The Wake Up by Angela Panayotopulos is a dystopian fantasy novel set in a turbulent period in an unravelling and conflicted United States. Lexi, the daughter of a family of glass-blowers, possesses the rare ability to ‘See’ people for who they truly are, namely demons or angels (whether they know it or not). Lexi herself is part-demon, and what she sees happening all around her is an assault against her kind. This battle between good and evil is the main conflict of this book, and the events that happen to her and her family is what drives the main narrative.
From the opening chapter, it became clear to me that The Wake Up was going to be perfectly dark and brilliantly bleak book. There is something special about the way that Panayotopulos writes and delivers her story, and it is evident that this novel is a labour of love. Panayotopulos uses brilliantly and meticulously crafted descriptions throughout, and by employing a strong use of simile and metaphor, she creates a sort of poetic element to her work. Whilst this can seem a little wordy at times, the delivery is certainly unique, and I found that my mind was conjuring fantastic images of Lexi and her world.
As the plot progresses, Panayotopulos creates some very interesting and very contemporary plot points, centering around (dare I say it) an unhinged president with a bad haircut. As someone from the UK (and yes, don’t ask: I am aware that we have someone of a similar nature in charge), I found that the satire around phrases such as ‘building a wall around our perimeters would only serve to keep the horrors within’ was something that really resonated with me. In general, I found the issues that the story raised to be a fantastic bit of satire that did a very good job at holding a mirror to the world around us.
The characters in The Wake Up were more than enjoyable, particular Lexi, who was a very good lead. I did, however, cringe a little at the introduction of her first love interest, Dominic. I’m not sure if it was deliberate or not by the author, but it seemed a little out of character to make such an independently minded, strong-willed, brave and courageous woman into a shadow of herself by entering a controlling relationship where Dominic constantly berates and undermines her. I found relationship format a little cliche and thought that, as a character, Lexi would have seen the warning signs much sooner.
At the end I was left asking: what is the purpose of Lexi being a demon? What are her powers and where are they going to lead her? Whilst the demonic world Lexi lives in did not quite come into its own for me, that does not mean that it won’t in the future. This novel is setting up for something later on, and I am interested to see how Lexi grows as a person and how the battle between good and evil comes to life.
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