The Awakening.

Author: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal.
Source: Nook Book.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Book 2 of 3 in The Darkest Powers Trilogy.

While I was happy to be reading my very first e-book, I was not happy about the book itself. It seemed slow and a little, well, dragged. To be perfectly honest I don't even really feel like reviewing it, but I will do my best.
Book two picks up where book one left off: Chloe and Rae are back at the Lab with the Edison Group, contemplating escape. Well, Chloe is contemplating escape, and also dealing with, and learning a little, from a demon that has contacted her there. To make a long story short, Rae has to stay at the lab, while Chloe and Tori and a few of the Edison Group people take the girls out to try to make contact with Simon and Derek - who have managed to stay out of reach of the Edison Group. Chloe and Tori manage to get away and find the boys, while trying to find a way to save their friends back at the lab, and themselves - with the hopes of finding the one person they think can help them: Andrew, a friend of Simon and Derek's father.
I liked the fact that Derek and Chloe's relationship began to soften a little when they got separated from Simon and Tori. It was kind of interesting seeing both their reactions to Derek's (almost) changing. But it was a little confusing. It almost seemed like they had a love-hate thing going between them. They had to stick together, but it seemed so hard for them at times. I guess I just didn't really understand where Derek was coming from. I think the author may have been trying to make him the take-charge guy of the group, but I think he was a little too "take-charge" at times. I couldn't really tell if that was his personality, or what he felt was simply his responsibility.
I know Chloe was afraid of her powers, but I wished she would have tried harder to...embrace them. I realize she is just a teenager, but definitely not a normal teenager. Not just because she is a genetically altered necromancer, but in the way that she wouldn't even seem normal if she weren't a necromancer. If she truly was just ordinary and normal, I don't think I would care for her character at all. It's just really weird for me, because in the first book I really liked her, now I'm not so sure. Of course I'm considering all of the obstacles she is going through, but the other characters are going through them right along with her, she just doesn't cope very well to me in this book.
I've actually already read the last book, so it's a little hard for me to go further and explain more about how I feel about the characters and the journey they are taking, so I think I will end this review here, and just say that while I wasn't exactly wild about this book, I wouldn't say it was totally a let down.