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A review by pollyroth
When We Wake by Karen Healey
3.0
Ok....so this book must be really new...I was at Barnes and Noble and I'd never seen this dystopia before. I figured I'd give it a try.
So, Tegan lived in 2027. But then a sniper misses his intended target and hits her instead. She dies, yet she wakes up 100 years later, and it seems to her that it's only been hours. The whole world is different. The climates hotter, animals are dying, and technology has changed significantly. Tegan thinks she's helping bring soldiers back from the dead as military studies her. But slowly she learns the truth.
Characters
Tegan: She's one god damned stubborn person. She does not think before she acts; she just does. But you really pity her situation. I mean, imagine waking up one hundred years from today! In her first life she was a follower, and in this life she is more of a leader. But she is passionate about soldiers, and that's why the she was willing to help the government in the beginning. Her character development was not very strong, but you get the idea of what kind of girl she was supposed to be.
Abbi: You don't really see much of him until the last few chapters, but he is an independent person. He's a person from another country, only in Australia because he has an amazing voice. He shares Tegan's love of the Beetles, and painstakingly reminds Tegan of her old boyfriend, Dahmar.
Bethari: She's the only person in the new world Tegan finds herself in who's remotley nice to her. She's a lesbian, (which in 2127 is totally accepted by society) and a journalist. She is a whiz with computers and helps Tegan hack into the secret websites for information.
Plot
As I was reading this book, I kept thinking (and somewhat hoping) that everyone else who had been at that protest was frozen too. Then Tegan can be with Dahmar, and her life would be a lot better. Not to mention that it would make the stalled plot a lot more exciting. Sadly, it doesn't happen. The plot really didn't pick up until like half way through the book. Before that it was just Tegan blindly following orders, with the occasional "I won't eat" thing. By the time she was getting suspicious, I was really hoping that warehouse would hold something interesting inside. I got what I wanted partly. It was frozen people, but they weren't from 2027, or so it looks from this book. (I still have a little bit of hope left!) Once she's on the run it gets interesting...until they're stuck with the uber-religious people, who in real life annoy me, and in this book drive me insane!! And it once again, gets boring.
Writing
The thing that really bugged me about this book, was the poor writing. It wasn't descriptive at all! It skipped over a lot of MAJOR things that could have made this book more of a four star. I also didn't like how there were those occasional break in parts with Tegan in four weeks or whatever. It just confused you, if nothing else.
Conclusion
I know my review sounds mostly negative, but this wasn't a terrible book. It just wasn't one that I'm dieing to recommend to everyone either. It does have that dystopian feel to it, so dystopia readers should enjoy it for the most part. Oh, and since this book like JUST came out, I really don't recommend reading it for a couple of months because the release date for the second isn't even out yet.
So, Tegan lived in 2027. But then a sniper misses his intended target and hits her instead. She dies, yet she wakes up 100 years later, and it seems to her that it's only been hours. The whole world is different. The climates hotter, animals are dying, and technology has changed significantly. Tegan thinks she's helping bring soldiers back from the dead as military studies her. But slowly she learns the truth.
Characters
Tegan: She's one god damned stubborn person. She does not think before she acts; she just does. But you really pity her situation. I mean, imagine waking up one hundred years from today! In her first life she was a follower, and in this life she is more of a leader. But she is passionate about soldiers, and that's why the she was willing to help the government in the beginning. Her character development was not very strong, but you get the idea of what kind of girl she was supposed to be.
Abbi: You don't really see much of him until the last few chapters, but he is an independent person. He's a person from another country, only in Australia because he has an amazing voice. He shares Tegan's love of the Beetles, and painstakingly reminds Tegan of her old boyfriend, Dahmar.
Bethari: She's the only person in the new world Tegan finds herself in who's remotley nice to her. She's a lesbian, (which in 2127 is totally accepted by society) and a journalist. She is a whiz with computers and helps Tegan hack into the secret websites for information.
Plot
As I was reading this book, I kept thinking (and somewhat hoping) that everyone else who had been at that protest was frozen too. Then Tegan can be with Dahmar, and her life would be a lot better. Not to mention that it would make the stalled plot a lot more exciting. Sadly, it doesn't happen. The plot really didn't pick up until like half way through the book. Before that it was just Tegan blindly following orders, with the occasional "I won't eat" thing. By the time she was getting suspicious, I was really hoping that warehouse would hold something interesting inside. I got what I wanted partly. It was frozen people, but they weren't from 2027, or so it looks from this book. (I still have a little bit of hope left!) Once she's on the run it gets interesting...until they're stuck with the uber-religious people, who in real life annoy me, and in this book drive me insane!! And it once again, gets boring.
Writing
The thing that really bugged me about this book, was the poor writing. It wasn't descriptive at all! It skipped over a lot of MAJOR things that could have made this book more of a four star. I also didn't like how there were those occasional break in parts with Tegan in four weeks or whatever. It just confused you, if nothing else.
Conclusion
I know my review sounds mostly negative, but this wasn't a terrible book. It just wasn't one that I'm dieing to recommend to everyone either. It does have that dystopian feel to it, so dystopia readers should enjoy it for the most part. Oh, and since this book like JUST came out, I really don't recommend reading it for a couple of months because the release date for the second isn't even out yet.