Awakening

VG/A Duffy, Shannon, Awakening. Entangled, 2015, 342p. $16.99 ISBN: 978-1622665228

Desiree Six – The six being the sixth day of the week and the number that determines the age when someone will die. She has always believed in the Protectorate and the laws that had been made but she begins to question them when her loyal, childhood friend Darian One is charged with murder – a crime punishable by life in the Terrorscape, he escapes jail and tries to convince her of the faults within their society and what they are being forced to believe. She soon learns that the dreamscape they use to sleep is brainwashing them and even changing their memories. The concept was interesting – the dystopian world we are introduced to has the Protectorate governing where their sole purpose is to eradicate the manic world’s problems by devising a system where marriage, dreams and jobs are determined for each citizen; those who don’t comply are known as non-compliant and are put in a nightmare Terrorscape at Olympus Jail which is witnessed by the population. Shannon Duffy’s writing is vividly detailed and engaging; I enjoyed the characters overall and I found the plot to be fast-paced and the world-building creative.

Dawn Fechter, Children/Youth Librarian, Inglewood Public Library