3.10.2009

Review: Wake by Lisa McMann


Since eight years of age, Janie has been pulled into other peoples dreams. It's pretty easy to cover up at first, but when the dreams start including murderers and secrets, Janie wonders why its impossible for her to help. And then there's Cabel, and some of his dreams aren't so bad to be pulled into, but is he hiding things from her?

Again, Wake is one of those books almost everyone has said they loved. And don't get me wrong, the story was inventive and brilliant, but I didn't really like the style. There's a lot of very simple sentences [i.e. "Janie is happy" and the like] and a billion sentences without nouns, which annoys the living daylights out of me. 
However, this doesn't mean you won't like the story. I finished Wake in one night (but it is pretty short) because it flows nicely and is interesting. The premise is the whole reason I picked it up, and I think this society can tell that excellent writing isn't the reason books do well (i.e. Twilight). Ours is a time of good stories, and Wake is much more than a good story, it's a brilliant story (as I've said before).

Characters. Janie was well developed for a book of this length, but I felt there was something missing. I would have liked to see more of what it felt like to be pulled into dreams, and how exactly she starts to control it, but perhaps we will see more of that in the next book, Fade. The whole issue with Cabel kind of threw me at the end, but I guess it makes sense. I was hoping for something a little more... exciting, but it was a nice resolution.

In all, Wake is a book I would get at the library first to see if you like it. Personally, I wouldn't buy it, but I can see how many people (especially guys... I'm curious how they see it, but I imagine its that type of book) might love it. I enjoyed reading Wake, but I regret to say its not going on my favorites.

Rating: 3.5 Stars
Clean?: Some harsh language. Some sexuality (not explicit).

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