While We Run

Sequel to When We Wake, told from the perspective of Tegan's friend, Abdi. He's an international student from Djibouti, who was offered a chance to be educated in Australia because of his singing ability. (Tegan's chapter titles were all Beatles songs, which I loved. Abdi's are a mixture of familiar musical terms - cadenza, andante, poco a poco - and Italian words I didn't know. Slightly less accessible, but still cool.)

I enjoyed Abdi's perspective, especially when he offered a different perspective on Tegen and their other friends, and the political situation in 22nd century Australia. It's interesting that Healey has chosen two characters who are outsiders caught up in that situation - Tegan's from a different era, Abdi from a show more different country. I think it makes it easier for them to be critical of what's going on, to stand up and say It doesn't have to be this way.

While We Run is kind of dark but the story moves briskly so it doesn't linger for too long on those places. (It reminds me of The Hunger Games in that respect.) It's gripping, matter-of-factly diverse and ultimately hopeful.

A good sequel. show less

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Now that I’ve finished While We Run, I’m both admiring and a bit disappointed. So far as I can tell, this is a duology, though there’s room for more in this world if Healey decided to return to these characters. As it stands, I’d rank the When We Wake series very highly among the YA dystopian novels I’ve read. They’re very focused on the plot and world building, and, perhaps more importantly, they don’t follow the traditional YA path of revolution and happy ending. While We Run is a surprisingly dark tale of trying to change an evil government without resorting to equally horrific tactics.

For reasons that honestly aren’t clear to me, there’s a show more perspective switch in While We Run. The first book was from Tegan’s perspective, but now we’re in Abdi’s head. I can’t compare the narrative voices because it’s been too long, but if my engagement in the books is anything to go by Abdi is much more distancing. He’s not as emotional. He’s intelligent and calculating, so his thoughts are very focused on planning and not on feelings, which didn’t really draw me in.

The one thing Abdi’s perspective did allow for was to show the terror of the opening to full effect. He and Tegan were captured by SADU (government bad guys) at the end of book one. Now, they’re tortured and forced to perform. They’re being used to convince people to trust government programs they know are a trap. The torture is horrible, using their feelings for one another against them any time they don’t follow every rule. Even worse, View Spoiler »

The plot is really well-handled. The characters are very much idealists and are working to change the government, but they don’t want to resort to underhanded tactics to do so. They’re truly hoping to save as many as people as possible and just make life better. Tegan, like Katniss, has become the face of a revolution and is similarly hesitant about appearances; the difference, though, is that Tegan does want to be involved and does want to affect change. For Tegan, it’s not simply about survival but about improving the world around her. The tensions with Abdi, who mostly just wants himself, his friends, and his family out of harm’s way, are an interesting dynamic.

One of the big pluses of While We Run is how diverse it is in pretty much every way. Abdi himself is from Djibouti, but there are characters from several other places as well. There’s a lot of discussion of various religions. In the main characters, there are a couple of Muslim, a Catholic and an atheist (Abdi himself). Then there’s the former lesbian couple of Bethari and Joph, the latter of whom is transgender as well. As she says, she’s a “lesbian who was born male-bodied.” In every single one of these instances of diversity, the characters aren’t defined by these aspects of who they are. It’s very well done and I want to hug the book a lot for this.

By the time I got to While We Run, I have to say that When I Wake was a bit fuzzy. There’s enough recap that I wasn’t at sea, but I definitely lost some of my tie to the characters in the year long gap between books. It could be due to Abdi’s narration, I suppose, but the characters really stayed on the page. I didn’t feel for any of them. I didn’t ship Tegan and Abdi, though I know I did in When We Wake. The emotional component was entirely gone for me and it’s difficult for me to sustain interest in even the best plots without that connection.

The When We Wake trilogy is an excellent choice for readers looking for diversity or who enjoy books with a strong political focus. The world building and plot are very strong, as well. show less

3.5 stars

Abdi moved to Australia for school and met Tegan. Tegan had been cryogenically frozen and revived in the year 2138(?), one hundred years after she’d originally died. The Australian government then used both Tegan and Abdi to promote a program for people to be frozen, then they would be shipped to another planet to colonize there (I think that’s how it was meant to work). But Tegan and Abdi are also being tortured to do this promotion, though their audience never sees or even suspects this. But they manage to escape. And they want to bring down the Australian government and their program.

Audio. I thought this was good, and I also liked the narrator of the audio, who I thought did multiple accents well. I might have paid show more more attention if I was reading it, but I still caught most of it easily enough to enjoy it. Interesting… I had no recollection that this was a sequel! Apparently I read the first one, but I don’t remember it at all! I guess you don’t necessarily need to read the first one to read this one. show less

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Fast paced story full of action, romance, and mystery. I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a great young adult sci-fi book.

Opening Sentence: They always wanted me to sing “Here Comes the Sun.”

The Review:

Abdi Taalib has spent the last 6 months as a slave to the Australian government. He left his home in Djibouti to attend a prestigious school where he had a musical scholarship. Everything was going great until he met Tegan. A beautiful girl that died a hundred years ago, but they preserved her body. She was brought back to life and now she is an icon for the Australian government. But she uncovered a sinister plan and exposed the government. show more Afterwards there needed to be some major damage control and the government has forced Tegan and Abdi to fix things.

They have been tortured into compliance and they don’t know how much more they can take. Luckily they have some allies that go to great lengths to rescue them. Soon they are on the run and they aren’t sure who they can trust. Their supposed allies might not have the best intentions and the people they escaped from are relentless to get them back. Soon they realize that if they want to permanently stop the Australian government they are going to have to make some tough choices that may cost thousands of people their lives.

This was all told from Abdi’s POV, which I really liked. You get to learn so much more about him and that made my connection with him grow immensely. I really liked him in the first book but seeing this new vulnerable side to him made him a much more realistic character. While he was imprisoned by the government he was tortured in many different ways and it has caused him to have a lot of anger. It was interesting to watch him try to cope with everything that has happening to him and made me really feel sympathetic towards him. Overall, I really liked his character and was glad that I got to be inside his head.

I fell in love with Tegan in the first book and my love for her just grew. It was interesting to see her through Abdi’s eyes and what he thought of her. Instead of being the scared girl that had to start over she had become a strong person that everyone looks to as a leader. She’s not perfect but her flaws just make her a more likeable character. The relationship between Abdi and Tegan was full of struggles, but I really loved them together. I thought that the way things developed was very realistic and eventually, I felt that connection that they had in the first book.

While We Run is an action packed unique sci-fi book. From the very first page you are thrown back into the wonderful world that Healey created in the first book and I was hooked immediately. The fast pace and intriguing plot makes this a very quick read. I liked that it was all told from Abdi’s POV, it gave you a different side to the story that you didn’t get to see in the first book. The only thing that I didn’t like was that I felt the story didn’t progress quite as much as I would have liked it too. It was a continuation of the first book but the plots were a little too similar and that made it feel slightly repetitive. You could actually read this as a standalone and I don’t think that you would be too lost but I would suggest that you read both of them to get the full effect of the story. The ending was very satisfying and I can’t wait to see what else Healey comes out with next. I would highly recommend this series to anyone that likes young adult sci-fi books.

Notable Scene:

Making noise in public had to be punished.

From the outside, I must have looked a little unwell, perhaps momentarily dizzy. Faces turned toward me, then politely away.

Diane laid her free hand on my wrist, her face com posed in concern. Her other hand was hidden in the folds of her outfit, clutching the implant controller, and that was the one I watched.

It felt like eternity. It always did. Realistically, though, it was only a few seconds that I suffered, while Diane touched me and smiled, her hidden hand drawing pain from me until I thought my bones would burst through my skin. When she finally turned off the controller, I almost collapsed with relief, locking my knees at the last second.

“There we go,” Diane murmured, and stroked my sweating palm as if she were soothing a fretting pet. “Do you think you can talk about the camps for me now?”

“Yes, Diane,” I said, and hated myself

FTC Advisory: Little Brown Books for Young Readers/Hachette Book Group provided me with a copy of While We Run. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less

2.5 Stars