And the next author you should read is . . .

[katayla]

I just finished Kelley Armstrong's The Gathering and felt compelled to come on here and tell you all how you should read her books! She writes supernatural YA (this is what I plan on selling to you tonight!) and urban fantasy. And I know a lot of people are probably sick of those genres, so I get if you don't want to read them, but if you still like the genre or want to give it one last chance, check them out!

Anyway, The Gathering is the start of a companion to trilogy to The Darkest Rising trilogy (which consists of, in order, The Summoning, The Awakening and The Reckoning), but you don't need to read the first trilogy to understand what's going on. You'll just know more if you do. (You'll also know more if you've read her adult books, since they're set in the same world.)

I've already been stealing from my GoodReads review, but now I'm going to flat out copy:

And this book was just a great reminder of what draws me to Armstrong's work. She's very good at tapping into the tropes of the genre, while avoiding the pitfalls. With both the romance in the first trilogy and the one in this book, she uses what makes the cliche supernatural YA couple appealing, while avoiding the more negative aspects. The girls might be attracted to the guys, but that doesn't get in the way of their standing up for themselves and demanding to be treated as they should.

I'm also impressed with how Armstrong handles the (for lack of a better word) bitchy characters. They start off seeming like unrealistic stereotypes, but end up getting such fascinating depth.

It's like . . . I've said to a couple of people that I want to like dystopia and this isn't dystopia (none of Armstrong is), but this illustrates why. There's something appealing about some of these crazy-popular genres. Not always the stories written in them, but the genres themselves do have value. And when I can find a book that makes the story good and not just the genre? That's awesome.

Comments

[katayla.livejournal.com]

Haha, it's a neutral thing? I don't think it either adds or detracts, just makes switching between them a little interesting (especially since, again, they're set in the same world!). I kind of feel like she might be a stronger YA writer though maybe that's just because that's what i've mostly recently read.

HUH. Then do I even want to read them? I NEED A GOOD LOVE STORY. :P Though I'm thinking maybe Vaughn's not the greatest romance writer? Or, at least, not great for me. With Discord's Apple, I was like, "Am I supposed to shipping them?" and then, "No, silly, they just happen to be a guy and a girl! That doesn't mean it's a thing!" . . . but it WAS a thing. *shrug* And then in Voices of Dragons, it was a very low key romance, which I liked it, but it definitely didn't make invested in the love story.

[katayla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that's what makes Bitten such a favorite of mine. Meaning, like, a favorite out of Armstrong's, not just in general. I don't find a lot of urban fantasy very emotionally engaging and even Armstrong doesn't always get to me, but she seems better than most at it. (Did you finish Bitten? I can't remember!)

Eeeek. And hahahaha. My mom kind of knows, I think? I try not to talk about it too much on twitter, but sometimes I just need to ask if the site is down or whatever! (But I will NOT post links to here!!!)

(Nahhhh. Go ahead and post them! It'll probably be a while before I'm ready for more books, lol.)

[katayla.livejournal.com]

Haha, nice! Yeah, my parents are similar, although my mom's gotten pretty good at finding free ebooks.

I know, right? My mom knows I have friends around the world, but I wonder how she thinks I got them. I think she has a vague idea I blog, but doesn't really know how it all works?

I normally keep the set though yeeeeeeah sometimes it does feel WHY? (Or acquire the set, I should say, as I don't really get rid of books, haha.)