Reawakened (Reawakened, #1)

by Colleen Houck

[meowstina]

I received an advance reader’s copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I was pretty interested in the premise of this book, and the writing and narrative voice in the beginning were promising. Lilliana is very privileged and sheltered, which creates a lot of character development, but it also makes things very convenient along the way. This is an adventure that leads from New York City to Egypt, where her companion must search for his brothers to essentially save the world. A lot of Amon’s powers are also very convenient, which is always unsettling to me. For every question Lily has, there is a reasonable and conclusive explanation, and for every obstacle a solution. It all almost reads like a question and answer, or a textbook on Egyptian history. I don’t know how much of it is true or fabricated, but I’m assuming mostly the latter purely because of the convenience factor.

There is a lot of yearning and romance in this book, which I am never a fan of. I understand Lily and Amon have a special bond, but I don’t know what she sees in him. Even though he has a way with words, he’s stoic and cold, and that’s about it for personality. But Lily is obsessed with him and reads all of his actions the opposite of what he actually feels, which can get a little old. It all happened so fast, too. This is a long, long book, and a lot happens, but in a rather short amount of time. I just didn’t understand the romance.

As a character Lily starts off pretty well, but gets a little annoying towards the end. Amon’s brothers are probably my favourite, because they’re funny and charming. Thinking about it now, though, the characters all seemed to be one-note.

This is not a horrible book by any means, even after all I’ve said. It started off strong, but evidently faltered for me. It’s an okay story, but there are a lot of factors of which I’m not a fan.