THE CALLING – Kelley Armstrong

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. – Goodreads description

The second installment in Kelley Armstrong’s Darkness Rising trilogy, The Calling picks up right where The Gathering left off. The kids have been evacuated from the forest fire successfully and are in a helicopter bound for safety. 

Except they’re not. The helicopter is actually an attempt to kidnap them, and in their desperate efforts to escape, the copter crashes. The remainder of the book is spent fleeing from would-be captors – mainly through the forested backwoods of Vancouver Island. 

Armstrong managed to sidestep the dreaded “second book syndrome” (when the second book in a series falls flat compared to the action and character building of the first). This one, if anything, was more action-packed and suspenseful than the first. The characters did develop (though not as much as the first book – the action was very much the focus) and we learn a lot about the supernatural elements that were introduced and hinted at in The Gathering. 

We also learn more about how the supernatural world works – and the threats that are inherent within it. Some of these threats, it turns out, are closer to home than anyone ever suspected. 
  
I devoured this book in a day – and barely even noticed that I was reading, the imagery was that vivid. There were a few parts when I started to feel like the scenery would never change, but I was quickly distracted by some new intense situation. 

I can’t say much more than that without giving away anything (man, is it hard not to trip up and spill the beans), so I’m going to stop this review short here – just let me finish up by saying that if you enjoyed the first book in the series, you’ll enjoy the second.

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