Author: K.A. Riley
Awaken is the second book in the Cure Chronicles by K.A. Riley. The story continues from the first book (The Cure, see blog here) when Ashen Spencer, the daughter of the founder of the Consortium, who fights the Directorate, escapes the Arc – a structure built after biological warfare that houses millions of wealthy who were able to buy a place in the Arc to shield themselves, and who take Dregs – the poor, left behind after biological warfare that killed the adults but spared children. Dregs come on their 17th birthday and try to earn their space in an elite society of the Arc run by the self-proclaimed aristocracy, which is the wealthiest of the Arc society.
Ashen was nearly killed in The Cure, the first book in the chronicle and the second book, Awaken, follows the story of her escape from the Arc in search of the Consortium, a rebel organisation founded by her father. But, before she reaches the Consortium, she first ends up in the so-called Bastille, a different organisation that used to be a part of the Consortium but nowadays has its standing and somehow the Directorate does not try to eradicate Bastille’s existence. Whilst Ashen tries to figure this out, she also learns about strange practices of the Bastille including girls coming out of age, and at the age of 18 being married to mysterious men and leaving the Bastille. As it turns out later, these marriages are linked to the Cure, which – as we learnt in book 1 – is an antidote against the biological weapon the Blight rather than a cure. As if all this is not enough, when Ashen’s life is in danger in the Bastille – after she discovers the true nature of the organisation – she finally finds the Consortium but only to find out that her brother Kel has been kidnapped from the Directorate and unknowing of his fate, Ashen goes back to the Arc to search for her brother where she then finds herself in an impossible choice, to choose between her life and the life of a person who helped her the most…
This second book in the Cure chronicles continues with criticism of elitism (represented by the Arc society) and the treatment of the poor (the Dregs), and moves towards celebrating resistance (the Consortium) whilst at the same time, not portraying all residents of the Arc, or all the wealthy, as evil and recognizing that they are too prisoners, and many are misguided on true intentions of the Directorate with resistance rising. I really liked this impartiality and reasonable portrayal of elites because, indeed, we should never generalize and assume that some people are fundamentally bad and some are fundamentally good. However, what was striking in this second book is also the celebration of nature. When Ashen escapes the Arc, she particularly enjoys the simple bird song and the sound of the trees in the wind, which is described as simple yet beautiful. I really enjoyed these descriptions because I too often sit in the garden and listen to birds, and there have been several times in my life when trees provided me with the comfort I needed in times of struggle. An interesting defense of the Arc emerged from one of their allies and believers, the Arc – in this view – whilst elitist, saved the planet by locking up millions of people in the Arc, ending the pollution of the planet, which started to recover. I thought this argument was very interesting and it could be probably justified had people been allowed to survive outside of the Arc without being bullied into coming to serve as well as used in many evil ways, which this second book, Awaken, vividly portrays …
I am already reading book 3 in this innovative book chronicle, which could provide for an outstanding TV series. It seems that when it comes to sci-fi, I truly enjoy dystopian stories the most so will be looking for further books on this theme.
Thank you for reading!