Book Review: The Waking Dark
Media Type: Print Book
Title: The Waking Dark
Author: Robin Wasserman
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pages: September 10, 2013
Release Date: Hardcover; 464
Source: Library
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Content Screening: Violence; Adult Language
HDB Rating: 5 Keys to My Heart
Recommended to: Readers who are okay with dark, disturbing reads. This features plenty of violence.
Add it on: Goodreads / Amazon / BookLikes
They called it the killing day. Twelve people dead, all in the space of a few hours. Five murderers: neighbors, relatives, friends. All of them so normal. All of them seemingly harmless. All of them now dead by their own hand . . . except one. And that one has no answers to offer the shattered town. She doesn’t even know why she killed—or whether she’ll do it again.
Something is waking in the sleepy town of Oleander’s, Kansas—something dark and hungry that lives in the flat earth and the open sky, in the vengeful hearts of upstanding citizens. As the town begins its descent into blood and madness, five survivors of the killing day are the only ones who can stop Oleander from destroying itself. Jule, the outsider at war with the world; West, the golden boy at war with himself; Daniel, desperate for a different life; Cass, who’s not sure she deserves a life at all; and Ellie, who believes in sacrifice, fate, and in evil. Ellie, who always goes too far. They have nothing in common. They have nothing left to lose. And they have no way out. Which means they have no choice but to stand and fight, to face the darkness in their town—and in themselves.
Holy YA Batman. Seriously. The Waking Darkabsolutely blew me away. Those of you who were following along with me as I read might have noticed it took me a while to finish. Trust me when I say that it’s not because this book isn’t fantastic, because it absolutely is. I’ll explain more below, but let’s just say this isn’t necessarily an easy read. I thought I was desensitized to violence, what with how much horror I read. This book tested that theory. It’s dark and disturbing. You’ve been warned.