Awaken

December 1, 2013

Gr 7 Up-Pierce Olivera is adjusting to her life as Queen of the Underworld, coping as best she can with abilities such as being able to raise her cousin from the dead. With her first sorting of souls, the Furies attack and kill her boyfriend, John, the ruler of the Underworld. Thanatos, the Greek personification of Death, has taken John's soul, and Pierce must hunt him down. In addition, Pierce's Uncle Chris was wrongly accused of killing her guidance counselor, and she wants to clear his name. Pierce will have to battle Furies and a teenage boy with the ability to steal souls plus face a hurricane to save John, her family, and the Underworld. With the help of the Fates and her bird, Hope, she just might succeed. Natalia Payne does an excellent job of capturing Pierce's stubbornness and innocent hopefulness along with the attitudes of the secondary characters. Cabot's novel (Viking, 2012) features a great supporting cast of characters, including a group of 18th-century sailors, a spunky best friend, a Fury grandmother, and a couple of dead souls. This is a perfect ending to the series, and a helpful afterword explains more about Greek myths and the lives of the characters. An interesting twist on the Persephone and Hades story; readers of Greek myths will be attracted to the series.-Sarah Flood, Breckinridge County Public Library, Hardinsburg, KY

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