Review: When We Wake by Karen Healey

When We Wake by Karen Healey

Release Date: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 304
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Source: ARC
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
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My name is Tegan Oglietti, and on the last day of my first lifetime, I was so, so happy. Sixteen-year-old Tegan is just like every other girl living in 2027--she's happiest when playing the guitar, she's falling in love for the first time, and she's joining her friends to protest the wrongs of the world: environmental collapse, social discrimination, and political injustice.
But on what should have been the best day of Tegan's life, she dies--and wakes up a hundred years in the future, locked in a government facility with no idea what happened. Tegan is the first government guinea pig to be cryonically frozen and successfully revived, which makes her an instant celebrity--even though all she wants to do is try to rebuild some semblance of a normal life. But the future isn't all she hoped it would be, and when appalling secrets come to light, Tegan must make a choice: Does she keep her head down and survive, or fight for a better future? Award-winning author Karen Healey has created a haunting, cautionary tale of an inspiring protagonist living in a not-so-distant future that could easily be our own.

ADD TO GOODREADS

Tegan Oglietti's life in 2027 was great before she died. It was her first official date with her long time friend Dalmar when she was shot and killed. Then she woke up in 2128 and couldn't believe she had been frozen. She had checked the box on her driver's license to donate her body to science but she had meant donate organs to help people, not be frozen! After a bit of a freak out she decides it is better to be alive than dead so she will try to make the most of it.

At first the future looks great. Technology has improved and new environmental protections have been added. Then she realizes that all this had been done because the earth is in major trouble and global warming. Oceans are rising, land is disappearing, and they are not letting any immigrants into Australia. Tegan has to re-adjust to culture and it is a bit of a shock. There are some humorous scenes of the doctor who took her in trying to teach her slang which isn't even hip anymore in 2128. Tegan is seen by some as a miracle and by religious fanatics as something evil. One group of religious fanatics even tell her that she should kill herself and go back to god. This was one scary and sad group. It did feel realistic though. I could definitely see some people not agreeing with a procedure to freeze and bring people back to life.

Tegan meets Abdi by mistaking him for Dalmar. It is hard for her to get over Dalmar even though he died 46 years ago. To her it feels like she was just in love. It was sad because he seemed like a great guy we barely got to know. She finds some friendship with Abdi even though he is an immigrant and trying to stay out of the spotlight. There is a small romance but not till the end. I liked this because there was so much going on and she was still mourning her old life.

There is a mystery surrounding the freezing experiment. The government claims it is a way to bring back soldiers but it seems suspicious why they want to study Tegan so bad? She is the only one that has been brought back but why? Tegan and her new friends decide to hunt down the truth and I had a good idea to what it was from the beginning, based on the name of the project that Tegan overheard. The journey was still exciting and a few twists and turns along the way. Loved the details of the future and the science fiction elements.

The writing style was a bit different and interesting. Tegan was a huge Beattles fan so each chapter is titled after one of their songs and she often mentions them as she is a music major. This is Tegan's story broadcast on a You Tube like channel. There are breaks in her story where she talks about the present while she is telling her story that give us peaks into where she ends up. I would have liked a epilogue or something extra at the end. It was a bit of an up to your imagination ending. But other than that I really enjoyed this book. I love looking into what the future could someday be like.


"Of course I didn't believe her. Would you? Think about waking up to a complete stranger saying,
Hey, surprise! It's the future!"

"There were people judging my fashion sense, rating my hotness level, and wondering if dating me would be necrophilia."

"Bethari's computer was asking permission to break into government archives.
What kind of apps did she have on there?"

"No mater how much money he'd been offered or how many glittering stars had requested duets, he hadn't sung for them.
But he'd sung for me."

Rating: 5/5