Dead Forever (Awakening)

William Campbell
Glyd-Evans Press (2010)
ISBN 9780971796010
Reviewed by Marty Shaw for Reader Views (05/10)


“Dead Forever,” the first book in the “Awakening” series, has a great idea that gets bogged down in clunky writing. The set-up was intriguing – an Association that believes order comes from uniformity seeks to destroy anyone who shows independent thought, but the rebels keep coming back because they never truly die.

The story is told from the viewpoint of the main character, a rebel suffering from Association-induced amnesia. At first, he doesn’t remember anything about his history, living life as a normal guy named Carl. For what appears to be no apparent reason, Carl starts to have glimpses of his memories from his rebel life. The resurgence of these memories causes him to act abnormally, which attracts the attention of the Association’s agents. Fortunately for him, members of his rebel team are aware of his location and stage a rescue, but only when Carl’s death seems imminent. Why his team allows him to go through everything he goes through without merely swooping in and picking him up is just one of the gaps in the story.

After the rescue, a large portion of the story focuses on the main character trying to remember his previous life, while his teammates offer little assistance, aside from providing him with the knowledge that his real name is Adam. Supposedly, it would do no good to tell him the information so they wait around for him to discover things, people, and places that might unlock the lost parts of his mind.

When Adam does regain most of his memory, he somehow becomes an almost-invincible superman, capable of making just about anything happen by simply imagining it. This ability even extends to healing severe medical conditions, although it apparently doesn’t allow him to fix his brain and unlock all his memories. The unexpected appearance of this power isn’t explained and nobody seems shocked by it, although Adam seems to be the only one who possesses this skill.

The supporting characters seem to be nothing more than cardboard cutouts with no sense of depth to them at all. Even the main character, Adam, doesn’t seem like a real person. We are told he’s suffering from not being able to remember his past, but there’s never a sense of connection or sympathy, no burning hope that the hero will conquer his enemies.

“Dead Forever” was not an easy book to read. Clunky writing, shallow characters, and odd philosophies that really didn’t fit in with the overall story prevented me from immersing myself in the story and I was saddened by this fact, because I feel like there’s an exciting tale, just barely glimpsed, at the heart of this book.  I believe a smoother writing style that allows readers to experience the story, rather than simply being told the story, would make the following books in the series a more enjoyable read.

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