This story is an interesting mish mash of dystopian, gothic horror(Frankenstein/dracula), fantasy, and human interest that all somehow works together. The characters have such depth and trauma that links and separates them. The whole book is dichotomy. I was blown away and slightly overwhelmed by the story. You want to absorb it all at once and feel like you need time to process it at the same time.
The narrator did a great job telling by the story with an almost monotonous voice that still conveys enough emotion that you feel for the characters.

The blurb for this debut novel immediately hooked me as it felt like something straight out of Black Mirror, and I’m happy to say it delivered on that premise. Set in a dystopian world where sleep has been “cured” in the name of productivity, the result is a chilling breakdown of humanity and a haunting exploration of scientific ambition gone too far.

The concept is original and unsettling, and I loved the literary tone the author took in unpacking the consequences. The pacing did feel a bit stretched in places, and I think the story could’ve been tighter overall, but the atmosphere, themes, and thought provoking premise more than made up for it.

Thank you Angry Robot, NetGalley, and Dreamscape Media for the e-ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This was like following Teresa from maze runner - happy to scientifically sacrifice and allow the few to suffer for the greater good
She was dull and unlikeable and Vladimir, who was the only interesting character in the book, deserves better
The book was less horror and more speculative litfic.
Not much happens and the ending was unsatisfying

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

This book has a really interesting description and started off strong but as it went on it felt like it lost the plot a bit. I wanted this to be a sci-fi with great writing, and it was, but when it got oddly sexual and philosophical in ways it didn't need to, it just lost me. Some of it just felt like hitting plot points that might draw readers in rather than those plots points actually fitting into the story.

A waking nightmare take on sleep horror with a really interesting zombie twist.

I love the premise of this book as a chip that allows people to delay the need for sleep. Once everyone has the chips installed, they malfunction, causing people to not be able to sleep, turning them into zombie-like, violent monsters.

Narrator Antonia Beamish does an amazing job. I felt the emotions of our main character, without feeling brought out of the story or like the narrator was trying too hard. I like the way she pitched her voice for the mysterious character Vlad.

This has an amazing representation about chronic disability through sleep, exhaustion and insomnia. I suffered with long COVID and was sleeping a lot. So this book really made me feel seen.

Pick this up if you love
💤 Sleep horror
💤 Dystopic / zombie stories
💤 Beautiful prose
💤 Complicated characters
💤 Amazing audiobook

This book is best read in bed, wishing for sleep to take you.

(4.0 Stars)

Thank you #NetGalley for making this book available to read and review.

I liked this book a lot. It was an apocalyptic novel, but with that being said, the apocalypse was secondary. This is a tale about humanity, about love in all its forms, and about the duplicitous nature of both, humanity and love.

This book has great characters, and the audiobook has excellent narration. The story is very slowly paced, but pays off. There really isn't much world building because the world is really a minor character vehicle, and the plot has the main characters mostly isolated from the rest of the world.

Originally a DNF for me, Awakened got a second chance when I received the audiobook and, to its credit, this time I made it to the end.

The premise is undeniably cool: a post-apocalyptic world undone not by viruses or bombs, but by the eradication of sleep itself. In trying to remove the need for rest, humanity inadvertently unraveled something essential and the result is chaos. The “zombies” in this story aren’t undead per se, but rather the tragic result of man-made meddling. It's a bleak, smart concept with strong potential.

The storytelling is introspective and often quite beautiful in a quiet way. We follow our main character, Thea, closely as she navigates both her crumbling present and the memories of her past. The narrative is reflective and heavy with introspection, though it doesn’t quite read like a diary. It makes for a unique voice and tone, more focused on philosophy and psychological unraveling than action or horror. If you're in it for the vibes and the existential dread, this might work for you.

But here's the rub: I really needed more why. The hows and whys of the neural chips, the very foundation of the world’s downfall, are brushed over with vagueness. It’s one of those “just accept it and move on” setups, which made it hard to fully buy in. The book is far more interested in mood and meaning than mechanics or momentum.

For me, the real highlight was the sleepless. Every chapter involving them pulled me right back in. Tense, eerie, and full of potential, those moments were the only parts that consistently held my interest. If the rest of the book had that same urgency and grip, this would’ve been a whole different review.

As it stands, the plot didn’t really click for me until around the 70% mark, and if I hadn’t switched to the audiobook, I doubt I’d have made it that far. Thankfully, Antonia Beamish delivers a knockout narration that elevates the entire experience. Her voice gave Thea weight, the world texture, and kept me engaged even when the pacing lagged.

There are some compelling reflections on science, control, and societal collapse, but they often come at the expense of plot momentum. This isn’t a plot-driven horror story. It’s not even a particularly character-driven one. It’s more of a philosophical meditation dressed in dystopian dread. More questions than answers, more mood than motion.

In the end, I didn’t hate it. But I didn’t love it either. It’s the kind of book that might land hard for readers who enjoy philosophical meditations dressed in dystopian clothing. For plot- or character-driven horror fans like me, it’s more of a soft hit than a knockout.

I’m giving it a generous 3 stars, mostly for the intriguing concept, the sleepless chapters, and the audiobook narration that carried me to the finish line. If the execution had matched the idea’s potential, I’d be raving instead of just... politely nodding.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the audiobook.

I loved the concept but I feel this book could have benefitted from some heavy editing. About 30% reads like a textbook and then the remainder was a slow burn and often times a little boring. Some great points were made about science and society but it didn't add much to moving the plot along. I got this as an audiobook, which I believe is the best way to go as it did help me stay engaged with the story until the end. 2.5 stars rounded up

WOW. I AM BLOWN AWAY.
This was psychological, existential, tense, emotional, probing.

If you liked Bird Box, Annihilation, Black Mirror - try this!

It is 2055. There’s an apocalypse. Civilisation has ended following an outbreak of the Sleepless - humans turned into feral monsters. To keep up with modern life, science designed a way to go without sleep. The small group of scientists responsible are trapped in the Tower of London, dealing with guilt, doubt, and desperately searching for a cure.

This is told from Thea’s perspective in dusty-like entries. Her path has been paved by her need to help her mother who has suffered from chronic fatigue.

When doctors don’t believe you, who else can you turn to for help?

<b>We all live with the awareness that we’re housed inside a perishable flesh sack that will one day rot away from us, leaving us with nowhere to go.
</b>
The writing was incredible: switching from introspection, records, memories, stream of consciousness….

The writing is intimate and emotional. The characters are panicked, flawed, scared, resilient.

There wasn’t a great sense of place. Similarly, the going-ins outside of the Tower was absent which could have been scary and fascinating. This did create claustrophobia and immediacy, yet made it more a character story than a true end of the world horror or thriller.

I also was not a fan of the last 20%. This was close to being a five stars before this.

<b>“Not just sleep, but rest. Sleep. Rest. Freedom. They are the same things. Those who would steal your rest would steal the very soul from within you. The means by which you exist as an autonomous creature. The means by which you become more than a machine, more than a mere organism, but an individual capable of life.”</b>

Physical arc gifted by Angry Robot.