Reviews

When We Wake by Karen Healey

eliana12's review

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4.0

3.5 stars. This was a fun read that was very fast paced and included lots of action-packed scenes. The main character seemed a bit one-dimensional, but the side characters were better. The plot was easy to follow and may have been too easy to follow as I lost interest in reading the second book fairly quickly after I finished this one. Nothing really stood out to me about this book. It had some cool elements, certainly. I liked it, but felt that it was lacking something crucial. I am still unsure what that might be. I would recommend this to reluctant teen readers, due to its fast pace and quick reveals. Fun book for sure!

bookgeek25's review

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4.0

I really liked the idea of it! Looking forward to the second book! :D

bak8382's review against another edition

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3.0

While initially an interesting premise, the story definitely lost steam in the middle.

carstensena's review against another edition

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3.0

A little too much going on here, but solid, plausible future world. And loved the Beatles chapter titles.

nicolesottiriou's review against another edition

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5.0

I love the Beatles references made throughout the book. The characters are diverse and priceless. I always loved Joph, but I loved her even more when I discovered her true self towards the end of the book.

This book has so many great lines. I couldn't help but mark them up and underline them. It's a great dystopian novel that speaks to our world today. There are so many things going on: the denial of human rights, the massacre of people deemed less human than others, the overuse of Earth's precious resources. We know it, yet we don't do anything, myself included. Healy writes, "Thinking about and fighting some of the world's multiple horrors had made my life more painful. But it was a much larger life than I would have lived otherwise" (252). We can live our silent lives of ignorance. Or, we can do something to change things. I still don't know what choice I'd make, but it's something I'll be thinking about for a long time.

dani_bugz's review against another edition

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4.0

Honestly? I wasn't expecting much when I picked this one up.

I am incredibly glad I gave it a go.

The pacing is excellent, the characters are real and tangible in my mind, and the plot was well structured and thought out. While I occasionally thought the dialogue was a touch lacking and I wished for a bit more in certain areas, this was an enjoyable and gripping read. I would definitely recommend it!

biblialex's review against another edition

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4.0

Why do I ever bother pretending I'm going to stop reading YA dystopias? When We Wake features a future where politics, technology, and society have all been shaped by the effects of climate change. Love isn't forbidden, children don't battle to the death, and nobody's assigned to factions. The future that Tegan wakes up in if different than the past she remembers, but it's not unrecognizable. One of the most realistic aspects was Tegan's realization that as much as humanity advances, people still have the same shortcomings as they ever did. Recommended for readers who liked [b:A Long Long Sleep|10271616|A Long, Long Sleep (Rosalinda Fitzroy #1)|Anna Sheehan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320556385s/10271616.jpg|10644254] or [b:The Adoration of Jenna Fox|1902241|The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles, #1)|Mary E. Pearson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388715600s/1902241.jpg|1903936].

storytimed's review against another edition

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3.25

This is a YA sci-fi Australian novel about a teenage girl who gets shot at a climate protest, cryogenically frozen and wakes up 100 years in the future

I wish I liked this more?? I really enjoyed Healey's previous work, Guardian of the Dead, but somehow the  very basic modern white girl protagonist didn't work for me

Like, Teagan's love interest is............... a guy she mistook for her dead ex-boyfriend who was the same race, and then got accused of being racist for calling him by her ex's name

There's a little bit of interesting Commentary on Australian hostility to migrants and how that extrapolates to the future - Teagan is very pro-migrant and in a very satisfying aired interview calls out the establishment of the time because the future was supposed to be better, her generation was supposed to fix things and then they just fucking didn't

I love teenage climate rage!!!

But aside from that, the book was fairly standard

shesnicky's review against another edition

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5.0

Where do I start? First of all, characters! So many unique characters and all with background and quirk. Each character to me seemed vastly different. Tumblr rages about the lack of differentiation and acceptance in books, well look no further because this book has lgbt characters a plenty and although not vast, a decent collection of race.

Now about plot, the idea of someone being frozen only to awake 100 years later? In my opinion? Captivating. At times while reading it felt so wrong and strange for simply everyone to have moved on and left Tegan behind. Yet thats life. When We Wake is amazing and I would highly recommend! However, this book would most likely suit 12-15 year olds about. My 50 year old father wouldnt be able to stand it and my 25 year old sister would probably find it distasteful. Books are all a matter of opinion though so who can say!

shawcrit's review against another edition

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4.0

This is a great book. Teegan, the protagonist, is very well drawn and vibrant. Easy to enjoy. I think that many other reviewers have been correct in saying this book is preachy, but it is also remarkably even-keeled in certain areas. Teeg and her friends have debates about religion, and I particularly enjoyed the way Healey approached this, by taking a tongue-in-cheeck attitude about the usual debates that go on between believers and atheists. But best of all, she shows that even though those debates are not resolved (are they even resolvable?) that stronng friendships can still be made between people with differences. I also think that the world-building is particularly strong here. I feel that Healey has created an interesting (and, I would say, realistic) future world in which certain socio-political issues and conditions have gotten worse, and others have improved. I'll definintely read the sequel.