The Awakening

The Awakening

by Kelley Armstrong

2009

368 pages

"My old life felt like a dream – a mostly pleasant, uneventful dream. Now I’d awakened from it and realized who I was and what I was, for better or worse. There was no closing my eyes and sliding back into that blissful dream of normal. This was my normal now."

Summary: The Awakening is the second book in Kelley Armstrong’s Dark Powers series. Picking up back at Edison headquarters, necromancer Chloe continues to unearth secrets about the Edison group and her supernatural friends. With the help of a few surprising allies, Chloe and Tori are able to escape and find Simon and Derek. The four decide to try and look for the boys’ father’s best friend and set off to find him. Separated and constantly chased, the four must struggle to control their powers and accept all that is left behind.

Review: The second book contained a lot more action and was faster paced, but it lost some of its richness in the process. Many of the cliff hanger secrets of the first book are solved in the first quarter of thisbook, which leaves the reader with little to look forward to. There was also a lot of plot repetition and I quickly tired of the characters separating during escape, finding each other, separating during escape, etc. Central to the storyline, however, is Chloe’s relationship with the boys. Kelley Armstrong spends a great deal of time focusing on her interactions with Derek and Simon and it definitely perks the reader’s interest. While this book was not nearly as enjoyable as the first, it did set the stage for what I can only guess will be an action packed third book as the foursome get ready to take on the Edison group.

Rating: 3Q 5P JS