Review: Wake by Lisa McMann

Wake by Lisa McMann (October 2009, Simon & Schuster Children's, ISBN: 1847385036)

First Lines:

SIX MINUTES

December 9, 2005, 12.55pm

Janie Hannigan's math books slips from her fingers. She grips the edge of the table in the school library. Everything goes black and silent.

Review: Wake is the first part of a trilogy and it's about Janie, a very unusual seventeen-year-old: Janie can enter people's dreams. As soon as someone nearby falls asleep and starts dreaming, Janie gets sucked in and sees the dream for herself. Wake takes the reader through Janie's childhood, living with an alcoholic mother, and up to the present day, introducing her best friend Carrie and the enigmatic Cabel.

The dreams that Janie experiences range from the "naked in examination" type to nightmares where people become monsters. Janie feels that her life is to be one long nightmare - how can she leave her drunken mum, how can she have a boyfriend, how can she even sleep? But the events in Wake ultimately show Janie that she's not alone and that she can contribute to society in an unexpected way.

I absolutely adored Wake and I couldn't put it down. This is such an unusual idea for a story and is executed perfectly. Janie is likeable and carries such a huge responsibility and Cabel - who is Cabel? Is he the bad boy that everyone says he is? You'll keep the pages turning to get to the answer. A final small point - it was nice to read a book not set in New York or California - this being set in a small town in Michigan. I can't wait to read book 2, Fade.

Cover: I like the psychedelic look of the UK cover.