*** SPOILERS ALERT!!! ***
I really, really liked this book. The Awakening, the 2nd book in
the Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong, continues where it
left off in the first book, The Summoning.
The Awakening opens up at the institute Chloe, Victoria, and
Rachelle were taken to after they tried to escape Lyle House,
having been tricked by Chloe's Aunt Lauren. Immediately, Chloe's
goal is to get out - to get away from these so-called doctors who
were trying to make her "better." It comes easy to Chloe, but not
as easy as she would have liked. Having managed to hack into Dr.
Davidoff's computer (with help from a ghost we're sure to meet in
the next installment), Chloe learns the fate of those like her - if
they show no sign of improvement, of figuring out how to control
their powers, they are terminated. According to his records,
though, Chloe and Derek are different - their fate unknown.
Chloe and Tori manage to escape the institution with help from
Liz's ghost and Tori's spells - and no help from Tori's mother,
Mrs. Enright, who saw right through Chloe's reasoning to help the
Edison Group on their mission to find Derek and Simon. Tori and
Chloe attempt to part ways at this point - Tori saying she'd rather
go back to her father, who knows nothing of her powers. Here we get
to see some emotion on this strong, and usually scheming, character
- her dad ends up calling her mom, who comes to meet her instead,
to bring her back to the Edison Group. Now, Tori has no choice but
to stay with Chloe.
The girls take up shelter in a shed and wait for Derek and Simon
(who left a very clever drawing of graffiti on a building for
them). That night, Chloe manages to raise the soul of a dead bat,
turning it into a zombie bat. While at first I thought this was a
useless part of information, if showed the reader one thing - Chloe
needs to know how her powers work and how to control them.
Eventually Derek and Simon show up and the four of them set off to
find a friend of the boys' father, Andrew, who can help them get
Rachelle and Aunt Lauren out of the institution. Their journey is
met with plenty of adventures, from Chloe accidentally creating
another zombie while dreaming to Chloe and Derek meeting more
werewolves. The action is never-ending throughout this novel, which
is great for the reader - it makes for a real page-turner. Tori is
her usual self, but throughout the book her and Chloe get to like
each other slightly more. Dereck learns to control his emotions
around Chloe, and to tolerate Tori.
There seems to be a hint of romance in this book and it reminds me
of the Edward/Jacob issue in Twilight - will readers go for Simon?
Or will they turn towards Derek? Throughout the book, Simon is the
one who is quieter, more like Chloe, and is always thinking that
Derek won't know how to control his emotions. Derek, on the other
hand, shares many moments with Chloe - his second encounter with
turning into a werewolf, being one big one - and gets more personal
with her, sharing stories of his childhood. Chloe starts to feel a
"funny feeling" in her stomach when she's around Derek - something
that never comes into fruition in this book, but romance-lovers
will probably jump at the chance to see who Chloe picks in the
third book.
By the end of the book, they are found by the Edison Group again,
and are trying to escape. The four managed to find Andrews house,
but it was abandoned - similar to when Simon and Derek's dad left
suddenly when they were younger. They manage to escape, again, from
the Edison Group, but only with the help of Andrew - the Edison
Group's one hostage - who takes off with the EG's van to rescue our
main characters.
We are left with a cliffhanger, but also a sense of resolution -
the group found Andrew - and now Armstrong has set up the premise
for the next installment: Get back to the institution and rescue
Rachelle and Aunt Lauren from their evil clutches. And will there
be any development in the love triangle in the next book? We'll
have to wait and find out!