Awaken is the third and final book in Meg Cabot's Abandon series which is basically the Greek myth of Persephone being taken to the Underworld retold in the modern day. This series focuses on Pierce Olivieria who is brought back to life by the mysterious John Hayden. When she tries to move on from this, she begins to see John everywhere and starts to fall for him as he falls for her. Because Pierce has been revived thanks to John, she is a target for the Furies, unhappy souls who dislike their final resting place and possess weak willed people. Furies want to throw the Underworld into chaos and targeting Pierce could do that because it would distract John so he takes her to the Underworld, at a price; she can no longer return home and has to stay with him forever as he sorts souls with his crew.
Rating: 7
Recommended To: Paranormal and/or myth lovers; good for holidays
Favourite Characters: John - formidable and strong; Reed - new, interesting
Favourite Part: When the lights flickered back on a second later, causing us all to blink, I saw that there was a tall figure, standing behind Seth who hadn't been there before. - Page 178-9
Good Points: Good rewrite of the myth; new characters; easy to get back into; symbolism
Bad Points: Too simply resolved; not exactly a good moral lesson; old characters seem forgotten
Awaken takes placed after Underworld with John, Pierce, and John's crew sort the souls in the Underworld while Alex, Pierce's cousin, comes to grips with having been brought back to life and not being able to leave the Underworld like Pierce. Meanwhile, Pierce has come to accept her fate of being Death's consort and not being able to leave the Underworld and starts to help out around there even though John is protective and refuses to let her help with the more evil souls. The book opens with Pierce standing with the good souls as they wait for the ships to come and take them to their respective final resting places.
Recommended To: Paranormal and/or myth lovers; good for holidays
Favourite Characters: John - formidable and strong; Reed - new, interesting
Favourite Part: When the lights flickered back on a second later, causing us all to blink, I saw that there was a tall figure, standing behind Seth who hadn't been there before. - Page 178-9
Good Points: Good rewrite of the myth; new characters; easy to get back into; symbolism
Bad Points: Too simply resolved; not exactly a good moral lesson; old characters seem forgotten
Awaken takes placed after Underworld with John, Pierce, and John's crew sort the souls in the Underworld while Alex, Pierce's cousin, comes to grips with having been brought back to life and not being able to leave the Underworld like Pierce. Meanwhile, Pierce has come to accept her fate of being Death's consort and not being able to leave the Underworld and starts to help out around there even though John is protective and refuses to let her help with the more evil souls. The book opens with Pierce standing with the good souls as they wait for the ships to come and take them to their respective final resting places.
I enjoy
Greek mythology because the stories are interesting with the multiple gods and
goddesses. I really love how Cabot
rewrote the Persephone myth and set it in the modern day; it reintroduces the
myth to a new generation and encourages them to look back at the original
myth. Though myths aren't a part of our
society like it used to be but it's part of our culture as our stories are basically
reiterations of the same stories. Cabot
put a good spin on the Persephone story with Pierce being more accepting of her
fate than Persephone because it wouldn't be really appropriate now for
teenagers to read about a girl being abducted then raped in the Underworld as
many people would be in uproar about it all.
Pierce comes to terms with what happens to her and falls in love with
John and believes she has a reason to stay in the Underworld as she cares for
him as well as the crew and she seems to have brought back his more caring
nature that had been lost over the years.
I loved how
Cabot added new characters to the series that weren't part of either Pierce's
and John's world directly. Though the
characters of Reed, Chloe, and Mrs. Engle seems irrelevant at first until later
on in the book which I thought was good as they added a fresh element to the
story as Pierce began to interact with the souls, showing that she's accepted
her role in the Underworld fully.
Having not
read this series for a while now, and I don't reread books so I can continue
with a series because it would take too long, it's a plus for me if a book series
is easy to get back into. Fortunately,
this series was really easy to continue without looking back as Cabot refreshed
my memory by summarising the key points of the previous books through this one;
such as Pierce being taken to the Underworld then trapped as well as Alex being
brought back to life during the Coffin Party.
This made the book easy to read as I was able to delve straight back in
and I wasn't frustrated by having to reread two other books of equal size.
I'm heading
back towards my university roots now but one thing that caught my attention,
and became something I loved, was the symbolism of the birds throughout the
book, as well as the series. Pierce keeps
as a dove, Hope, as a pet and to me, this says a lot because a dove symbolises
peace, love, and innocence; Hope was given to Pierce by John as a peace
offering for trapping her in the Underworld as well as being a gift of love to
show her how much he cares for her. It's
not just the type of bird that Hope is, but what she does that makes her great
as a form of symbolism because her disappearance is a physical representation
of hope disappearing in Pierce's life and when she returns, she brings it
back. It's not subtle symbolism but I think
it's sweet and little things like that can make a book for me.
Some people
don't like John because they see him as rude and unapproachable as well as
overprotective because of how he behaves with Pierce at first by kidnapping her
and not allowing her to leave his home; but from what I understand, he is like
this because he's lived in the Underworld for a large number of years and it
has hardened him. However, John is one
of my favourite characters of the series because he has a strong sense of right
and wrong and has had it throughout the series; he's also a formidable foe,
making him a force to be reckoned with which is great in his job, Death. It's also clear to me that he cares for
Pierce and that's why he's harsh with her, as a way of protecting her from the
harshness of his reality despite the fact that they love one another.
While John is
my favourite character of the entire trilogy, Reed is my favourite character of
this book because he brings a breath of fresh air from my point of view and is
the new eye candy (or mind candy seen as he's a fictional character from a
book). He finds the whole concept of
this world and Pierce's home, Isla Huesos, completely ridiculous which I found
amusing because when you say the entire concept out loud, it sounds odd.
Even though
I like this book, the ending seemed to be easily resolved after
everything. All of the characters have
gone through such as dying or watching their loved ones die but then everything
is easily resolved with everyone alive and well and happy by some miracle. It's not that I don't like happy endings but everything
became very happy very quickly and a sense of reality (even a small bit with
this being a paranormal fiction book) was lost for me. Cabot could have left some things unresolved
as it could have made the ending more intriguing as the reader could ponder what
would happen to these characters.
Despite the fact that I like the new characters, I felt that the characters that had been introduced earlier in the series seem neglected. All of John's crew played a major part throughout the series and then just disappeared from this book for me. I quite liked them because they brought this sense of comradery in John's world that deals with evil spirits set to destroy said world and this goes away slightly when they are not mentioned, despite the fact that these characters have bonded with Pierce and are loyal to her so they would be there for her just like they would for John.
Despite the fact that I like the new characters, I felt that the characters that had been introduced earlier in the series seem neglected. All of John's crew played a major part throughout the series and then just disappeared from this book for me. I quite liked them because they brought this sense of comradery in John's world that deals with evil spirits set to destroy said world and this goes away slightly when they are not mentioned, despite the fact that these characters have bonded with Pierce and are loyal to her so they would be there for her just like they would for John.
When the lights flickered back on a second later, causing us all to blink, I saw that there was a tall figure, standing behind Seth who hadn't been there before. - Page 178-9
This was my
favourite part just because of John and the presence he has; this part
summarises the darker side of John which is what I find appealing because
there's nothing wrong with a little fantasy about the bad boy. This also shows how formidable he is as well
for me because of the following part where he punches Seth, it just made me
laugh.
So now I come to the end of the series and while this wasn't one of my favourite series, I liked it and thoroughly recommend it. It's definitely one of those books you'd take to read by the pool when you're on holiday because it's an easy read.
So now I come to the end of the series and while this wasn't one of my favourite series, I liked it and thoroughly recommend it. It's definitely one of those books you'd take to read by the pool when you're on holiday because it's an easy read.
Other Books By Meg Cabot
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