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Friday, May 21, 2010

Book Review: The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: April 2009
ISBN: 9780061450556
Source: Library
The Awakening (Darkest Powers)

This book picks up right where The Summoning left off.  Chloe is being held in an experimental institution, awaiting further tests or tortures, she's not certain.  With Derek and Simon still on the run, her captors are making every effort to bring them in.  When Chloe finds out a secret about her and her supernatural friends, she is desperate to escape.  When she does, they end up on the run again.  But, she's beginning to fear her own powers of necromancy might be out of control.  Can they find help in understanding and controlling their powers before they are terminated?

Things I Liked:
After being impressed with the first in the series, despite its seemingly everyday paranormal plot, I was hoping this book wouldn't disappoint.  But, I found it just ok.  I continued to like some of the character interactions, particularly Chloe and Derek.  I even started to like Tori a bit more, though not much.  There was action and adventure and a lot of running and raising of the dead.  I also liked (again) some of the insightful thoughts Chloe has regarding violence and death in real life versus what we see in movies.  An entertaining read, but not as good as the first for me.


Things I Didn't Like:
In general, however, the book felt flat.  There wasn't much of a plot, except run away and then run away again.  I didn't feel like they were going anywhere in particular.  It definitely felt like a middle book in a trilogy.  I guess the spark from the first book, whatever it was, was missing in this one.  I'm sure I'll read the third book, to know what happens, and I'm hoping it will be an improvement.


Read-alikes:
Read The Summoning first 

Reminded me of The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester
Dull Boy by Sarah Cross

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
not a lot, surprisingly


mrg-factor: none

v-factor: ->->
some action and dead body raising


Overall rating: ***


What are some great middle-of-a-trilogy books?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

2 comments :

  1. Looking forward to your review of the "The Reckoning".

    ReplyDelete
  2. I haven't gotten it from the library, since I thought it would be part of a tour I was on...maybe I should just check it out :)

    ReplyDelete

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