The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong - Book Review

If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl — someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I’m as far away from normal as it gets. I’m a living science experiment — not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a sinister organization call the Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters. I'm a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control: I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever.

Now I’m running for my life with three of my supernatural friends - a chaming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch - and we have to find someone who can help us before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.


Let me start by saying that I really did enjoy this book. The characterization is amazing, and there’s a certain werewolf that I can’t get enough of. The prose is easy to read, neither dumbed-down nor dense. There’s an air of suspense that had me turning these pages, and the promises of romance to come only added to my desire to tear through these pages. But there’s a decided lack of plot in The Awakening.

If you were to ask me what this one is about, without all the frivolities of a review, all I’d be able to tell you is, “It’s about Chloe escaping from Davidoff and Co., meeting up with Simon and Derek, and then running from the bad guys for a couple hundred pages while they search for their dad’s old friend.” That’s really basically it. Plot-wise, we’re not much further along after the end of The Awakening than we were at the end of The Summoning. There’s some character growth, a few more buds added to the budding romance, and it really is fun to read, bit there’s next to no story progression. Though I really enjoyed reading this book, I can’t give it a really high rating when very little happened.


Despite all that The Awakening lacks, there is a very bright spot in a certain over-protective, sulky werewolf. I love all of the characters in this trilogy, but there is no doubt who my favorite is; Derek Souza. In the midst of struggling with his Change, trying to find his father – if he’s even still alive – and running for their lives, Derek seems to have taken his brother’s and Chloe’s safety on his abnormally broad shoulders. His protectiveness is sweet without being sugary, gruff and intense and so obvious. It’s also clear to the readers that his feelings for Chloe aren’t solely protective; he’s trying not to like her, doing a very good job at not showing her his feelings, but they’re clearly there. Every time Chloe helps him with a Change, I just want to fangirl squeal at all the impossible sweetness between the two. Whereas in The Summoning, things seemed to be pointing toward Simon romantically, there’s a shift in the Awakening that promises some wolf/necromancer romance in The Reckoning.

The Darkest Powers trilogy is a great read for anyone who loves strong characterization and romance that doesn’t dominate the story, but it’s not the series for those who need a lot of meat to their plot.

The Awakening - 3.5 Stars