Awaken by Meg Cabot

Awaken by Meg Cabot
Series: Abandon #1
Publisher: Macmillan
Publication Date: September 26th 2013
Source: Library

Death has her in his clutches. She doesn’t want him to let go.

Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera knew by accepting the love of John Hayden, she’d be forced to live forever in the one place she’s always dreaded most: the Underworld. The sacrifice seemed worth it, though, because it meant she could be with the boy she loves.

But now her happiness — and safety — are threatened, all because the Furies have discovered that John has broken one of their strictest rules: He revived a human soul.

If the balance between life and death isn’t fixed, both the Underworld and Pierce’s home back on earth will be wiped away. But there’s only one way to restore order. Someone has to die.

I read Abandon and Underworld last year and I was super excited for this one when I'd finished those two. But, by the time this one came out, I'd completely forgotten what had happened in the first two and I just couldn't be bothered re-reading them. I just dove straight into this one hoping that there would be some re-capping. There was a little, but I still don't remember much of what happened in the first two.

I actually didn't enjoy Awaken as much as I remember enjoying the first two (although I may have been very lenient about the star rating I gave them since I read them before I started blogging), but it wasn't awful. 

Pierce came across as a strong character (most of the time) in this book. All of the power was on her shoulders and she managed to handle everything and also make some changes. The only times she didn't appear strong were when she was moping over John. She was so focused on him and it was like her whole life revolved around him and she would do absolutely anything for him. It started to get pretty annoying.

John wasn't as swoony as I remember him being. He was broody and mysterious, but I'd completely lost my attraction for him. Maybe it was because he always wanted Pierce to stay behind while he went off to fight and it started to really bug me. He didn't realise how strong and independent Pierce was and it annoyed me.

Pierce and John's relationship was... strange. There's no other word for it. He's the ruler of the underworld (basically) and she's a human. They were both so reliant on each other (Pierce especially) and I just didn't enjoy their relationship in this one.

The storyline was interesting, but there were parts of it that I found completely ridiculous. Some parts felt like they were just thrown in to make the book longer, and I honestly didn't care about most of it. I was just interested in seeing how everything worked out in the end. The ending was good and was definitely a great ending to the series, but like I said, I just didn't enjoy this one as much as the first two.

Overall, I'd still recommend reading this book. If it's been a while since you read Abandon and Underworld, I'd definitely recommend re-reading them before starting on this one.