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The Summoning - Darkest Powers 1 Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of The Summoning - Darkest Powers 1


Chloe must come to terms with her powers as a Necromancer and find out the sinister reason why she and some other teens with magical powers are kept under constant watch by doctors and scientists. Chloe is a regular teenage girl who is passionate about film-making. She seems to have a normal life going to A. R. Gurney High, an art school in Buffalo, and just enjoying teenage life. The past few days, however, she keeps having nightmares of going into a basement and seeing creepy zombie-like creatures at the bottom. This doesn't make much sense, since as far as Chloe knows, she's always lived in condos as her dad flips luxury condos for a living. One day, as she is driving to school, she swerves to avoid hitting a boy. This event disturbs her as no one else in the car seemed to have seen the boy. That same day, as Chloe is in the washroom, she hears some eerie crying in the stall next to her even though there shouldn't be anyone there. As she leaves the bathroom, she encounters a custodian she's never seen before – a custodian that doesn't seem to make any footstep sounds as he walks. Chloe is chased around the school by all sorts of strange people who plead with her to talk to them and try to get her attention. The day ends badly, as it becomes evident that no one can see or hear any of these people. Chloe inadvertently attacks a teacher that tries to calm her down, getting her into more trouble.
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Chloe is labeled delusional and sent to a group home called Lyle House for treatment where she is expected to stay for at least two weeks in order to prevent the incident from going on her permanent record and affecting her application to UCLA. She receives a visit from her Aunt Lauren where she is told that when she was younger, she used to see people who aren't there all the time. In fact, in one of the first houses she's ever lived in, there was a basement where she would always be found, talking to an imaginary person. Out of desperation and maybe superstition, her mother had bought her a ruby necklace to protect her against the visions. After remembering her strange childhood, Chloe resigns herself to the fact that she's ruined her reputation and can never go back to high school without the stigma of being labeled “crazy”.

At Lyle Home, Chloe is introduced to the other “crazy” youths: Liz, Tori, Rae, Simon, Derek and Peter. Liz immediately tries to make Chloe feel welcome even though Chloe starts seeing the blur and flashes of “presences” in the house and can't help but react to them, making the others uneasy around her. Tori is the mean one in the group, and immediately berates Chloe about her stutter, which slips out when she's nervous. Simon is the most good-looking and friendly of the boys whereas Derek, Simon's brother is sullen and slightly hostile. Rae is friendly, too, however keeps to herself and Peter is slated to leave Lyle House soon due to his exceptional improvement.

One day, as Chloe is doing laundry in the basement, she hears a voice again, calling for her to open a locked closet door. To her embarrassment, Derek witnesses her trying to talk to the ghost, though he doesn't seem to be judgmental about it. A few nights later, Liz reveals that the reason why she was sent to the home is because she believes she is being haunted by a Poltergeist. Suddenly the poltergeist acts up, destroying her and Chloe's room. Liz is transferred to a hospital where she can get well faster. Later that night, Chloe is awakened by Liz, who tells her she had a strange dream at the hospital. To both their horror, they discover that Liz is now a ghost as she can walk through walls. Liz immediately disappears again.

Derek starts to leave clues for Chloe as to what might explain her strange experiences – newspaper articles, internet pages etc. Chloe reads about the custodian she saw at her high school and finds out he died in a chemical explosion many years ago. Chloe learns that she may be a necromancer – a person that practices divination by conjuring up the dead. She thinks Derek is trying to scare her and there is tension between the two. Derek's brother Simon, gets worried that Derek might end up getting put into another group home because Chloe's been telling people that Derek makes her feel uncomfortable. Chloe and Rae do some midnight sneaking around to get information on Derek and Simon's past and learn that Derek is prone to violent outbursts.

Over the next few days, Chloe starts discovering that each of the members of Lyle house have some magical ability. She has necromantic powers, Rae an affinity for fire , Simon a power to levitate things (he may be a sorcerer), Derek an unnatural strength. Later on, she also learns from Simon that there is a network of “supernaturals” or people with strange abilities that exist with normal people. Chloe continues hearing voices calling her to the closet in the basement laundry room. When she and Rae finally check the closet, they see it leads to a dirty crawl space. There's nothing there except for a few old ledgers. Tori, who had been mean to Chloe during her entire stay at Lyle house because she was jealous that Chloe and Liz became friends and that Chloe has Simon's attention, suddenly decides to have a truce with Chloe. She tells Chloe she found something in the dirt crawl space and Chloe, gullible, follows her only to be whacked in the head with a brick and locked up.

Chloe experiences a terrifying moment in the dirt crawl space where she inadvertently calls up the dead who are buried there. Derek ends up finding her and getting her out and helping her figure out how to release her hold over the dead so they can return to their death-like state. After that, Chloe and Derek get along much easier and are able to trust each other and discuss their weird powers and the coincidence that has brought so many similar kids together into one household. Chloe, Rae, Simon and Derek agree that something odd is going on at Lyle House and they decide to escape. On the night of their escape, Derek runs a high fever and he is unable to leave but with Chloe's help he escapes. Derek reveals that he is actually a werewolf and Chloe witnesses him changing into a wolf. A search team headed by Dr. Davidoff, the head of Lyle House, is sent out for the runaway kids and in the process, Chloe gets injured. The team seems very bent on retrieving the kids as they are even using guns to scare them.
Chloe manages to contact her Aunt Lauren, hoping to have an adult ally who can help them. She shows her Aunt a tranquilizer dart that the Lyle House team tried to shoot at them. Aunt Lauren seems to believe them, however, after Chloe faints and has to be sent to a hospital, she awakens to learn that Aunt Lauren has brought her right back into the care of Dr. Davidoff. Chloe feels betrayed, as she waits, helplessly in the hospital. The story ends on a cliffhanger, with Chloe waking up to see Liz's ghost and wondering whether she can use Liz to help her escape the hospital.
Best part of story, including ending: I like that we weren't told right off the bat that what Chloe's powers were. Instead, the story begins with the readers believing that Chloe really is just imagining things and that she might be schizophrenic. The powers of the other teenagers are treated in the same way - like normal human mental illnesses. This leads to a nice surprise twist at the end of the story when the truth is revealed.

Best scene in story: My favorite scene was when Chloe gets locked up into the dirt crawl space by Tori. It was a very well-written scene that sent shivers up my spine and made me really scared for Chloe - especially when she inadvertently uses her powers.

Opinion about the main character: I like that Chloe tries not to judge people as this allows her to befriend Derek, who is the most crusty and sullen character in the story.

The review of this Book prepared by Sharon C. a Level 12 Black-Throated Green Warbler scholar

Chapter Analysis of The Summoning - Darkest Powers 1

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Plot & Themes

Composition of Book Descript. of chases or violence 30%planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives 30%Feelings, relationships, character bio/development 30%Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places 10% Tone of book    -   suspenseful (sophisticated fear) FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?    -   fantasy story on current Earth Magical Beings/Mental/Magical/Powers    -   Yes magical powers:    -   they see dead people! (fantasy) Is this an adult or child's book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character

Identity:    -   Female Profession/status:    -   student Age:    -   a teen

Setting

Terrain    -   Forests Earth setting:    -   current (early 21st century) Takes place on Earth?    -   Yes

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death?    -   generic/vague references to death/punishment How much dialogue?    -   roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

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Kelley Armstrong Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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