Book Review: The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: April 2010
ISBN: 9780061662836
Source: Library

Chloe was leading a normal life what seems like just weeks ago, but life is anything but normal for a necromancer on the run.  With her supernatural friends Derek, Simon, and Tori, she is attempting to escape from the people who gave them these powers.  Is the place they are hiding out really safe or will another trusted friend turn them in?  And will they be able to go back for those friends they left behind in time to save them too?

Things I Liked:
What an awesome story!  It's everything that I enjoy in a paranormal without so many of the cliches.  I loved how it had non-stop action and lots of crazy twists.  I love this series for its atypical paranormal stuff and atypical romance.  I liked how Chloe stood up for herself and also how she wasn't always the strongest one.  She had a good combination of smarts, strength, and vulnerability, which made her an interesting and more realistic person.  The atmosphere of the book was very creepy, but not so much to terrify wimpy old me.  Just enough to give you goose bumps or a tingling spine.  I loved the romance and Chloe's choice, as I said earlier, it was refreshingly different. 

I considered screaming.  I've always hated that in movies - heroines who scream for help when cornered - but right now, caught between a broken-bottle-wielding poltergeist and a two-story fall, I could survive the humiliation of being rescued. p 11

But there's a reason people do stupid things in movies - no one wants to watch a bunch of kids pace and bicker and angst as they wait for the adults to come up with a plan. p 197

Things I Didn't Like:
Near the end, things got a little confusing with so many convoluted twists and turns.  It was just enough to make me a touch annoyed.  I wanted to get to the end and see where everyone turned up.  It also didn't feel quite like the closure one wants in a last book of a trilogy.  Maybe just a touch too open-ended.  But still very satisfactory.

Read-alikes:
Midnighters series by Scott Westerfeld
The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
some

mrg-factor: X
some minor stuff, kissing mostly

v-factor: ->->->
there is quite a bit of fighting and gore

Overall rating: ****

What books make you fall in love with paranormal again?

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