When We Wake is a sci-fi, futuristic YA novel by Karen Healey.
It’s 2027 and sixteen-year-old Tegan Oglietti is waking up feeling thrilled.
The day before she and her longtime crush confessed their feelings for each other and shared kisses! So, as she, her best friend and her brand-new boyfriend walk to a protest where they plan on taking a stand on the wrongs of the world, she’s extremely happy.
She wakes up 100 years later with no memory of what happened next.
Essentially, she died after she was killed in an attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister.
Used as an experiment for possible cryonic treatment, obviously it worked. But everything she knew, everyone she loved, is gone.
Between grief and disappointment with this uninspiring future, Tegan tries to start living the second chance at life she’s been given… but the true motivations for bringing her back might be darker than she was initially told.
I knew I wanted to read When We Wake because Karen Healey really knocked my socks off with Guardian of the Dead and The Shattering. Plus, this has an interesting premise.
However, I was surprised to find that I was not all that involved or engaged in When We Wake… I expected something more suspenseful, mysterious and exciting. Or, if not that, more contemplative and thought-provoking. I did not feel that here, I’m sorry to say.
When We Wake felt a bit political, but in a lackluster way, and unexpectedly bland. Tegan didn’t connect with me too much, and the story just did not have any oomph. Except for a few moments later on, it just felt like we were seeing the future, different schools, technology and drugs, etc., without any of it being all that interesting.
The Jenna Fox Chronicles from Mary E. Pearson takes a sort-of similar concept to a much higher level, in my opinion. I don’t know if Karen Healey was unable to go to that darker, deeper, more amazing place because this novel had no magical component? I don’t know. It’s weird how differently I felt about it from her other books.
Yet, even though I ended up skimming When We Wake, it’s not a bad book. Just doesn’t leave much of a dint. You know what I’m going to say though, don’t you?
YOU MAY NOT AGREE!!!
This could be your favorite book ever! So, read it for yourself, ya crazy bibliophile!!!
Every book deserves a hard-core fan, maybe you’re it!
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