EDIT: I'm revising the review score after finishing the other two books in the trilogy. Moving it up to a 4.5 out of 5 overall. Only reason it's not a 5 is for the problems with the first novel. Loved Fade and Gone so much. The plot in both books is much stronger than in Wake, which is basically character set-up for the other two. The dilemma in Gone is absolutely heart-wrenching, and the relationships are very compelling. For that reason, Gone is by far the best of the three. But I'm a little miffed that this is the final book. How can there not be more?! I want to see Cabel and Janie go to college! Grow up! Have kids - dream catching kids! Please?! 
 I am, however, leaving the review of Wake in tact to explain why the series can't be a 10 for me. 
 McMann hooked me from the back of the book, to tell the truth. The idea here is brilliant and well-presented. Janie is a "dreamcatcher," living others' dreams whenever she is in close proximity. She doesn't affect the dream or the dreamer, she is just there, witnessing someone's innermost thoughts, desires, fears, ambitions, and secrets. It's an ingenious way to develop characters outside of your point-of-view. It's barely even fantasy, barely even a special power. It's just different enough to be fascinating. 
 The way the book is written is a two-fold issue for me. It's very unusual: choppy sentences that are frequently actually fragments, heavy use of time-stamping almost in the style of a minute-by-minute journal. It becomes almost like reading thoughts. While this is strange and even became kind of annoying toward the end of the book, it does lend itself to a feeling of speed and suspense. The words themselves are moving quickly so the plot must be as well. 
 But it's actually not. When I really thought back on it, not a lot actually happened in this book. I think this may change in the sequels - most of this book was setup and introduction to the situation - but I didn't really notice while I was reading. Things flowed naturally. 
 Our love interest is fascinating. He has all the hallmarks of today's teen romance - a damaged, broken boy with longish hair and an old-fashioned sense of chivalry. But really, Cabel is a sweet guy, more openly damaged than most I've been reading about, more normal for sure than 99% of literary romance right now. I loved him anyway. I loved him far before Janie ever realized she did. 
 He and Janie both come from troubled homes. Janie's mother is an alcoholic, uninvolved and usually passed out. Cabel's father was an abusive Vietnam Vet before he passed away. While in a lot of books, absent parents are usually just tools to keep them out of the way and allow our YA heroes to do what they want, here the absence of their parents is conspicuous and tragic. Janie takes care of her mother, makes sure she has food and gets to bed, instead of letting her be a footnote to the story. Cabel dreams of his father constantly; it is a primary defining character trait that his Dad was so abusive to him. I appreciate McMann's efforts to make a social plea here, to be aware of the situations our youth deal with on a daily basis, and they should not have to. 
 I love Janie and Cabel, and I love the world building. (How amazingly romantic would it be to share a dream with someone if you could control it?) By the end I was invested, but it took some work on my part. I think this is because of the lack of rounded secondary characters. I'm not sure if it's the point-of-view or what, but all of the secondary characters are pretty universally flat. Only Janie and Cabel really have any personality. I'm hoping the sequel beefs them up a bit. 
 Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was a VERY fast read, an absolute page-turner, entertaining and engaging with two main characters I really adore. I highly recommend it to readers young and old. Now I have to move on to Fade...immediately.