The Awakening (Darkest Powers #2) Kelley Armstrong

Date Published: 4th May 2009

Publisher: Orbit

ISBN: 0061662763

This is the second in the series of the Dark Powers Trilogy. At the beginning, we see Chloe held prisoner at the headquarters of the Edison Group, having been betrayed by Rae and returning to her aunt Lauren who is part of the group. A group who experiment on Supernaturals. 

While there, Chloe discovers that herself and her friends from Lyle House have been experimented on by them and are now being monitored to see if they are a success or a failure and that three of them have already been murdered for being failures, including Liz, her room mate from Lyle House. 

With the help of Tori and Liz's ghost, Chloe manages to escape, with a little help also given by her aunt Lauren who has realised what she was doing was wrong. She gives Chloe a letter explaining everything and telling her about her mother. Chloe and Tori head to the rendezvous point and meet up with Derek and Simon who have had no luck in finding any information about their dad. They decide to go to their dads friend Andrew who they hope will be able to help them. 

This book was riveting and fast paced. I read it in one day. There was lots of action and adventure and a hint of what might become a romance. Derek's character really grew and for me, he became a really likeable character. All of the characters are well defined and believable. Chloe's character also grew here and she became a lot stronger as she worked to learn how to control her necromancy. This was a really great read.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the YA paranormal/science fiction genre.