Awaken

The cover on this book is simply stunning. Simple, elegant, and beautiful. Interestingly enough, the story is also about all the beauty and nature this society has lost. With a need for technology that borders on the pathological, and a complete abandonment of anything natural for that which is safe, controlled, and digital, this cover is a natural fit (pun intended) for Katie Kacvinsky's Awaken.Maddie's father is the created of Digital School (DS), a new education system designed to keep kids safe. Slowly, violence in schools grew until schools became actual terrorist targets. When 10 years ago, 17 elementary schools were bombed and thousands of young children had been killed, Maddie's dad developed a system that provide equal education for everyone without them ever having to leave the house. Slowly, with the help of DS, the world has become completely anti-social. No one interacts, computer profiles are considered the best way to "meet" people, and society has become so detached they can't even remember what they lost.Maddie, 17, has spent the better part of the last two years on "lockdown". When she was 15, she broke into her father's files and gave information to DS protesters. She thought the information was going to be used for protests, but instead it was used to blow up transmitting stations for DS. She wasn't arrested because of who her father was, but she was forbidden to leave the house for almost anything until she was 18 and all her digital time was carefully blocked and monitored. Still, she craves human interaction (although at times she can't admit it to herself). When she meets a boy online who encourages her to meet him in person, she can't resist. He turns out to be quite the mysterious young man who always talks about the way society is falling apart thanks to DS and the virtual world.At first she is drawn to Justin and his world of experiences, life, and human contact. Quickly, however, she realizes this was no random meeting- Justin had been looking for her. He and his group knew about her previous attack on DS and want to use her to get information from her father. At first Maddie is furious, but she quickly realizes the protesters might be right when her father lets her be taken away to a detention center for breaking her probation. When Justin's group saves her, they take her to a safe house in a town like she had never seen before: real trees, a bonfire (when her society screams how dangerous fire is), good food (as opposed to prepackaged, vitamin enhanced garbage everyone eats now), and most importantly, people. Here she begins to see the error of her father's ways and the lengths he will go to protect his creation, no matter how obviously flawed it has become.This story has very mild language and is of a moderate reading level. There are some slow spots, so the book might be better for a stronger reader who can wade through them. While the content could have been rather violent, it is actually very tame. The protests aren't particularly violent, and even the police don't carry real guns- just a sedative dart to stop who they are chasing. Therefore, this might be good for a strong skilled yet immature student who isn't ready for more mature content.I have to say, I thought this was going to be a fairly straight-forward dystopia, but it turned out to be more of a romance. I found myself at times wishing we could get past Maddie's pining for Justin and learn more about the world and the resistance. Even though the romance overshadowed the world-building a bit too much, the book was still an interesting read. I think the romance might be a good bridge for a student who really doesn't read the PA/dystopia genre to read something new, since it isn't too far from reality. The overuse of technology is a really interesting angle, especially with more and more schools offering online programs. With violence and huge discrepancies in education today, the idea of Digital School isn't completely ridiculous. The repercussions, however, are clearly too great to consider it. As kids these days become more and more glued to their game stations, computers, mobile devices, and technology in general, it is hard not to forget what we lose- do kids choose to go outside or choose to turn on their game console? The ideas behind this story provide a great backdrop for conversations about technology and the difference between using it and falling slave to it. So, are you ready to break away from the computer and give it a try?!

Awaken Series Book #1AwakenInitially Read on August 13, 2014 I gave this book 4 of 5 stars and highly recommend it. ** spoiler alert ** ***SPOILER WARNING!!!!****Through her internal monologue, as well as her interchanges with the other characters, it is evident that Maddie is ready to join the resistance against the DS (Digital School) and her father. The story develops to reveal her first rebellion at the age of 15, and we learn that it was not a minor rebellion but a catalyst for protest against the DS. This puts her on the radar of a major movement of nationwide resistance movement.It is easy to see that her feelings at 17 have been building just under the surface since her first rebellion. This makes her inclined to give into the seduction of the resistance and the enigmatic leader Justin. She is initiated into the face-to-face world developing her first real friends. Clare makes an excellent best friend... the only true one she has ever had; and she has the ability to ease Maddie's transition into a brave new face-to-face world.However, Maddie still young and inexperienced in the real world. She has a potential to make mistakes that will put her on a collision course with the law. She is taken into custody and bound for the Detention Center in Iowa. Justin arranges for her interception and subsequent transport to him in California. Despite needing to continue to recruit for the resistance, Justin can't deny his need to spend alone time with Maddie even as he tries to overcome. Before they leave their little bubble of isolation away from the real world, Maddie slowly chips away at the wall Justin keeps between himself and everyone else.As they arrive for a short visit to Eden, they already falling in love face-to-face in a digital world. It becomes very obvious by the end of this book that they have a special connection.Really good initial book in this trilogy. I especially like the way the title can apply to more than one of the characters. I really enjoyed this book and found it to be well written. The protagonists are well developed characters who are both lovable and inspiring. There is excitement in Maddie's awakening to the real face-to-face world, in her daring and dangerous adventures, and in her discovery of real love.

This book is a dystopian novel which allows the reader to imagine what horrors await us in the future. Similarly to The Hunger Games and Divergent series, Kacvinsky envisions a world which is nothing to be desired and paints a unappealing future where technology rules everything we do. Maddie, the protagonist, is a seventeen year old girl who finds using technology as normal as breathing. From waking up in the morning to attending digital school, (of which her father is the creator,) Maddie relies on computers for everything. Face to face interaction between people is almost inexistent and life has become unsurprising and safe. At the beginning of the novel, Maddie’s life seems fairly uneventful. However, as the plot develops, secrets of Maddie’s past are uncovered and streaks of her distant rebellious nature are revealed when she meets Justin, a digital school rebellion, who wants nothing more than to have the past back again.Kacvinsky successful creates a realistic future that makes the reader reflect on how much humanity relies on technology. She portrays computers and technology as very advanced, but, while the reader is made to see them for their negative impact on society, Kacvinsky doesn’t make it unrealistic with a ‘computers are taking over the world’ plot. I really enjoyed the way the book was written, especially the imagery she used, making the writing even more powerful and profound: “here is life passing, like clouds drifting over the sky, yet they don’t see what’s right in front of them. They believe there is something more substantial going on in that little screen in their hands.” The book contained a lot of likeable characters. This, with an interesting plot, made for an easy and light read. On the other hand, I thought the plot was a bit predictable in places, especially concerning the relationship between Maddie and Justin, however it was a satisfying and optimistic element to contrast the overall disheartening backdrop of the book.Predictably there are two more books following Awaken – adding yet another dystopian teen trilogy to the world of literature. Although I mostly enjoyed the novel and am a little interested about what happens next, I am in no hurry to read the others. The plot was simple and I have no urge to continue now. The reason for this is mainly because the book was never gripping enough to make it a page turner, I could easily leave it for a few days. I have to admit though, that unlike other dystopian novels, I thought this one was the most realistic of all, making you wonder what awaits us in a few decades. If this bleak insight is any clue, it doesn’t give much hope for a bright future.

I read this book a few months ago on Amanda's recommendation, and it's taken me a while to write the review. Why I hear you ask?, not because I didn't like this book, it's because I loved it. Every now and again I read a book that I ended up loving so much that part of me wants to keep it to myself, and this is what happened with this book. I thought 'I just wont review it, if people mention the book I'll tell them how much I liked it' but then it hit me, if Amanda didn't tell me and everyone else how much she loved this book and why, I would never have picked it up. I would have missed out on what was a brilliant start to the series.I think my absolute favourite thing about this book is how uniquely it captures something that we are faced with day to day. Not enough people in the 21st century connect one to one with people, everything is done via social media websites. Instead of going out to a bar to meet people we rely on online dating and we can even order shopping to our doors. We can do pretty much anything we want to in the comfort of our own home, never really having to leave it all thanks to the internet. Of course its more convenient but we have become hooked and so concerned with what's going on in the world of facebook, that we have forgotten to focus on our real life relationship .Maddie lives her life through a computer. She goes to online school, online book clubs, online everything. She rarely ventures out of her house and has convinced herself that she's ok with the isolation, that she has proper friends even though she can tell people whatever she wants them to know, something that we can all be guilty of at one point or another. One day, on the request of an online friend, she takes herself to a face to face study group, where she meets the boy behind the computer, Justin. Right from the start Maddie can see that Justin is everything she's not, he's unplugged, and given the fact that her father is the creator of the virtual world she's been living behind for years, could he be after more than friendship?On the face of things Awaken is just another dystipian book, but underneath all the layers and what could be classed as cliché and stereotype to the genre, we have something that's wonderfully new and so relatable that I dare you not to connect to it in some way. The world building though good, wasn't perfect but Katie Kacvinsky did her best to try and make you picture a future that isn't hundreds of years away but a mere 48 and in doing so has made something that is completely plausible.What little that I found lacking in the world building, was more than made up for with the amazing characters. In the form of the main protagonist we have Maddie, a highly intelligent young girl. She is confident, strong minded and fearless. We watch have to struggle and come to terms with what she's believed all her life, what he father has told and her own sense of right and wrong. Next we have Justin, someone who is equally confident and opinionated but can at times come across as pushy. He's lived his life outside of the box for so long that it's like he almost forgets that others have never known any different. However saying that, I loved watching these characters grow and become more at one with who they are and what they need to do.As well as watching the characters grow into themselves, we also witness them start to open up and trust each other. Feelings start to grow and relationship may or may not be taken to no level. I'm not going to tell you if they end up with each other at the end because its something you can find out on your own, what I will say is that the way the feelings developed over time was in my eyes, perfect. They both really come out of their shell in a lovely and natural way. Too often do with have romances thrown in our faces that are so forced and thankfully that wasn't the case in this story.All in all as you can tell, I pretty much loved this book. Apart from a few problems with the world building, the over opinionatedness of Justin and waiting on the edge of my seat for so much as a kiss, it was in my opinion such a fresh spin on the dysopian genre

I think the most frigtening thing about this book is that the events in it could actually happen. At the start of the book you are propelled into a world where the majority of people do not leave their homes and interact with other people via computers through various social networking sites. I think the intial messgae of this books about the problems of new technology inhibiting social interaction is actually quite a poignant in today's day and age.At the start of the book you met Maddie as she makes a rare venture out of house into the big wide world to attend a study group. Her parents, well her father in particular come across as very controlling not wanting her to attend what we today would see as an ordinary and everyday thing. It is there she meets Justin which is where the story really starts from. Justin doesn't like all the technology invading his day to day life and opens Maddie's eyes to the world without technology.I will not go into detail about the plot of the story in too much detail but I did love several things about it. I loved the relationship that was built up between Justin and Maddie as the story went on. I love Maddie as a character and enjoyed seeing how she developed as the story went on. The whole anti-digital school movement was well done and was actually quite insightful in how the book portrayed the use of government sponsered propaganda in influencing the masses.All in all an excellent debut with insightful ideas, awesome characters and a pacey plot which I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend to others.

This was an okay book I like the love story in the book (which I usually can't really stand) but the whole plot didn't really engage me, it's like the writer was trying to force a rebellion on me, which I really felt there was no need for. I don't want to spoil the book in any way so I won't give any of the plot in this review, but needless to say once you have read it you will understand exactly what I mean. The plot doesn't really work because the book doesn't really work as dystopian fiction which is what I guess it is trying to be. It doesn't have enough depth and the characters are pretty one dimensional apart from Maybe the main male character who we get to know quite well. As for the main character her self i don't know what to think! She's pretty mediocre to be honest. The world setting wasn't great either I kept feeling like I didn't really fully get to understand the digital world so I couldn't fully get on board with the idea of it all. Over all I am left baffled and underwhelmed the ending was nothing to write home about and I would only read the second book probably because I'd like to know what happens between the two main characters ( and I'm not using the names of characters not because I'm scared to spoil it for you but because I finished the book around 10 mins ago and i have forgotten them already, which says a lot!) this book gets a 2.5 out of 5 for me but as I can't give half stars I round it up to a 3. I wouldn't say don't read it as I wouldn't want to sabotage the author like that but I also won't recommend it either. I'll read the next one when I'm out of good books to read.

I'm going to be straight up honest with you guys; I picked this book up mostly because of the cover. I was intrigued to see if it matched the synopsis and to my surprise it actually did! This book is a majestic new take on the dystopian genre. I know the book has been out for two years now but it's new to me and I haven't seen many reviews for it either.The dystopian genre has become increasingly popular over the last few years and even more so with the release of The Hunger Games trilogy. It is one of my favourite genres but lately I have felt that some of the books have gone a bit too far in terms of being realistic. So it was refreshing to read a book that was so utterly unique and one that I could actually see happening. I felt drawn to the idea of living a "digital life" as its happening already in everyday life. We use computers for everything and people are becoming confined hermits! Anyway, back to the review before I start ranting. I found it so easy to sink right into this book, a lot of the time it takes me a while to get into a book but with this one I didn't have any trouble at all. Katie Kacvinskys writing is so easy to read and flows perfectly as the story progresses. It managed to keep my attention and had me itching with anticipation!Alas, we're introduced to a lot of characters in this book so there are quite a few names to remember. But don't let this put you off as they all have an important role in the story. Kacvinsky has created a well-rounded bunch of characters that I was able to relate to and found myself empathising with. I ended up really caring for these characters and I wanted nothing more than for them to get what they wanted. Of course they will have to fight for what they believe in but I really do hope that they get what they want in the next few books. On a side note this is a series with two books that are already out and a third coming soon.There is a cheeky little bit of romance in this book but I think that's something you should expect when reading YA. However with this book it's the frustrating kind of romance. The romance that makes you wants to scream at the characters. It's the kind where they both like each other but are completely stubborn about it. I admit, I think it was a bit lame in the way that Maddie fell for Justin even though she didn't really know him and yet she was completely head over heels in love with him. But then there's Justin who's so dedicated to his work that he can't let anyone depend on him or love him. Oh look, it happens anyway. Yeah I did like them as a couple or "superfriends" as they would say but I think the way the author went about it was a bit iffy.Besides from the romance, Katie has created a wonderful dystopian world which kept me engrossed for hours. I'm excited to pick up the next instalment of this series to see how the author continues with the never-ending battle of humanity vs the digital world. I'm also quite interested in seeing how the characters develop and how they cope with the problems that they'll face. This book deserves all of the recognition that it gets and I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed it. It's worth the read, so go on, get your copy now and devour it like I did!