Review - Reckoning (Darkest Powers, Book 3) by Kelley Armstrong (4.5/5 stars)

This is the third, and final, book in the Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong.   It was an excellent conclusion to the series and I actually liked it a lot better than the previous two books.

This book starts with Tori, Chloe, Derek and Simon with Andrew at the house they are hiding out in.  Andrew is part of a rebel group that is focused on shutting down the Edison Group.  Chloe and her friends want to go back and rescue Rae and Chloe's aunt from the Edison Group; while Andrew and his crew want them to be patient so that the rebels can stage a larger coup.  Chloe is again running into evil ghosts, as she finds out that the house they're staying in has its own violent past.  Chloe and crew finally get some training in their powers, but there is a still a question of who they can really trust.

I thought this book was much better than the previous books in this series.  We are finally getting some insight into how the characters' powers work and we get to watch them test their abilities.  The characters gain more dimension (especially Tori) and are more interesting to read about.

I thought that the chemistry between Chloe, Derek, and Simon was awesome in this book.  You can just feel the heat between Chloe and Derek as an undercurrent to every action they do.  Derek struggling with his werewolf abilities (which we saw a bit of in the last book) really adds depth to Derek's character and shows some vulnerability that makes him a character to cheer for.  Chloe is finally taking some initiative and learning how to use her necromancer powers to defend herself (although she still spends some time whining about how little she helps in battle situations).

A lot happens in this book.  Chloe and Derek are being hunted, there are more betrayals, and more revelations.  It was a very hard book to put down, I ended up reading it all in one day.  It was hard to catch your breath at times.

The ending is satisfying and I really enjoyed it.  There are a few questions left unanswered and the future of the characters is uncertain.

Overall this was an excellent close to this series.  I thought it was, by far, the best book of the series.  It is exciting and the characters really mature.  I wasn't a huge fan of the first two books in this series, but after reading this book I agree that this ended up being a pretty good series.  As far as reading more of Armstrong's works, I am not sure.  I read her Women of the Otherworld series for a bit but didn't love it, same with this series.  We will have to see what future works she writes.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- The Young Adult Reading Challenge
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge