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I loved Awakening. It's a young adult dystopian. I don't read too many dystopians anymore, and I am pretty picky when it comes to choosing which ones to read. I heard that Darian was going to be a swoon worthy guy, and I liked the technology aspect of Awakening, so I decided to give it a try. And I am very glad that I did. This was a dystopian that worked really well for me. I loved the romance in it and I thought the world was very well done. The idea of the dreamscape seemed half invasive and scary but a pretty big part of me wanted to try it out, especially since you get to see who your mate was revealed in the dreams. I thought that was a really cool idea, and for the most part people seemed to love it and the relationships seemed genuine and good fits for so much of the society. And then there is the terrorscape, which seemed just as terrifying as the name implies. However, I was left with lots of little questions, while reading the first half of the book. Click to view spoiler for some examples of the questions I had.

All of these thoughts were running through my head when started reading the book. Like why would the days of the week link up with how long you would have to live? And why did they start killing off the ones so young? they only get to live until 25? Doesn't the society need workers for longer than that? And also, why was Darian able to use other people's dreamscape machines while he was on the run? They sound super high tech, and everyone is chipped under the skin, so why couldn't the machines pick up on who the user was? And i'm not talking about the mixer that he used, that scrambles the brainwaves that the machine can read. But why doesn't the machine pick up on the id info from the users chip. That seemed like an oversight on this controlling government's part.

Now don't get me wrong, I thought the world building was great, and I am sure that some of these questions will be answered and explained later on, but when I was initially reading, all of this stuff was running through my head. I have come to the conclusion that right now the dystopians that work the best for me are ones that center around technology. Something about them makes me feel like it could be possible for the world to end up like that, which makes it all the more interesting and terrifying to me. Does that make me weird? haha

I really loved Darian. I think he is such an easy guy to root for, even if he is noncompliant and thinks everyone else in the society are "sheep." He's not wrong, by the way. What surprises me the most is that anyone is capable of thinking that this guy could be a murderer. He is such a decent, stand up guy. And his lifetime crush on Desiree was adorable. Awakening starts off at a brisk pace and honestly only picks up in speed as the story goes on. I loved that, there is honestly not a boring moment in Awakening. I read this book in a single sitting and I didn't even realize how much time had passed when I finally looked up when I was done. That is a feeling I will never get sick of, because it means I was transported to the author's world and I was totally immersed in it. I can't wait to continue this series. Awakening is great for fans of YA dystopian and I would even encourage people who might be burnt out or new dystopians to try Awakening. I think it will be a series tons of people will love! I smell a hit all over this one and I can't wait for more.

 This review was originally posted on Book Briefs