Sign in with Facebook
Tatiana's Reviews > The Awakening
The Awakening (Darkest Powers, #2)
by
by
As seen on
The second book in "Darkest Powers" trilogy starts where the first one left off - Chloe is at the research institute and contemplating escape. What follows is pretty much Chloe's and her friends' journey to get to the person who might be able to help them find Derek's and Simon's father (which is I suppose is what this trilogy is about, but I am not sure at this point).
The first book in the trilogy was undoubtedly drawn out and artificially extended, but this second book sure beats that. While "The Summoning" had at least some semblance of a story (specifically, the discovery of the true nature of Lyle House), "The Awakening" is truly 400 pages of filler. Almost nothing is added to the main story arc - only 3 pages describing the purpose of the experiments on supernaturals and the idea that Derek's and Simon's father can be found with the help of his friend - Andrew. The rest of the book is pretty much limited to: hiding in various warehouses (150 pages), hiding in an abandoned house (50 pages), riding a bus to Andrew's house (150 pages), and finally meeting Andrew (10 pages). "The Awakening" truly has no climax of any sort. It reads as a boring series of events that serve no purpose but to develop the characters, which is fine, when not used so shamelessly to fill pages and pages at the expense of the real plot. There are some nice Derek/Chloe moments, and only these moments save the book from being a complete waste of time.
If I had hopes that the trilogy would pick up after a rather slow first book, I don't have them any more. The second book proved to be as boring of a read as the first one, and even worse. This is a pity, because Armstrong knows how to write an engaging and tightly plotted book. This Darkest Powers "trilogy" however is a shameless attempt to extend 250 pages of story into 3 books 400 pages each.
I am not sure if I will ever get back to this series. I expect I will not be able to remember much about it even a month later.
The second book in "Darkest Powers" trilogy starts where the first one left off - Chloe is at the research institute and contemplating escape. What follows is pretty much Chloe's and her friends' journey to get to the person who might be able to help them find Derek's and Simon's father (which is I suppose is what this trilogy is about, but I am not sure at this point).
The first book in the trilogy was undoubtedly drawn out and artificially extended, but this second book sure beats that. While "The Summoning" had at least some semblance of a story (specifically, the discovery of the true nature of Lyle House), "The Awakening" is truly 400 pages of filler. Almost nothing is added to the main story arc - only 3 pages describing the purpose of the experiments on supernaturals and the idea that Derek's and Simon's father can be found with the help of his friend - Andrew. The rest of the book is pretty much limited to: hiding in various warehouses (150 pages), hiding in an abandoned house (50 pages), riding a bus to Andrew's house (150 pages), and finally meeting Andrew (10 pages). "The Awakening" truly has no climax of any sort. It reads as a boring series of events that serve no purpose but to develop the characters, which is fine, when not used so shamelessly to fill pages and pages at the expense of the real plot. There are some nice Derek/Chloe moments, and only these moments save the book from being a complete waste of time.
If I had hopes that the trilogy would pick up after a rather slow first book, I don't have them any more. The second book proved to be as boring of a read as the first one, and even worse. This is a pity, because Armstrong knows how to write an engaging and tightly plotted book. This Darkest Powers "trilogy" however is a shameless attempt to extend 250 pages of story into 3 books 400 pages each.
I am not sure if I will ever get back to this series. I expect I will not be able to remember much about it even a month later.
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
The Awakening.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
August 14, 2009
– Shelved
August 26, 2009
– Shelved as:
2009
Started Reading
August 28, 2009
–
Finished Reading
September 19, 2009
– Shelved as:
ya
August 31, 2010
– Shelved as:
urban-fantasy
Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Arlene
(new)
-
rated it 2 stars
Aug 30, 2009 02:39PM
Well, I guessed this made the decision for me. Thanks for saving me some time T. I'll be passing on the rest of the series.
reply
|
flag
Yeah, you won't miss anything by skipping the entire thing IMO
Eh. If you like plot, more than character development - than yes, it would seem as if this is a really boring book. It's focusing more on character relations and world building in this one - think about it as if you had never read any of her Otherworld novels, each new development is pretty exciting! But I do agree that it is definitely not moving at a fast enough pace. The trilogy reads like a single novel - I would have been happy to just cut some parts out and burn through a single book, rather than wait for years to learn how it ends.But that's not what she did, and I like learning about characters a teeeeensy bit more than having the plot progress, so I was satisfied with this. But, again, this is also why the third book is my favorite, and not this one - shit actually happens.
Couldn't agree more with your review. I'm almost done with it and so far no progress has been made plot-wise
I think the order in which you read Kelley Armstrong’s books is very important. The Darkest Powers trilogy was the very first series by Kelley Armstrong I read; I knew nothing about her “Women of the Otherworld� and the world-building done there so The Awakening wasn’t at all boring, it gave me a better understanding of the supernatural world and picked my interest about The Pack. I remember I was actually terrified of them and pictured them like those bloodthirsty, self-righteous crazies after Liam’s account. This series, and this book in particular, is what led me to the “Women of the Otherworld� series. Plus, I wouldn’t trade Derek and Chloe alone on a road-trip for anything :D
