Review: Awaken

 

Ｔｉｔｌｅ：Awaken

Ａｕｔｈｏｒ：Michelle Bryan

Ｓｅｒｉｅｓ： Book 1

Ｒａｔｉｎｇ： ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

 

＊Ｎｏｔｅ：Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for approving me for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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Tara lives in an unforgiving world that is falling apart day by day. She lives in a dystopian world out in the barren lands called the “sand lands”. When her home is attacked by a mysterious group of men she begins to question her life and everything in it. In search of her friends and answers, she sets out to the far away lands ruled over by the Prezedant. During her quest, she finds out truths about herself that she’s not entirely sure she’s ready to embrace, but she’ll have to decide if she can be the one people have been waiting for, or if she’ll fall into the wrong hands.

Ｆａｖｏｒｉｔｅ Ｃｈａｒａｃｔｅｒｓ

Tara was a pretty fun character to read because of how headstrong and spirited she was, but Tater also comes in a close second because of his fancy speech and mannerisms. I guess it was just a nice contrast to everyone else in the story. I liked that he was level-headed most of the time and that he was pretty reliable and loyal to Tara and her group despite the trouble the kept running into. Plus Cat, because (duh) she’s a cat and adorable ❤

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► I liked the relationship that Tara had with Grada. It was just really sweet and just … nice. They looked after one another even though they weren’t blood. He always made sure to treat her like his own.

So today is really my “found” day. I always laugh when he says that.

► Like I said before, I liked that Tara wasn’t just a sniveling mess all the time. She got a little down here and there but she was always quick to pick herself up. I liked that she was strong enough for herself and others when she needed to be.

The time for crying is over, Tara, I scold myself. Do what you gotta do.

► Cat has to be another one of my faves for the most obvious reason: she’s a cat. I love cats haha. Plus I like how she was given a very motherly attitude to her. Her attachment to Finn was cute.

“You reared up a devil cat?” I say, still not believing what I’m seeing. 

“Already told you that,” he says in disdain. 

“And you named it Cat?”

“Aye, was a fittin’ name as any,” he says.

Cain’t argue with that. 

► I also liked Tara and Cat in the beginning because she was so scared of Cat. I mean, I still loved both later on but I found the earlier moments funny.

“Don’t make me sorry for this,” I say. It blinks at me. “And for gods’ sake, if you get hungry durin’ the night, don’t eat me.”

In response, it snorts at me, shakes its head, and the blue tongue I remember so disgustingly well pokes out to lick its lips as if it’s saying, “I ain’t making no promises.” 

Gods help me, I think.

► Tater was pretty nice because he was kind of an odd duck in his own way. He had a really fancy way of talking compared to everyone else. He was always proper and kind, but immensely loyal to the group throughout the book which was surprising.

After days of being in Tater’s company, I’m starting to belive he speaks just for the sheer joy of hearing himself talk.

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This was a pretty good read. One of the things that I liked right off the bat was the voice that Tara was given, although it also kinda wore me down at times just because it’s different from what I’m used to. She talked kinda choppy and not in typical English. She had kind of an accent? Not sure that’s the right word for it but yeah we’ll go with that. So yes, the voice was unlike other books which set it apart right away.

I thought the story was pretty interesting, but I did see some of the plot twists coming. Sometimes characters would try to be all mysterious about things and talk in “riddles” but really it was all straight forward. That’s why it was sometimes annoying reading things Tara said or did. She was constantly confused and not getting things right away that really weren’t all that complicated. But even then I’m still very curious to see how the overall story continues. There’s a lot of questions left unanswered about the Prezedant, where he came about, what he does for his experiments, what he’s looking for–I think that’s really one of the driving forces in the book for me.

Some of the things that kinda took this book down for me in terms of rating were: Tara’s lack of understanding, her one-track mind, and the fact that she had to be constantly rescued. Tara seemed really slow to understand the most straight-forward and simple things that people told her. She couldn’t understand she was special, what kind of effect her New Blood powers had–it was kind of annoying that it took her so long to get things. Also along the same lines, the author made her have a terrible habit of asking way too many questions at once. She also tended to be very determined to get things done her way and only later would consider the consequences for other people. Which was only annoying because she did it a lot of times, but then was shocked when other people pointed it out to her during other instances. Lastly, I know that Tara was important, but it did get old to have people coming in to rescue her all the time. I wanted Tara to kick more butt on her own, but I’m pretty sure we’ll get to see that in the next book when she learns more about her powers. I’m excited to see where the story goes and to meet the infamous

Also along the same lines, the author made her have a terrible habit of asking way too many questions at once. She also tended to be very determined to get things done her way and only later would consider the consequences for other people. Which was only annoying because she did it a lot of times, but then was shocked when other people pointed it out to her during other instances. Lastly, I know that Tara was important, but it did get old to have people coming in to rescue her all the time. I wanted Tara to kick more butt on her own, but I’m pretty sure we’ll get to see that in the next book when she learns more about her powers. I’m excited to see where the story goes and to meet the infamous

Lastly, I know that Tara was important, but it did get old to have people coming in to rescue her all the time. I wanted Tara to kick more butt on her own, but I’m pretty sure we’ll get to see that in the next book when she learns more about her powers. I’m excited to see where the story goes and to meet the infamous Prezedant.

This is a book that really deserves a chance. It has some bumps, but the trip is worth the read.