Review - The Awakening (Darkest Powers, Book 2) by Kelley Armstrong (3/5 stars)

This is the second book in the Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong.  I liked this book slightly better than the first book in the series.  I have read the first few books in Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series and liked those okay.

The beginning of this book finds Chloe and crew trapped in the medical facilities; while Simon and Derek are still at large...right where the first book left off.  The medical team wants to get Chloe and her friends to help find the boys.  A jailbreak ensues and most of the book deals with Chloe and friends living life on the run; trying to hunt down Simon's dad and figure out the bigger evil plot that is going on.

This is another story of genetic engineering gone arwy and leaving people (in this case supernaturals) with unpredictable power.  The powers aren't well defined and the characters don't put a lot of effort into testing their abilities or trying to understand them...they just kind of stumble through the story.  The story is still engaging because the characterse are constantly on the run and being hunted.

I am still not that into the characters in this series.  I thought the first book was okay and this book is only slightly better than the first one. Chloe is still pretty helpless, although she tries to get a better handle on her powers in this book.  Derek and Simon are by far the most interesting characters in this series.  This book did move faster than the first one and overall, was paced much better.  The story was engaging, but I am still not finding it all that exciting.

The characters and their problems seem kind of blah to me...maybe I just read too much paranormal.  I feel like this plot has been done many times before.  None of the characters really grabbed me and I didn't feel like there was great chemistry between any of them either.  I am still trying to decide if I will even read the third book in this series "The Reckoning" because to be honest I have absolutely no interest in what happens to these characters.  This book ends with another cliffhanger...and I always hate it when authors don't give any closure to the reader.

Overall an okay book.  Nothing to write home about.  I still think there are other better YA paranormal series out there.  Try Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead,  Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz, or Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz .


This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- The Young Adult Reading Challenge
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge