Book Review: Awakening (The Dark Rituals Book 1) By Catrina Burgess

Catrina Burgess's Awakening is not a bad read. However, it's not something that glued me on my seat and kept me reading the whole night either. I couldn't quite connect with the protagonist, Colina. She's too dark and emo. Yes, I know her circumstances are dire and she's going through a lot because of what happened to her family but really, girl, you gotta let up some time. The story was one whole dark and heavy thing that I felt so sluggish, sullen and gloomy the whole time I was reading it. 

There were a couple of scenes that really moved me - **Spoiler Alert** one of them was when Colina and Luke were using the ouija board to summon any of Colina's family members and they were able to, at last, call on her mother. I truly felt Colina's grief when she cried out for her mama. The other scene that pinched my heart was during the last ritual where Colina was to take the life of the little girl, Anna. It was when Anna's mother came barging in to give her little girl the necklace that her daughter loved and begged Colina and Luke for reassurance that her baby girl will be led to the light painlessly. **Spoiler End**

You know that feeling when you're almost part of the conversation in a story? It's like when you're a silent third party to two people talking - you're there with them. You could almost feel their emotions and thoughts just by reading what they're saying. Unfortunately, I didn't get that in this book. The dialogue was mostly a bit stilted. Sometimes I would think, stop talking and just get on with it. Then there were times when they were conversing about one thing and then suddenly emotions will shift or they keep going around and around about one thing but could never resolve it. Several times they talked about binding banshees and I thought Colina has resolved her turmoil about it but then when they discuss it again she bails. It's frustrating!

The plot certainly has potential but I was looking for more...substance, I guess. I kept thinking that the plot is building up nicely and there's something huge and exciting that will happen but nothing surprised me. I felt a mild disappointment because I was looking for more depth from the plot. It's like, meh, I've seen all those scenes before. I have to admit that what happened to Luke was a shocker, though. One of the reasons why I felt miserable after reading the book was probably because of what happened to him. That should be reason enough for me to read the next book in the series, Possession, but I'm still recovering from the trauma. It might take a while before I pick up the next book and I'm hoping there will be improvements in the characters, dialogue, and the story.