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The Awakened (2011)

by Jason Tesar(Favorite Author)

3.64 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

publisher

Jason Tesar, via Smashwords

series

The Awakened

review 1: I've had this book sitting on my kindle for a while and recently read the forward.Hearing the author tell the story of how his story and characters came to life and how long they've been living in his head drew me in.Chapter 1 hooked me. Then came the really confusing chapter 2...which I though my just be a side journey...nope.As I read, I kept expecting the diverging stories to come back together...things kept moving and kept changing to the point that I began to wonder if the author had ADD....but the story telling is too well done to put down.Then the end....Gahhh!!! Now I have to go get book 2!(BTW, book 1 is still free on kindle!)
review 2: I'm giving this book 2.5 stars but I'm rounding up because *fingers crossed* I'm hoping the next one will make up for... more this one.As previously stated in other reviews, The Awakened felt much like an extended prequel and not like the first book in a series. In my opinion, it's just far too much rambling made in such a way that it was long enough to be called a book even though it shouldn't even be a standalone book.It was difficult for me to get into this story at first. The beginning chapter is so entirely disconnected from the main content (although in the end it does tie together to give you a bit of an Aha moment) so I was pretty confused and had to re-read it a few times to make sure that my Kindle didn't somehow splice two different stories together.Now, as for the story itself: I felt that not all of the characters were someone I could relate to and that some of the "stereotypical" things were going on with their development.Adair was one of the few characters I sort of liked. It's such a shame that we got to see so little of him. As the Colonel and Governor of Bastul who had risen to his power without seeming to want it, he read off as the most realistic. Wary, careful, responsible and resourceful (if not a bit neglectful toward his wife). That sort of thing.Kael just... gosh I wanted to just skip virtually all of his story. While it was interesting to know what had truly happened to him (and I wonder why Lemus sent him off instead of killing him as he'd said he would), I hated that he was the stereotypical "I'm different from all the others, I don't fit in, I'm making friends but I feel all alone" type of character. Like, really? He was just a kid when this all started and while I do believe his internal struggle to conform to Ukiru's beliefs, I just don't like how "different" he was from the others. If the other children - even Soren who had initially seemed rebellious - could feel so at ease and comform, so could Kael. It felt as though the author just put that in to give Kael an excuse to run away.Saba bored me. Plain and simple. There's just not enough information there to keep my interest. I felt like he *could* be a pretty fascinating character (as long as his longevity and story aren't "mary sue") if I could only be given a little more to work with instead of grasping at straws. I don't really care about Adair's wife either although the slave woman, Zula, is interesting to me. I hope that their involvement in the story isn't over and that we get to see the consequences of their actions.Overall, this story felt very disjointed and slow. There were times when I felt like just saying "forget this" but then I remembered I spent money on the three books as a set so I figured I should at least give them a try. There were many parts of this story which could have been shortened considerably and the way the time just jumps around certainly didn't help. Months and years would pass from one narrative to the next which made it a bit confusing to follow. The ending was what really got to me though as that's what piqued my curiosity enough to want to give the second book a chance. How did he get there? What's going to happen? Are we going to hear more about Bastul and how the events there affect our modern world? All those questions lead me to giving the next book a try in the hopes that it will meet my expectations at delivering a real story and not just a very long prologue and set up for more character development. less

Download links for: The Awakened

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