Reawakened

Diversity Rating: 0 – What Diversity?

Racial-Ethnic: 0 (portrayal of Egyptians is way too poor)
QUILTBAG: 0
Disability: 0
Intersectionality: 0

Diversity Rating: 0 – What Diversity?

Racial-Ethnic: 0 (portrayal of Egyptians is way too poor)
QUILTBAG: 0
Disability: 0
Intersectionality: 0

A desert lily need not turn jealous eyes toward the common violet (86)

He was now surrounded by eggs done eight different ways, hash browns and skillet potatoes, country ham, apple sausage, maple bacon, biscuits slathered with honey and melted butter, caramel-apple topped pancakes with whipped creme, creme brule French toast, malted Belgian waffles, a fruit platter, and a basket full of croissants, Danishes, and streusel-topped blueberry muffins. (63)

The problem with Reawakened is that this book is not bad or good, it's just mediocre. When you start to read a book with an annotation like this one, you expect it to be full of adventures and breath taking action. But in this case there's nothing to hate for me and nothing to love. This book would be more entertaining as a movie, where you can enjoy the action without going deeper into the plot or characters. The first part of the book was rather entertaining for me and I felt at

The problem with Reawakened is that this book is not bad or good, it's just mediocre. When you start to read a book with an annotation like this one, you expect it to be full of adventures and breath taking action. But in this case there's nothing to hate for me and nothing to love. This book would be more entertaining as a movie, where you can enjoy the action without going deeper into the plot or characters. The first part of the book was rather entertaining for me and I felt at least something toward the characters, but further into the plot I just was bored and wanted to finish reading. And let me tell: the ending was anticlimactic. And of course, there's going to be another book. Ugh!

The plot. The annotation of this book is pretty cool-sounding and if you remember a movie "The mummy" you can see that this book must be full of action and ancient Egypt and other awesome stuff. Well, in reality this book only touches superficially the Egyptian culture, but mostly this book is full of unnecessary descriptions and dialogs that are not about Egypt. I did not feel like reading a book that mostly takes place in Egypt. Honestly, the only interesting part of the plot for me was in the beginning and took place in New York.

Amon just grunted in response, totally transfixed by the scenes outside the window. Modern Cairo was a bustling city. Like New York, it had a mix of both old and new buildings, except that old had an entirely different meaning in Egypt.
We passed mosques and bazaars, cemeteries and museums, luxury towers and apartment buildings, and theaters and shops, but unlike New York, Cairo had an ancient feel, and it wasn’t hard to imagine that if the people slowed down enough, the desert dust that constantly lapped at the edges of the city would rise up like a hungry wild beast and consume civilization, dragging it back into the sand and burying it so completely that Cairo would quickly be lost, like the cities of old.

World building. We have a mythology that is partially true and mostly fiction. Of course, for a fantasy book it is relevant to have a unique (or not) mythology, that will give meat to the carcass of the story. We have this mythology in this book, but for me it was mostly lost in boring explanations that took place at times, and felt like someone was trying to stuff a peace of bread down my dry throat, because it was necessary to have it there and then. My point is, that the world's explanation in a book should be at the right moment, when the reader is ready to have them naturally. Or maybe the action and characters were too boring for me and the world around did not matter as it should when you are eager to know more about the characters you are growing to love.
I did not appreciate the idea that three Egyptian princes have to rise every millennium and safe Egyptian people. Why Egypt, not the world? I just don't think that the evil god Seth would be satisfied with just the Egypt these days, world dominance sounds better and more believable.

“Though they are dead, they will be called back each millennium and will be granted a short reprieve from death so that they may continue to do the work of the gods until such time comes that the gods”—he gave a faint flourish of his hand—“and Egypt, of course, need their services no more.”

The characters. This is the major problem with this book. I did not hate characters but they were annoying a lot, and if I liked Amon a little, I disliked Lily a lot. She reminds me of Bella from Twilight. This whole book has a twilightish vibe so you can imagine what to expect from the heroine. Also, she is a snob. She does not think that she is, but she brags about her position in society a lot. She likes to dress and make up, almost every few pages you can find a detailed description of what she dressed and put on her face. Boring.

Even though I was very picky, wore only designer clothes, and had a monthly allowance bigger than what most people my age earned in a year, I was by no means a snob. My parents had certain expectations of me, and the money was used as a means to fulfill them.

The romance. Very much twilightish too. The guy practically abducted you, bend you to his will, was feeding on your life energy. But all she sees is how handsome he is and how other women salivate over him. Pleeeease. Enough of this.

His physical splendor was undeniable: brooding eyes, miles of muscles beneath smooth, golden skin, and full lips that would send any girl swooning. But there was something deeper behind the beauty, something very different about him that made my fingers itch for a pencil and paper.

Every time they were in danger, all she was worried about was why wouldn't he kiss her or how beautiful he was. And as this book is from Lily's POV, I had to endure similar thoughts in her head through out the book. Boring.

As I mentioned before, I did not hate this book nor did I like it. It was the same as other thousand similar books I've read in YA. I think that Colleen Houck cheated with this one. She created the same story as in her tigers books, just changed the locations the action takes place and made her MC less annoying.

If you want something similar to Twilight only with more action (not helping) read this book. If you want something like The Mummy movies - you will not have it here. This story was easy, funny sometimes, with pleasant language, but in the end of the day it is not what it claims to be.