Awaken

I went into *Awaken* expecting another carbon-copy YA dystopia, but Riley flipped the script. Ashen isn’t a chosen one—she’s just a girl running from her past, and that makes her far more compelling than the usual messianic protagonist. The first act’s slow burn works because Shen’s narration sells Ashen’s desperation so well; you *feel* the weight of her backpack, the scratch of her boots on broken asphalt. The rebellion plotline isn’t groundbreaking, but Riley’s worldbuilding is. The way she describes the Consortium’s hideouts—clandestine, ramshackle, alive with the hum of old tech—made me wish for a map of this world. My biggest critique? The middle act sags a bit when Ashen’s backstory gets hashed out in chunks. Shen does her best to keep the energy up, but even her stellar work can’t fully mask the exposition dumps. The ending, too, feels a tad too neat, as if Riley rushed to tie up threads that deserved more surgical attention. Still, these are minor quibbles in a story that’s otherwise so gripping I burned through it in two sittings. Shen’s performance is the real star—she makes you *believe* in Ashen’s journey, flaws and all.