I’ve got to say, the beginning of this was slow for me to get into. I went into it expecting a more thrilling/action dependant apocalyptic read, and instead the story is a dark, intimate, and emotional exploration of the characters mind through topics of survival, ethics, sickness, despair, and humanity.

We’re focused on Thea, she’s one of the scientists who created a chip to stop sleep. Turns out we really do need sleep-now the world is plagued with the “sleepless,” zombie-like beings.
whilst our crew are residing within the tower trying to figure out what they must do, and whether a cure is possible. Some “vampires” show up, unlike the rest.


Such vivid writing that inserts you within the characters mind on a personal level. The story is interesting and still very engaging, however this book primarily shines with Its well-written & dynamic characters.
Now, as a big S. King fan I feel like I see similarities to him lots, maybe I make them up sometimes (🤷) but the characters here really remind me of Kings greatest work.

In short: I’d recommend this to any horror, sci-fi or dystopian fans. I think it’d be a perfect read on a cold, dark winter night!
It’s an uncomfortable and philosophical book at times that will leave you with questions!
Great debut book!

This book asks a lot of questions, both literally and metaphorically. it asks what one would do in the pursuit of caring for someone you love, in particular whether you would be willing to unleash hell on the world on the offchance it would save a loved one. Thea faces those questions and book records what they do to her.

This book felt like such a mixed bag. I thought the idea was brilliant. The idea of a group of scientists trying to undo the crisis they created was fascinating, and the whole setup of a neurochip that stopped people from needing sleep and at the same time led to a global disaster was amazing. It very much felt like 28 days later with the unsettling vibes of abandoned London.

I thought the characters introduction was a little clunky. I struggled at first with following who's who aside from our main character and even with time I wasn't sure who was hiding in the tower. But then the middle of the book really delved into deep questions about late stage capitalism and how sick people but also people with disabilities are treated both by the medical establishment as well as society as a whole.

I thought what really brought the book down was the deeper focus on Vladimir. I didn't care either for the love triangle he forces into the story or the more... Supernatural element he brings with himself. I would have preferred if the book focused more on the actual scifi-ish concept of technology bringing humanity to its knees.

All in all this was an interesting book with a concept that doesn't fully deliver but still makes various interesting commentaries on the state of the world as it is now.

Awakened by Laura Elliott was an excellent and a very powerful read, it will have you hooked from the beginning and it will have you wanting more. . . . . Imagine civilisation as we all know it has ended. A group of scientists develop a neutral chip to allow all the population to turn off Sleep! This chip is funded by a benevolent billionaire.

"I wonder what it will be like not to to sleep or go to bed ever again!!!! - I Love my bed! 😂 "

First they used this chip on the Military, those who were fitted with the chip developed strengthen metabolism and only in the space of a year, and everyone had one. The best thing is You could turn the chip off at will. . . . .

What could ever go wrong?

Then, one day you could not turn this chip off!!!!

Now, deprived of their sanity that sleep brings, the population are quickly descended into madness, and the world has changed and for the worse. NOOOOOOO! . . . . . . . . .

Marooned in the Tower of London, the only surviving scientists struggle to find a cure in this new world, are caged in by the screams of the Sleepless. Thea Chares is consumed by so much guilt for her part in the initial experiments, and is now longing to know what has happened to her mum whose illness had been the focal point of her previous life.

Two survivors, a man and a woman, stumble into the Tower, where a the seed of hope grows in the form of a new start. But all is not as it appears, the survivors display strange, dangerous habits and refuse to tell the scientists their names. Thea finds herself inexplicably drawn to the man, then her life begins to spiral into a fever dream of hallucinations, violence and dark attraction, with a startlingly reveal waiting for them at daybreak.

This book is "Soooooo good", I want to get the audiobook to listen to it, when it comes out, instead of reading it all over again.

I am so glad this book cover caught my eye, it may look a simple picture of a raven, But take a look 👀 closer. . . .
WoW very clever 5 ⭐️ for this cover.

I highly recommend this wonderful book, You will love your sleep even more now after you have read this! I know I do.

Why so slow? The premise and idea was so good but it dragged all 400 pages through and nearly brought me into a reading slump. Sad to say because I think I would've enjoyed this alot if the pacing was a little bit faster.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I featured Awakened in my June 2025 new releases video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q31xhbo1tE, and though I have not read it yet, I am so excited to and expect 5 stars! I will update here when I post a follow up review or vlog.

Alas, DNFed at about 51%. I'll not be giving it a star rating because I didn't complete it, but it would be at about a 3 star if I did. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I agree with the reviewers that describe this as more of a literary fiction type of book, and that's all fine and dandy, but really not what I'm looking for at the moment. I didn't really latch on to the characters (beyond finding the contradictions in Dolly's character interesting), and I found the switching around in time a little confusing. The prose was also a bit purple in a way that I didn't particularly enjoy. It really became a slog to get through, to the point where I stopped reading it all together.

However, the explicit comparison of zombies/vampires/whatever to chronic illness was really cool! That framing was thought-provoking, and I liked the way the text struggled with the implications of that. Unfortunately, the execution of this was just so not for me. The very philosophical conversations that Thea and Vladimir have were at first interesting, then just a bit needlessly pretentious. I have never been one for this kind of philosophizing, so it makes total sense to me why I wouldn't care for it.

I totally understand why a lot of people loved this book, and there are many people in my life that I would recommend it to. However, it was not for me.

Wasn’t for me, sorry, but thank you for the opportunity to read - first 20% or so was a little slow for me so couldn’t get into it.

The author really has it in for the medical profession and scientists.
The main plot has the crazy idea of implanting chips into the brain and do away with sleep to make everybody more productive. Crazy idea to me but the majority get the implant and surprise surprise things go wrong and they all turn into powerful zombies and society collapses. The scientists tend to consider these zombies no longer human which allows them to treat and experiment on them in a different manner compared to normal humans.
The author often compares this behaviour to that of the medical profession’s dealings with post viral syndrome where lack of knowledge and understanding and compassion makes them regard these patients as not normal and to be suffering from anxiety at worst. The scientist Thea’s mother is a sufferer from chronic fatigue and gets no help at all and slowly declines. Thea is determined to cure her.
The scientists are ensconced in the Tower of London and the zombie hordes are kept out. But one of the Awakened seems different from the rest and he is allowed in. Vladimir and Thea have many philosophical discussions about everything but the other scientists want to examine Vladimir to find out what is different about him.
This not my usual type of book but I quite enjoyed all the debate between Thea and Vladimir. And the ongoing thread regarding the potential cure of the Awakened Zombies keeps the story focused and not become too philosophical.
Because of dream like state I am not sure if I understood the finish or whether it was meant to be understandable. A very thought provoking read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the ARC

Thanks to the Author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

This book isn’t my usual genre for reading but I do often enjoy films or tv shows of the dystopian and horror category.

I liked the premise of it and a few parts of it seemed really interesting. It was written like a diary but I couldn’t necessarily see a direction that it was going in.

It wasn’t my preferred writing style but I do appreciate how much effort it takes to write a book like this.

Unfortunately for me it was a DNF at 30%. But I can tell people who read these genres would really enjoy it.

3.5 Stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Angry Robot for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Awakened is set in a dystopian world, where the Sleepless are wandering the streets and a handful of scientists are retreated in the Tower of London trying to undo what they have caused.

The book is written from the view of Thea in diary format, who is one of the scientists in the tower. The chapters are quite short, which was very engaging for me and a reason I finished the book quite fast.

It is a slower book, that focuses mostly on the inner works of the main character and their interaction between the scientists. We also encounter flashbacks and dream sequences frequently. If you expect an action packed dystopian sci-fi, this is not the book that delivers that. But if you like some deep exploration and discussions about moral, ethics, exploring illness/disability etc. Then this is the right book.

I enjoyed the book and I was surprised in how many different themes are explored and discussed it certainly gives a lot of food for thought. At times I was confused about the timelines/flachbacks, what is real, what is a dream. I assume it is on purpose and if you are an enjoyer of confusion(like me at times) I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately the ending left me a bit too confused and I did not get what was happening and did not feel like a lot of questions were answered. hence why it is a 3 star read for me. It was entertaining and thought provoking and I hope it will find the right audience out there. As I am very sure it has the potential to be THE book for many people, who enjoy character driven stories and exploring themes of moral and ethics.

Although the premise was met with this book, the delivery of the subject matter wasn’t quite as I had expected. It was a bit more philosophical and heavy than I had expected. This isn’t a bad thing, just not as I had anticipated. I would have perhaps approached it differently, and read it elsewhere had I known. I did find the premise very interesting, but it did take a while to get into. It’s not a light easygoing thriller, but it’s still a book I would recommend.

Let’s be honest, Awakened had the makings of a thriller that could’ve kept me up at night. Instead, it dragged me into a narrative slumber so deep, I half expected to wake up in a post-apocalyptic wasteland led by a katana-wielding woman and a tiger. But no, just another monologue and an overextended flashback.

Laura Elliot sets the scene with intrigue, sure. There's tension, secrets, and brooding aplenty. But somewhere between chapter eight and why-are-we-still-talking-about-this, the plot gets tangled in its own shoelaces. Characters make choices with all the logic of a B-list horror flick, and instead of racing toward revelations, the story plods like a tired walker on The Walking Dead, season 7 style.

The dialogue is often intense, though not always in a good way. It feels like someone took a thesaurus to a soap opera script. And while Elliot clearly knows how to craft suspense, the pacing becomes its own antagonist. You're not turning pages out of excitement. Instead you’re flipping them like you're trying to find the part where something finally happens.

To be fair, there are flashes of brilliance. A few scenes genuinely deliver the emotional gut-punch promised in the blurb. But they’re few and far between, buried under layers of “let me explain my trauma for the third time this chapter.”

In conclusion, Awakened is not a bad book, just an overly long one that thinks it’s way more mysterious than it is. If you're a fan of unresolved tension, glacial pacing, and characters who love a good internal monologue, then you may enjoy the slow unravel. For the rest of us? It's a literary filler episode—watchable, occasionally moving, but ultimately skippable. Could’ve been killer, instead just kind of lingers.

The sleepless are evading the country, and a group of doctors are doing work to study up on what they are and how they live/function. Trapped in a tower, they continue their daily lives conducting research, but one day they get a huge surprise that makes them question everything.

Release day TikTok post, no spoilers
So excited about this ARC, I had to give you a heads-up that it's available today. This book kept hitting me so hard, I wrote notes after every reading session. Many books are engaging and moving. Awakened is transformative. My dreams, thoughts, and physicality shifted and strengthened. I felt unmoored, and at the same time connected and expectant.

Part way through, I realized I was experiencing something remarkable. We get monsters, gruesome horror, creepy science, slippery scalpel medical ethics, chronic illness / CE rep, some diversity, including glimpses of bi or pan Sapphic ♀️, Thane, a black military veteran and Maryam a wheelchair-using doctor--and chilling isolation in the Tower of London. 👀 I would have read it for the setting. Or the neuro chips. Or the monsters. Or the creeping dread and squelchy horror. And it's so much more than all of that.

The book is even better than I expected. I've been transported. Laura Elliott excels at atmosphere, perceptions, facing tough, ugly questions, and exposing raw, sensual longing under a controlled exterior. This book knocked me on my ass. Your turn.

My thanks to @AngryRobotBooks for the eARC for consideration. These are solely my own opinions.

Note: This is her debut novel. There's a different author by this name who writes thrillers.Awakened is a great choice if you crave monster horror and also enjoy speculative fiction, and if you're into dystopian, end-of-the-world novels with gothic and zombie vibes and literary-quality perceptive writing that goes so deep it hurts. More soon!

Awakened had all the ingredients for a compelling read: an intriguing blurb that hinted at a story in the vein of The Girl with All the Gifts and 28 Days Later, blending post-apocalyptic science with horror and human resilience. Unfortunately, it delivered none of the tension, emotion, or character depth that made those comparisons so powerful.

The narrative was dry and distant, lacking the visceral urgency or emotional core needed to ground a story like this. There was virtually no character development, and the plot moved forward with a sterile, clinical tone that made it difficult to connect with or care about what was happening. The philosophy and science felt overly dominant, but without the necessary counterbalance of horror or humanity to make it engaging.

This was a tough read to get through, and while the concept had potential, the execution fell flat for me. A story with this premise should have gripped me, but instead, I kept waiting for something to spark that never did.

Many Thanks to NetGalley, Angry Robot, and Laura Elliott for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I loved the premise. To counteract the natural process of sleep and increase human productivity, a chip has been invented and implanted in subjects' brains.
Unfortunately these chips have malfunctioned and very swiftly the subjects become ravenous zombie-type creatures. The scientists responsible for this are safely tucked away in The Tower of London looking for a cure.
At times my interest was piqued, but for parts of this book I felt it dragged. It was fairly philosophical, with a lot of dialogue, which I don't mind, it just struggled to keep my interest at times. I also got very confused as to what was happening at the end, which was probably by intent but it ultimately left me feeling a little dissatisfied.

A little mysterious and a lot dark!

This books is definitely for the fans of the movie 28days later!

Elliott does an incredible job of building a slow sense of dread and horror as the reader is very gradually introduced to a world that looks familiar and yet so very different to the one that they know. I really enjoyed the discussions of intersectional issues like medical racism and mistreatment of the disabled community whilst also tackling questions around the nature of humanity.

An evocative and captivating read.

A terrifying look at the world that ask questions about scientific ethics and humanity and what makes a human human.

I loved the scientific detail that was threaded through this book making the distopian future seem believable. Although I enjoyed the style of writing as scientific research it was quite weighty at times that I found hard to get into the flow.

Overall though a great unique take on the classic zombie / vampire story. For fans of the the passage or girl with all the gifts.