Awakened

By Laura Elliott

From debut author Laura Elliot comes a tense horror novel emboldened by the surreal, perfect for fans of 28 Days Later and The Girl With All the Gifts.

Science has stolen sleep and awakened a world of horror.

"I've been an insomniac all of my life, but I'm not Sleepless and I won't become Sleepless, just as long as the chips that were put into their heads never get put into mine. There's little chance of that, since I won't put the machinery into my brain and neither will Edgar and neither will the Professor, and we're the only three left who could. I don't want to be Sleepless..."

Civilisation has ended. In a bid to make us more productive, to give us more time, science took sleep from humanity. But sleeplessness turned people into feral monsters and now a small group of scientists are trapped in the Tower of London, consumed by guilt at what they have done and desperately searching for a cure. And then one day, as the last ravens circle, two miraculous survivors walk into the Tower.

Are they the answer or a terrible question?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1915998905
• ISBN13: 9781915998903
• Release Date: June 2025
• Publisher: Angry Robot
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Thought provoking

What do you do at the end of the world, trapped in the Tower of London, with a few other scientists? You write introspective journal entries, and in your spare time, look for a cure which turned humans with neural chips (meant to remove sleep needs) into monsters (strong and with an extra set of teeth apparently). Sleep is so necessary and I know people have significant cognitive and physical impairments if they can't sleep, so I can understand why they might turn into primitive monsters. Despite the monsters and odd things (two headed goat kid!), this book was surprisingly slow paced with a nicely soothing narrator as Thea debates with herself and the survivor about the ethics of what the scientists are doing and how reverting things back to the way they were might not be the solution or the next step forward. Also much mentioned is the plight of Thea's mother (part of the reason why she helped make the chip) and how doctors failed miserably in finding a solution to her chronic fatigue (brought on by a virus). So, the setting is pretty cool and the way the world ended was something I could very well see happening in our future as we become more one with technology, but it was not quite riveting like I expected. It does bring up good questions about just because we can create certain things, like neural chips to turn off sleep to become more productive, is it something we should do and have we considered all the affects of such an action. So the narrator, Antonia Beamish, did a good job in bringing Thea to life and the world she helped to end. I did mostly enjoy it and I will definitely be thinking about what it brings up and hope that we never get this bad! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to listen to this audiobook.