The Awakening: (Hasea Chronicles Book 1)

I've never read a series with this concept. Definitely a powerhouse opening. This is urban fantasy mixed with high fantasy, two of my favorites. Parts of the plot are standard fare for fantasy but it's mixed with enough unique elements to break away from that into something capable of standing on its own and even common fantasy elements are shown in a refreshingly new way. I loved it

When I first started reading this book, I wasn't sure if I could relate to the down-trodden Alex, and a few times I found myself wanting to tell him to pull himself together. But before I knew it, I was racing through the book, cheering Alex on (in my head) and when I thought back to who Alex had been I was glad I got to share that journey with him. The battle scenes/action scenes are so well written I was practically skipping words in my excitement. The book is hugely visual, I never once felt that I couldn't imagine what a character or a room looked like. It springs to life from the page and becomes almost like a movie where you forget you're reading and plunge straight into the world of The Awakening. I've always loved this genre, but I really like how this book moves away from the (let's admit it slightly cliched) Vampire world and into a much cooler wider supernatural plane with faeries and skinshifters and stuff.

All in all I laughed, I cried, I raced through the scenes in suspense. What more can you ask for? Highly recommended and looking forward to the next ones in the series!

got to say this was a great book. never have been into what i call teenage books but this is a book for all ages! mr. stuart you have a fan... keep up the great writing. i love a true story teller and you are awesome sir! :)

I read a review of this book on Goodreads and decided it sounded like my kind of book.
I wasn't wrong!
I really enjoyed the book. Read it on my Kindle and couldn't put it down!
The characters are well developed. I empathized with Alex who was bullied at school, then rooted for him as his character developed. Gabriella is a great independant kick-ass girl who sweeps him off his feet.
The plot keeps you guessing - which is just what I like.
Love the supernatural interwoven with the everyday world - and in this book it is believable. Loved the action, the romance,the humour,the characters and the world that I became immersed in while reading this book.
Can't wait to read the next installment and will definately be looking out for anything Stuart Meczies writes in the future.
I'd go so far as to say this is the best book I have read since finishing the Harry Potter books (some years ago now)!

Just wanted to leave a quick review for a GREAT book. I'm a serious fiction snob at this point, long tired of the usual boy + sword vs evil sorcerer fiction that clutters the shelves. Some of my favorite authors are Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss, and Kim Harrison. If you like them, you'll like this book :)

Uh...where to begin....
I apologize but I am going to be completely honest.
This was s***. This was a s***ty book overall. About 2 chapters into it....I already knew what was going to happen. I knew what the basic plot was going to be like. IT WAS too predictable. Ugly pathetic dude turns into a super hero overnight....and for what reason? He gets bullied you say??? He gets bullied because he has secret super strong magical un-awakened powers??? What???? And to top it off...his BROTHER ends up going out with a freaking vampire girl which was totally predictable. This was truly pitiful. I was excited in reading it...and I ended up not finishing it. I got too bored. I am guessing you have stopped reading the 3rd sentence as I rant about how horrible it is.
________________Read Me________________
Well this is the part of the comment where I tell you what this book REALLY needs:
I honestly don't know what you were trying to do...but to try and not make the mistake in the next one...I would say that this book needs something TOTALLY different than the rest. I am talking about freaking alien teleports to earth and kills the main character type of jack. Something that the reader will not even be able to predict.
It needs to have more suspense, something to grab the reader and draw him in. As in if the main character's family gets slaughtered including his brother.
What else would make this story better? To be honest...the start was horrible and that messed up the rest of the book's flow.
He could get bit by some type of thing from the other world and gain some type of power or something...or accidently kills his boss during a raid.
Something that a reader wouldn't expect from this book as it already is should fix things.

Astonishingly bad. I guess I'm too old or maybe it's that I was never bullied, but the entirety of the story reads like wish-fulfillment fan-fiction. Any competent editor would have sent it back for revision.

There is nothing heroic about the hero of this novel. He is passive and whiny. He begins resentful of his brother for petty reasons and then reonciles what should be a long term dysfunctional relationship just because now heis skin has cleared up and his hair looks good. He dislikes his step-father who says and does nothing to cause this rejection. The love interest immediately takes a shine to the hero for no apparent reason other than magical tingles. Nothing in terms of behavior or dialogue establishes why anyone would like to spend time with this guy. The super secret HASEA is incoherent. For whatever reason they indulge in Ferraris and other luxury automobiles while apparently on the losing side of a war. Perhaps resources would better be spent trying to win the war? If you are a secret agency why use about the most memorable car on the road? It is just one silly thing after another. The myth of the chosen one destined to combat evil is powerful. It is the christ myth and the story of the matrix and Harry Potter. I find competent versions of this enjoyable. This is godawful. The hero is just annoying to be around and you can't enjoy any of his triumphs or successes as they are so ill deserved. He never actually struggles with anything other than his own well deserved self-contempt. Except that for someone who doesn't think much of himself he seems perfectly comfortable writing off his family and fellow students. the author attempts to explain his social retardation as an effect of his magical powers except that his actual behavior and dialogue firmly explain why no one would like to spend time with him. What is even more inexplicable is why once his powers manifest anyone wants to spend time with him. he is still an annoying twit just like before only now he is ripped and has good hair. He is still a twit.

To the author - the hero needs to struggle and grow. He shouldn't be a passive whiner complaining as he is handed every success and reward one can imagine an adolescent narcissist would desire. He is apparently super strong but struggles to remove a gun from an elastic waste band. There should be some sense of competency and strategy on the part of him, gabriella and an organization like HASEA. HASEA for completely ridiculous reasons have decided to invest in a parallel underground transportation system in London. That would be a multii multi billion dollar infrastructure project. Yeah. They can't use the tube like everyone else? The apparently have a treaty that allows for murder and betrayal to be forgiven just for the asking. They can afford all sorts of multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects but don't have long range weapons. Why is HASDEA a secret organization? With their resources and technology they would be quite a boon to humanity who apparently have a lot of skin in the game of the ageless war but why exactly is this all hidden again? Faced with genocide it wouldn't make sense to enlist something like the U.S. army to try and blowe the Umbra to kingdom come? Why wouldn't HASEA etc. not invest in modern military equipment. You know what could kill the sorrow - a nuke. Or at least cluster bombs dropped by an F-15. There is nothing established as to why HASEA - which apparently has massive resources is too stupid to use modern military technology. or strategy. Or tactics. There is just no coherent structure to this novel or the world building. It is just one stupid self-indulgent fantasy after another. Yay - the girl wears leather and rides a super awesome bike. Yet - she is an incompetent small unit tactician who's behavior makes no sense. She kidnaps the hero and alters his memory which he forgives because she promises they only did it once (and for pointless reasons) Who gives a cr*p as he is a pathetic person who is completely self-involved and she comes off as pathetic for thinking that this narcisist is so awesome. I am all for a little vicarious living through a hero who manages to kick ass and get a hot girl but this is so unsatisfying as he deserves nothing that he gets. I actively rooted for his enemies to gut him and out him out of my misery.

I do not understand how this book is rated so highly. There is such a crap storm of self-published novels that we the reviewers really need to help our fellow consumers sort the relative merits of the books coming out. This is just a terribly plotted and characterized version of one of the most powerful mythic forms we have. Avoid it.