The thing that I liked most about Awakening was the amount of detail that went into the story. This world is so rich, I totally loved it! The characters are good too, but the detail that went into the world building was the star for me. 
 I really connected with Ana. I felt for her, her life certainly has not been the easiest, and then with everything new happening she doesn't know what to believe. There is certainly a lot going on all at once for Ana, and it is just all so new to her. Luckily she has Athen, who is so amazing. Seriously, he is almost too good to be true. But i'll get back to him. 
 Karen is Ana's only friend from her "normal" life. I liked Karen, you can tell that she is really a good person and that she looks out for Ana. But there was a point in the middle of the book that kind of struck me as odd. There was this situation with Karen that kind of came out of left field but wasn't really explained or developed. It kind of just faded away. I would have liked to see a little bit more of her and figured out what was going on exactly. 
 Athen and Arie are super cute. I loved their brother/sister dynamic, and I found them really funny. There are still some unanswered questions, so I'm really excited to see where the second book will go. With the devastating ending of this book, I have an inkling of what is going to be a main focus but hopefully some more things will be answered. In a way, the second book is the most important to me in a series. The foundation has been set and now you can really get into the story, so I am even more excited to see what is going to happen. I am really liking this series, and I hope the next book has some good endings for Ana and Athen.