The Wake Trilogy

After looking through past posts, I don't believe I ever reviewed Wake. So this review is for the whole trilogy. 

Title: Wake, Fade, Gone

Author: Lisa McMann

Year Published: 2008-2010

I read the first in this trilogy months ago and finally got to the other two while on the boat. I can say that if I had written a review for just Wake, it would not be as positive as it will be for the whole trilogy.

I thought Wake alone was poor in its development. I had too many questions. It just didn't seem like enough happened. And then suddenly the police were involved and Janie was working for them. It didn't flow for me.

Once I got into Fade and Gone, my questions were answered and everything was made more clear. I took the reality of every situation with a grain of salt. I feel that this series could easily be turned into an episodic television show for a station like ABC Family or the CW. Each of the story lines could be spread out and expanded upon. By the third book, I was excitedly flipping to the next page. I think I may have read Gone in one sitting. 

Although I don't think the series is up to par with some more recent YA trilogies, I enjoyed it. It felt to me like a book I would have picked up at a book fair in middle school, although I was already in college when these books were published. I give this trilogy a 3/5.

-PAUL

"Endless speculation only leads to dead ends."

And now... the review for Fade!

I really enjoyed that this book was structured in a similar fashion to Wake. It made it feel like the two books could have been one longer book, which I believe is how a sequel should feel. I liked that it picked up almost immediately after Wake, and that everything was consistent between the two books. 


I did think that the case assigned to Cabel and Janie was a little stretched. It is mentioned that they have very little detail, but the chance that Janie and Cabel would be able to just figure out who the [SPOILER ALERT] teacher is that's possibly sleeping with students is so slim that it's almost unbelievable when Janie ends up in his class. The school could be relatively small though, in which case it wouldn't be so far-fetched.


I definitely did not see the twist that it wasn't just one teacher though. The subtle hints are there, but I definitely did not pick up on them. Or that it wasn't just the punch that was drugged. Actually, I'm not even sure if the punch was really drugged, but regardless, nobody would have thought to check the meatballs. I liked that the teachers were all relatively intelligent, and that they were able to hide things very well. Until the party, of course. 


Janie is also a very good undercover agent/spy. She handles the job well while she's working, and even though she might not handle it so well outside the job, she doesn't quit just because she's a little uncomfortable. She realizes that she is never in real danger, and knows that she'll be helping other people if she succeeds. Also, Janie is pretty hardcore. Even before she takes the martial arts classes and then beats the crap out of her sleazy teachers. Talk about girl power.


As terrible as this may sound, I kind of like that there are physical problems that come from being a dream catcher. Most of the time, people in books have these awesome powers with no sort of repercussions or anything. McMann makes being a dream catcher both a blessing (since Janie can help solve ridiculous crimes and can help other people sleep more easily and sometimes change their lives) and a curse (with the physical tolls and the whole having to enter a dream no matter where she's at). It makes her more human and less supernatural, I think. 


Although the relationship between Cabel and Janie is super stressed in this book, I feel like it becomes even stronger because of it. Both learn to place more trust in the other, and Cabel learns that he can't always protect Janie, no matter how hard he tries. I think that's an important lesson, since he can't protect her from losing her vision or from her hands turning all gnarled and such. And he chooses to be with her anyway, and to love her regardless. I don't feel like the relationship is pushed at all, and it feels very natural to read about it. Apart from the keeping it secret thing, but that's out of necessity due to their jobs. 


Overall, I felt that Fade was a very nice sequel to Wake. Although the two are connected and Fade expands on Wake, they both have completely different plots. Though they could have been combined into one longer book, I felt that the split was very natural and that it helped enhance the reading experience. I'm glad I bought all three books at the same time.


Sorry for such a long post... The books aren't even that long, but they're just so intense and there's so much going on in each of them!


I'm only 5 posts behind now!




--Ashley

Fade

Time to play some more catch-up! This one was supplemental reading, although I should have just made the whole trilogy my September pick.

Title: Fade
Author: Lisa McMann
Year Published: 2009

Synopsis: SOME NIGHTMARES NEVER END. For Janie and Cabel, real life is getting tougher than the dreams. They're just trying to carve out a little (secret) time together, but no such luck. Disturbing things are happening at Fieldridge High, yet nobody's talking. When Janie taps into a classmate's violent nightmares, the case finally breaks open -- but nothing goes as planned. Not even close. Janie's in way over her head, and Cabe's shocking behavior has grave consequences for them both. Worse yet, Janie learns the truth about herself and her ability -- and it's bleak. Seriously, brutally bleak. Not only is her fate as a dream catcher sealed, but what's to come is way darker than she'd even feared...

Why?: Basically, the same as Wake. I was in Books-A-Million with my mom and I was looking through all the books on clearance (since I'm so cheap I don't like to pay full price for anything) and kept coming across this book and its sequels. It sounded like a very interesting concept, and even though I'm really over the whole trilogy thing, the books were fairly short and I figured it wouldn't take me very long to get through them. I originally intended on the whole series being supplemental reading, but decided to just make the first one my "book of the month" so that Paul would have to read it as well. I wanted to read this one because I enjoyed the first one so much.

Expectations: I really enjoyed Wake, so I have pretty high expectations for this one. More of Janie dealing with the repercussions of being a dream catcher, trying to be a secret agent, and trying to maintain a secret relationship with Caleb. Kind of a lot to deal with in one book, but I feel like McMann is more than capable of handling it well.

Judging a book by its cover: Again, pretty much the same as with Wake: the cover is pretty simple - lots of black with the title and a glass of water as the only color on the whole cover. I have no idea how that will relate to the book, but who knows.

--Ashley