Teen Review: The Awakening

The Awakening (Darkest Powers #2) by Kelley Armstrong
Release Date ~ April 28, 2009
Doubleday Canada ~ Random House Canada
ISBN13: 9780385665346
Book borrowed from library
Goodreads Synopsis
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 can raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever. I’m running for my life with three of my supernatural friends and we have to find someone who can help us gain our freedom back before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.

After I finished reading the summoning, I went right away to my school's library to read the sequel.  I was able to read it within the span of 3 days.  I enjoyed it so much that I could hardly put it down.  I had a lot of high hopes from the first book, and this book didn't fail to deliver a great novel with amazing suspense, romance, and general creepiness.

1. The Mysterious Edison Group:
   
    In the first novel, we heard about the Edison Group, but not a lot was revealed about them. Don't get me wrong, they're still very mysterious, and again only a bit is revealed about them, but the whole thing is just so fascinating that you have to keep reading, because you just can't wait to piece together everything.  While this is not a particularly new idea, I think that the group is still really interesting nonetheless.
2. More action:
   
   There wasn't a lot of action in the summoning, except for around the second half of the book. There were a lot more action and fight scenes, which I enjoyed. While many of them are against the Edison Group, a fair number of them are also against other groups of people. It was nice to see other types of foes in the novel, besides just the main villains.
3. The Non-Frustrating Love Triangle:
   
   Like I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of love triangles. I'm constantly cheering for the guy who will inevitably lose, and I end up hating the other for it. I genuinely liked the two guys in this love triangle: Derek and Simon. They are both very, very different. Derek is the typical tall, dark, and handsome guy, while Simon is the classic boy-next-door. They both have a lot of chemistry with the protaganist, which I think is why I like this triangle so much.

In some areas of the book Chloe bugged me a little bit because she refused to use her powers to protect herself, so she wound up being the damsel in distress a lot of the time. She did get a bit better by the end of the book, though, which I was glad of. While I didn't like this book quite as much as the previous, I think that it continues the story very well from where it leaves off, and makes a great addition to the Darkest Powers series. 

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