REVIEW: The Wake Trilogy by Lisa McMann

Source: Library

I've decided to group all three into one review, since I basically read them all in together like one big novel, but I'll separate them by book…maybe that'll make up for it being so damn long. Sorry 'bout that.

Book 1: Wake

Janie has an unusual gift, and, as cool as it sounds, she's pretty damn sick of it. She falls into other people's dreams, totally against her will. Although she sometimes can get out of trivial dreams (especially those icky sex dreams that guy on the football team has when he falls asleep in study hall), she can't get out of nightmares, and they usually leave her paralyzed, numb, and blind after. Needless to say, she has enough to worry about, between high school and an alcoholic mother.

Enter Cabel, the weirdo Goth kid who lives a few streets down. He seems kind of nice, but he has a secret, which she only begins to figure out once she falls into his nightmares. As Janie gets closer to Cabel and to a blind woman at the nursing home where she works, she begins to understand more about her gift/curse, and about how she can shape it to suit her needs.

OK, I'm feeling slightly mixed about this first book, and I think it's because it sort of feels unpolished to me. The way the book is narrated took a few pages to adjust to, but I don't think that was it. The story is arranged tiny segments with the time as a heading, and short, declamatory sentences, which worked well, since Janie's world is always broken up by dreams. Here's an example of how it sounds:

"Janie Hannagan's math book slips from her fingers. She grips the edge of the table in the school library. Everything goes black and silent. She sighs and rests her head on the table. Tries to pull herself out of it, but fails miserably. She's too tired today. Too hungry. She  really doesn't have time for this."

Although it did work on one level, I also felt that this led to things I wanted to be stated left out, particularly in dialogue, which sometimes came across as way going way too quick, particularly when issues were being resolved. This was particularly a problem in the last third of the book, when the plot comes together, and it's more Janie talking to others than her making her way through dreams. The ending was what really bugged me: it was so rushed, and everything came together so perfectly at the last second. Considering how complicated everything in Janie's life is (like, super-duper complicated), Cabel's secrets and their relationship issues were resolved in about 50 pages. How convenient.

The final reason that the writing style bugged me was that there seemed to be little character development (in this book). I never really got a handle on who Cabel was, and I knew a lot more about other people's dreams at some points than Janie's thoughts and feelings. Again, some key moments in the story were too rushed, which is probably why I felt like I was left hanging.

Still, the concept of Janie's dream-catcher curse was soooo cool. I loved the story, in that it included both Janie's struggles at dealing with her family and her gift, as well as her budding romance with Cabel. So even though the narration worked for me at some points, it bugged me at others, and the ending really didn't work for me. Still, I thought that it was still a pretty fun book. I was eager to get to the next book.

Grade: 3.5/5

Book 2: Fade

*****SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers for first book, you've been warned!********

Now that Janie and Cabel are on board with the police department (I'll refrain from saying how it happens, so it's not super inundated with spoilers), and Janie is learning to control her powers, they are really put to the test. A tip that a sexual predator is in their high school leads them to team up to solve the mystery. And Ms. Stubin left a notebook for her successor which involves some dire news about dream-catching, which Janie must deal with, as well as new skills that she can use to further help her assignment.

This book was so much more exciting than Wake. Geez, Ms. McMann really puts her characters through hell in this book. I mean, I was biting my nails at the end. The pacing was so much better, and the plot was much more together. The story had multiple threads, and they were very skillfully tied together. The ending was much more satisfying, and everything was explained in a much more detailed way, without the quickly-paced narrative being dragged down.

Plus, the other main quip I had with Wake, a seeming lack of character development, was not a problem in Fade. Janie and Cabel always make the effort to sit and talk through their problems (which I really liked, more on that in a second), and there's one scene I loved, where they were having trouble expressing what was bugging them, and communicated really eloquently through emails. That's where I felt I really got a better handle on what was going on in Cabels' head, which was great, because it's really important later on in understanding how he feels about Janie.

Janie and Cabel's relationship really developed. I loved that their relationship was so much more natural and healthy than is seen in other YA novels (cough, Twilight, cough). Cabel's always concerned about Janie, but it's partly due to the trauma he experienced as a boy, and he recognizes when he's overbearing and tries to back off. As in, he's responsive to what his girlfriend is saying. Janie tells him when to back off, and when she wants him to hover. They communicated really well, for the most part, and they seem to be on equal footing (as in, Cabel is the kind of guy who can cry, and he even cooks!). It was so great that their relationship, and their characters, didn't just confirm stereotypes. They both have strengths and flaws, without any of it being overbearing. Maybe it's because they matured as characters, and maybe it's because the writing itself seemed to mature, but I felt like the characters and their relationship was much more well-drawn, which was great to see.

Everything about the second book was so much better. I could not put it down, even though there were definitely some moments that were hard to get through (again, this book involves sexual predators and rape, and Janie gets into a pretty sketchy situation). Still, there wasn't an excess of awfulness. The narrative style and the characters were more well-established, and the pacing of the novel was very well done. I'm so glad that the series is improving so dramatically! On to the third book!

Grade: 4/5

Book 3: Gone

********Once again, SPOILER ALERT!*************

Graduation's done, the three teachers are in jail, and Janie and Cabel can finally be together. So everything should be great, right? But Janie feels like Cabel's feeling lingering doubts about staying with her as she goes blind that he won't talk about. Then, she gets a call that ruins her vacation: her friend Carrie had to drive her mother to the hospital after she found her stumbling drunk in the front yard. Turns out, her mother was upset because a former boyfriend is dying. Not just a former boyfriend, but Janie's father. Janie's torn about this new development, especially after she's sucked into his insane nightmare.

I felt like the action of the series was all contained in the second book, with the first book introducing the action and the final book tying up loose ends. Not entirely, but it's certainly true that the third book was not nearly as exciting. Basically, the entire thing is Janie contemplating the decision before her: isolate herself, leave Cabel, and stay healthy (although that gets complicated in the end), or stay with her friends and family and lose her sight. Her figuring out her dad's history by entering his nightmare helps her figure this out.

Now, although there was not nearly as much action as the second book, I was still riveted in figuring out all the final mysteries concerning the dream-catching gift. New dimensions were added to it, and there were a few new mysteries added, which solidified and enriched the entire concept of the dream-catching. This was great, because it kept the series from becoming stagnant (and, seriously, the ideas were so cool, especially with what her dad is seeing as he gets sick, and why he is sick). It was great that the series kept strong in plotting the whole way through, and I appreciated that Ms. McMann trusted us to keep up with the ideas she presents and adds new ones to it.

I only had one major beef with the book, although it's something that's kind of bugged me throughout, and it was mostly resolved by the end. I do not understand her mom at all, and their relationship. She's completely absent in the first two books, and Janie does as she pleases. OK, if the neighborhood is aware of the problem (that her mother is usually staggering or comatose, she's so damn drunk), and she's still in high school, why the hell does no one call child services? Is the school so clueless that they don't know one of their students is dealing with complete awful crap at home? I mean, yeah, OK, she lives in the poor section of town, but I still feel like it was a really bizarre situation. Then, in the third book, because Janie has to get information about her dad, she forces her mom to talk. I was shocked at how sick her mother is…jeez, the woman can barely speak English! And Janie just yells at her and is totally disgusted that her mom acts like a child. Now, I totally get that she's mad, since her mom seems to resent her and doesn't give a damn. But by the end, it's sort of left in the open about what, exactly, she's going to do (I guess help her, but it wasn't as specific as I'd have liked). Plus, I sort of got a blame-the-victim vibe for a few pages…I might be reading this totally wrong, and I felt, once she went to an Al-Anon meeting, she understood her mom's disease a little better, so that redeemed her for me. It's nit-picky, sure, but her relationship with her parents was key in the third book, and, again, because the narration is so clipped, it's sometimes hard to see how characters are developing until the end. This is really a blessing and a curse, since it's a cool style and a refreshing change, but it also leaves some plot points unresolved.

The final book was like the first one in terms of action (well, lack thereof, actually), but the writing was as strong as in the second book. It was basically in-between the two in quality. I was fairly well-pleased with it, and the series overall; they were all fun reads, and the idea of dream-catching was awesome.
Grade: 3.5/5…it was lacking enough in action to knock it back down