Synopsis
In the final installment to the trilogy begun with “Awaken, ” Maddie returns home to make her final stand against Digital School, and uncovers deeply guarded secrets about her family an new truths about herself.
5 out of 5 Stars
2012 review of Awaken
2013 review of Middle Ground
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My Review
Parents show you life is a paved road. Friends show you the road isn’t there yet, its waiting for you to carve it out. Parents show you life is a handbook, with rules set in place. Friends show you how to break the rules you’re handed.
*ARC from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
I first read Awaken back in 2012. I was captivated by this dystopian novel because it spoke truth. It’s about a digital era where everyone hides behind a computer, too afriad to go outside and converse face-to-face. And it got me thinking about right now. How we are all attached to our phones and computers and anything else that is digital and means you don’t have to speak to anyone in person. I used to look around the train station on the way to work and count how many were on their phones. It was nearly everyone, including myself. And I think that’s why I became attached to this series, that and because it is amazing. It has so much depth into the storyline, it evolves at every turn and you become fascinated about the characters, the digitalisation of everything, of where Katie is going to take you.
I’m not one for reading YA. It takes my fancy every now and again but this is one series I pined over. For each book released, I have been anxious for them to release so I can get my next fix of Justin and Maddie, the next chapter in the Digital world and how everything will or wont play out.
Still Point is the third and final book in the Awaken and holy crap, it’s full of twists and shocks. I cant even give you a brief overview without spoiling the story, Let’s just say, it shocked me; I was not expecting anything of what happened, to happen in book three!
After the slight cliffy in Middle Ground, I was waiting to see what Maddie was going to do. And although her decision is one I didn’t think would happen, I was proud of her for doing it. She has always been up against her father, fighting against his creation since she was fifteen and she wants to destroy the digital world, wanting people to actually talk face-to-face, go to school in a classroom, and just spend time together without a computer screen in front of them.
I was proud of her for pushing and seeing it through. Although my heart pained when you could see her dilemma about her dad, about Justin, about her feelings, about how she just didn’t know what to do anymore. I felt so sorry for her, because Justin is obsessed with taking down the digital world and yes, Maddie wants it too, but she wants to be at the top of the list, not third or forth and you could see it did effect her to be pushed down the list. You watch her fight against herself, dig deep into her soul and watch her see exactly what she really wants; from herself and from her life. And yes, I was just a little bit shocked at her choice but you know what, I could definitely see it. And I really want to write more about that, but I cant. It will spoil it all so I will just smile to myself and mentally high-five Maddie for taking charge of her life and making the right choice – for her!
Also the tattoo makes an awful lot of sense now. I have read Maddie’s tattoo, the short novella about how she got her tattoo and how it came about. We also meet the guy who designed it, Jax and he is swoon worthy. I really liked him. And that’s all I am saying on him haha. You need to find out about him throughout this book. It was a push and pull situation and I was in the middle not knowing what to do.
Justin’s whole life is taking down the DS (Digital Schools) and DC’s (Detention centers). It goes 1) Destroying DS 2) Maddie and although I completely love Justin; he’s passionate and determined and completely focused on the plan at hand, DS would always be his number one, no matter how much he wants to be with Maddie. And picking and choosing is a hard decision, when your heart wants both.
I loved how selfless he was at the end though. How he actually put Maddie’s feelings first for once. He wanted to see her happy and not sad and broken over him and I felt proud of him for doing what he did, even if I wasn’t expecting it. He has gone through so much in his life – with fighting against DS, recruiting members and then falling for Maddie but when the time came, her happiness definitely meant more to him and although I was shocked at how it ended, it was kind of perfect for Justin too. He got what he had always wanted and he fought the hard way to get there but he deserved it after the hard work he has put in year after year.
I would love to see a little novella about him, Katie. Hint hint;) I think it would be amazing to see him after Still Point or even before Awaken, how he began to be so passionate about taking down the DS and finding Maddie. To be honest, I am being greedy and want more Justin haha.
There are a lot of twists and turns throughout Still Point – many had me gasping and eyes wide open. I was not expecting any of the things to happen. And I love that! I loved that everything I thought I knew during the first two books, just completely messed me over and it wasn’t all that it seemed. But it completely made sense, and I trusted that Katie knew what she were doing and it worked! I also was not expecting that ending. Not after everything that happened in Awaken and Middle Ground. But as I said, it made sense. And I really want to blab about what happened, but I know I cant. I need someone else to read this book so I can talk about it because, man, I NEED to talk about it. I need to know someone else was like “Oh holy crap” and “Oh holy crap, I cant believe Justin did that, but bless him.” SEE, I’m being vague, but you will understand when you get the chance to read this book.
If you haven’t had the chance to get acquainted with this series, I demand that you do. It is one of my favourite dystopian series because, really, it could happen.
Z. Elizabeth 