eliana12's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. This was a fun read that was very fast paced and included lots of action-packed scenes. The main character seemed a bit one-dimensional, but the side characters were better. The plot was easy to follow and may have been too easy to follow as I lost interest in reading the second book fairly quickly after I finished this one. Nothing really stood out to me about this book. It had some cool elements, certainly. I liked it, but felt that it was lacking something crucial. I am still unsure what that might be. I would recommend this to reluctant teen readers, due to its fast pace and quick reveals. Fun book for sure!
bookgeek25's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked the idea of it! Looking forward to the second book! :D
bak8382's review
3.0
While initially an interesting premise, the story definitely lost steam in the middle.
carstensena's review
3.0
A little too much going on here, but solid, plausible future world. And loved the Beatles chapter titles.
nicolesottiriou's review
5.0
I love the Beatles references made throughout the book. The characters are diverse and priceless. I always loved Joph, but I loved her even more when I discovered her true self towards the end of the book.
This book has so many great lines. I couldn't help but mark them up and underline them. It's a great dystopian novel that speaks to our world today. There are so many things going on: the denial of human rights, the massacre of people deemed less human than others, the overuse of Earth's precious resources. We know it, yet we don't do anything, myself included. Healy writes, "Thinking about and fighting some of the world's multiple horrors had made my life more painful. But it was a much larger life than I would have lived otherwise" (252). We can live our silent lives of ignorance. Or, we can do something to change things. I still don't know what choice I'd make, but it's something I'll be thinking about for a long time.
This book has so many great lines. I couldn't help but mark them up and underline them. It's a great dystopian novel that speaks to our world today. There are so many things going on: the denial of human rights, the massacre of people deemed less human than others, the overuse of Earth's precious resources. We know it, yet we don't do anything, myself included. Healy writes, "Thinking about and fighting some of the world's multiple horrors had made my life more painful. But it was a much larger life than I would have lived otherwise" (252). We can live our silent lives of ignorance. Or, we can do something to change things. I still don't know what choice I'd make, but it's something I'll be thinking about for a long time.
dani_bugz's review
4.0
Honestly? I wasn't expecting much when I picked this one up.
I am incredibly glad I gave it a go.
The pacing is excellent, the characters are real and tangible in my mind, and the plot was well structured and thought out. While I occasionally thought the dialogue was a touch lacking and I wished for a bit more in certain areas, this was an enjoyable and gripping read. I would definitely recommend it!
I am incredibly glad I gave it a go.
The pacing is excellent, the characters are real and tangible in my mind, and the plot was well structured and thought out. While I occasionally thought the dialogue was a touch lacking and I wished for a bit more in certain areas, this was an enjoyable and gripping read. I would definitely recommend it!
biblialex's review
4.0
Why do I ever bother pretending I'm going to stop reading YA dystopias? When We Wake features a future where politics, technology, and society have all been shaped by the effects of climate change. Love isn't forbidden, children don't battle to the death, and nobody's assigned to factions. The future that Tegan wakes up in if different than the past she remembers, but it's not unrecognizable. One of the most realistic aspects was Tegan's realization that as much as humanity advances, people still have the same shortcomings as they ever did. Recommended for readers who liked [b:A Long Long Sleep|10271616|A Long, Long Sleep (Rosalinda Fitzroy #1)|Anna Sheehan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320556385s/10271616.jpg|10644254] or [b:The Adoration of Jenna Fox|1902241|The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles, #1)|Mary E. Pearson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388715600s/1902241.jpg|1903936].
storytimed's review
3.25
Spoiler
This is a YA sci-fi Australian novel about a teenage girl who gets shot at a climate protest, cryogenically frozen and wakes up 100 years in the futureI wish I liked this more?? I really enjoyed Healey's previous work, Guardian of the Dead, but somehow the very basic modern white girl protagonist didn't work for me
Like, Teagan's love interest is............... a guy she mistook for her dead ex-boyfriend who was the same race, and then got accused of being racist for calling him by her ex's name
There's a little bit of interesting Commentary on Australian hostility to migrants and how that extrapolates to the future - Teagan is very pro-migrant and in a very satisfying aired interview calls out the establishment of the time because the future was supposed to be better, her generation was supposed to fix things and then they just fucking didn't
I love teenage climate rage!!!
But aside from that, the book was fairly standard
raven_morgan's review
4.0
Tegan Oglietti is sixteen and on her way to an environmental protest with her best friend Alex and boyfriend of one day, Dalmar. She is happy and ready to take on the world. Then a sniper attempts to assassinate the Prime Minister and hits Tegan instead.
The next thing Tegan knows, she is waking up to her "second life". It is a hundred years later, and Tegan has been cryogenically frozen, a volunteer by stint of a form she signed allowing her body to be left to science. Everyone she knew and loved is dead.
The world has changed. Climate change has occurred: the seas have risen, temperatures have increased, meat eating is a rare thing, seen as earth hating.
From the beginning, Tegan fights. For information, for a computer, for freedom. She manages to get her way: moved to a house (mostly located belowground for coolness) with Marie, the head of the cryogenic revival project, and allowed to attend school. There she meets Bethari, Joph and Abdi, the boy who she mistakes at first for Dalmar.
Tegan is a believable and likeable protagonist. From the first page her voice is clear and true, and it is easy to always be on her side, even when she makes decisions that put her in danger. Healey writes her with a good balance of being scared and intrigued by the world she is reborn into. She sees the positive things - a world which is more ecologically aware, where gender, sexuality and race are more accepted in all of their variations. And she also sees the negatives immediately - Australia's no immigration policy, and the attitude towards people from the third world.
Each of the other teenage characters is written as well as Tegan. All of them are believable and all have their own voices and personality - this isn't a book where you find yourself having to figure out which character is which (as often happens in a lot of YA, I've found).
The pacing of the book is great, too, aided by a technique where Healey intersperses Tegan telling her story in the present (and inserting little nuggets of information to keep the reader interested) and in the past. Tegan is a fan of the Beatles, a fact that is used well to ground the reader and make Tegan more relatable in world foreign to the reader (but one that is all too easily imagined as a future of this world).
There is definitely a lot more to be explored in this future world, and in the conspiracies that Tegan and her friends have only begun to uncover.
Absolutely worth the read. I'll be looking forward to the next book.
The next thing Tegan knows, she is waking up to her "second life". It is a hundred years later, and Tegan has been cryogenically frozen, a volunteer by stint of a form she signed allowing her body to be left to science. Everyone she knew and loved is dead.
The world has changed. Climate change has occurred: the seas have risen, temperatures have increased, meat eating is a rare thing, seen as earth hating.
From the beginning, Tegan fights. For information, for a computer, for freedom. She manages to get her way: moved to a house (mostly located belowground for coolness) with Marie, the head of the cryogenic revival project, and allowed to attend school. There she meets Bethari, Joph and Abdi, the boy who she mistakes at first for Dalmar.
Tegan is a believable and likeable protagonist. From the first page her voice is clear and true, and it is easy to always be on her side, even when she makes decisions that put her in danger. Healey writes her with a good balance of being scared and intrigued by the world she is reborn into. She sees the positive things - a world which is more ecologically aware, where gender, sexuality and race are more accepted in all of their variations. And she also sees the negatives immediately - Australia's no immigration policy, and the attitude towards people from the third world.
Each of the other teenage characters is written as well as Tegan. All of them are believable and all have their own voices and personality - this isn't a book where you find yourself having to figure out which character is which (as often happens in a lot of YA, I've found).
The pacing of the book is great, too, aided by a technique where Healey intersperses Tegan telling her story in the present (and inserting little nuggets of information to keep the reader interested) and in the past. Tegan is a fan of the Beatles, a fact that is used well to ground the reader and make Tegan more relatable in world foreign to the reader (but one that is all too easily imagined as a future of this world).
There is definitely a lot more to be explored in this future world, and in the conspiracies that Tegan and her friends have only begun to uncover.
Absolutely worth the read. I'll be looking forward to the next book.
shesnicky's review
5.0
Where do I start? First of all, characters! So many unique characters and all with background and quirk. Each character to me seemed vastly different. Tumblr rages about the lack of differentiation and acceptance in books, well look no further because this book has lgbt characters a plenty and although not vast, a decent collection of race.
Now about plot, the idea of someone being frozen only to awake 100 years later? In my opinion? Captivating. At times while reading it felt so wrong and strange for simply everyone to have moved on and left Tegan behind. Yet thats life. When We Wake is amazing and I would highly recommend! However, this book would most likely suit 12-15 year olds about. My 50 year old father wouldnt be able to stand it and my 25 year old sister would probably find it distasteful. Books are all a matter of opinion though so who can say!
Now about plot, the idea of someone being frozen only to awake 100 years later? In my opinion? Captivating. At times while reading it felt so wrong and strange for simply everyone to have moved on and left Tegan behind. Yet thats life. When We Wake is amazing and I would highly recommend! However, this book would most likely suit 12-15 year olds about. My 50 year old father wouldnt be able to stand it and my 25 year old sister would probably find it distasteful. Books are all a matter of opinion though so who can say!