Reawakened by Colleen Houck

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

To be published August 11, 2015.

Reawakened, as a fantasy, is not the type of book I would normally select to read, but I received an advance reader copy from the publisher and it grabbed my attention.  I have not read the Tiger's Curse series by Houck and wanted to check out this first book in her new series.

Reawakened is an Action-Adventure Love Story with a wonderfully researched tie to Ancient Egyptian Mythology. The major characters of the story are Lilliana (Lily) Young, a 17 year-old girl from New York City, and Amon (pronounced aah-moan) a centuries-old mummy who must "reawaken" every thousand years in order to save the world working with his two "brothers".

Lilliana Young is a very compliant 17 year-old daughter of professional parents.  They have very specific expectations of her and she attempts to meet them.  However, she is starting to question her compliance as she is  getting ready to select a college to attend and her parents are pressuring her to attend their choice.  This is a minor piece of the story, but a very important aspect of Lilliana's personality and growth throughout the story.  As she is working on her college decision in an Egyptian display not yet open to the public at the Metropolitan Museum, she meets Amon, who begins calling her "young Lily" and attaches himself to her as he expected to reawaken in Egypt and has no idea where he is.  Lilliana initially sees Amon as a homeless boy with serious sanity issues, although with an extremely attractive, almost model-like appearance.

Lily quickly gets caught up in Amon's story - he is an ancient Egyptian prince who represents the sun god and awakens from his mummy state every thousand years.  He has been given several powers by the Sun God Amun-Ra.  However, the source of his powers are his "canopic" (death) jars which were not brought to New York with his sarcophagus.  In order to have adequate energy to get back to Egypt and to complete his purpose, he bonds with Lilliana (after being hit by a car) and she must accompany him.

Amon must go back to Egypt, locate the mummies of his two "brothers" and complete a ceremony which will prevent the dark god of chaos - Seth - from bringing ruin to the earth.  Without his full powers, Amon needs Lily with him and she is compelled to assist him.  It doesn't hurt that both Amon and Lily are very attractive people and are drawn to each other immediately.  They set out on an adventure that changes Lily's life.

Reawakened is an action-adventure story with a great deal of Egyptian Mythology tied to the action.  In addition, it is a love story about Amon and Lily.  The love story is a key part of the story, as is often true of this type of action-adventure, with both characters often sacrificing to protect their partner.

I loved the story and the characters.  I found the Egyptian mythology particularly interesting as I am very unfamiliar with it.  I also enjoyed seeing Lily's character grow and change from her experiences and from her ability to sacrifice for Amon.  Lily also seems to be the source of much of the book's humor as she banters with Amon, his brothers Ahmose and Asten and with Dr. Hassar, the Egyptologist/Vizier who is the source of a great deal of the information.

The obvious recommendation is to Percy Jackson lovers.  The mythology and action would definitely appeal, and the humor is similar.  This may lend itself more to the female fan due to the romantic aspects, but this may not bother the male fans as it is a key part of the story, but not at the expense of the action.


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