Kelley Armstrong built her reputation writing adult urban fantasy, and when she turned to YA with the Darkest Powers series, she brought the same commitment to competent, grounded supernatural fiction. Awakening is the second book, and it picks up directly from The Summoning — Chloe Saunders and her group of escaped supernatural kids are on the run from the Edison Group, and the situation is genuinely dangerous.

Armstrong doesn’t condescend to her YA readers. The danger is real. Characters make mistakes with real consequences. Chloe’s necromancy is handled with the same matter-of-fact attitude Armstrong brings to her adult supernatural fiction — being able to raise the dead is interesting and useful and also profoundly inconvenient, and Armstrong is interested in all three of those qualities simultaneously.

The relationship development in Awakening is handled with more patience than most YA of this period managed. The romance is present but not consuming. The friendship dynamics between the group — particularly Derek and Chloe — feel organic rather than engineered.

As a Canadian author, Armstrong roots her fiction in a recognizable, non-idealized North American setting. There’s no California glamour or New York sophistication here. The kids are running through the kind of ordinary landscape that most supernatural YA pretends doesn’t exist.

Published: 2009 · Genre: YA paranormal fiction · Series: Darkest Powers, Book 2

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Awakening about in the Darkest Powers series? Picking up directly from The Summoning, Chloe Saunders and her group of escaped supernatural kids are on the run from the Edison Group. The danger is described as ‘genuinely dangerous’ — Armstrong ‘doesn’t condescend to her YA readers,’ with real consequences for mistakes and Chloe’s necromancy handled with the same matter-of-fact attitude Armstrong brings to adult supernatural fiction.

How does Kelley Armstrong’s YA compare to her adult urban fantasy work? Armstrong ‘built her reputation writing adult urban fantasy,’ and the review notes she brought ’the same commitment to competent, grounded supernatural fiction’ to YA. Being able to raise the dead is treated as ‘interesting and useful and also profoundly inconvenient’ — Armstrong is interested in all three simultaneously, rather than using the ability purely for dramatic effect.

What makes Awakening stand out among YA paranormal fiction of its era? The review highlights the non-glamorised Canadian setting — ’no California glamour or New York sophistication here,’ just ’the kind of ordinary landscape that most supernatural YA pretends doesn’t exist.’ The relationship development is handled ‘with more patience than most YA of this period managed,’ with friendship dynamics that ‘feel organic rather than engineered.’

How is the romance handled in Awakening? The romance is described as ‘present but not consuming,’ handled with more patience than most YA of the period. The friendship dynamics between the group — particularly Derek and Chloe — ‘feel organic rather than engineered,’ distinguishing the series from peers where romance overtakes every other narrative concern.

Further Reading from Authoritative Sources

  • Kelley Armstrong — Wikipedia’s Kelley Armstrong article provides biographical and bibliographical context including her Women of the Otherworld series and Darkest Powers trilogy, helping readers understand Awakening within her broader writing career.
  • urban fantasy — Wikipedia’s urban fantasy article contextualises the genre tradition Armstrong brought to YA with Darkest Powers, helping readers understand how Awakening sits between adult urban fantasy conventions and YA paranormal fiction.