A review by megatsunami
When We Wake by Karen Healey

3.0

3 stars? 4 stars? Couldn't decide. This futuristic YA book started off really strong but became somewhat formulaic toward the end. I loved the opening, the well-written dialogue, the socially engaged protagonist and her protest-going friends, the characters who felt like real people. I thought the transition of her waking up in the future was convincing and well done - it seemed like how a real teenager would react (like the scene in her first day of class when she accidentally turns on all the advertising at once). I liked that she was the kind of person who thinks about issues of racism, immigration, etc. But - and it may just be that I've read too much dystopian/futuristic SF - at some point the plot started to seem really derivative.

Spoiler

Stylist and over-the-top media coverage? Hunger Games. Starship taking the elites away from dying earth? Elysium. Crazy Christian sect who wants you to do their will? "Parable of the Talents" by Octavia Butler. Unconvincing escape from evil army goon? "The Living" by Matt de la Pena. (Each of those probably has a few more examples to go with it.)

I still enjoyed the book a lot and would read a sequel.