. I also forget how sweet Simon was in book one - he really did come to Chloe's defense a lot more than I remembered and I loved their budding friendship.
My favourite book of the series is next so I'll see y'all on the other side of that one!
TW: blood, injury detail, vomit, fire injury/death, death, body horror, gaslighting; mentions death of a parent, suicide, murder, torture
I'll admit, the book does have some stigmatised language by way of teenage judgement, but as a whole it holds up over time. A bit of paranormal, a bit of mystery, this book remains one of my favourites! Happy it was also the first book I decided to annotate, too.
I appreciated Simon and Rae more this time around. Since the future books mix up the cast a bit differently, I always forget about Chloe and Rae's dynamic, as well as the fact that Chloe really only knew Liz for like a week. I also forget how sweet Simon was in book one - he really did come to Chloe's defense a lot more than I remembered and I loved their budding friendship.
My favourite book of the series is next so I'll see y'all on the other side of that one!
TW: blood, injury detail, vomit, fire injury/death, death, body horror, gaslighting; mentions death of a parent, suicide, murder, torture
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide, Torture, Death of parent, and Murder