AWAKEN

The third in Cabot’s kinda-sorta reimagining of the Persephone myth takes the trilogy to an appropriately Sturm-und-Drang conclusion.

As the story opens, 17-year-old Pierce has embraced both immortal boyfriend John, lord of the Underworld, and an eternity by his side. All is not well in the land of the dead, though, as the Fates who watch over the Underworld have apparently abandoned it, leaving it vulnerable to the malevolent Furies. A gumming-up of the movement of recently deceased souls through the Underworld to their final destinations has resulted in a “pestilence” that threatens both the land of the dead and Pierce’s mortal home, Isla Huesos (an alternate Key West). And then John is killed….With a posse that includes her kickass friend, Kayla, and her recently killed-but-resurrected cousin, Alex, along with some of John’s Underworld cohorts and a few doughty, newly dead souls, Pierce ascends to the surface to try to set things right. Plotting is not this book’s strength, as the rules governing the Underworld and the web of vendettas that fuels Isla Huesos’ maladies feel more than a little arbitrary; moreover, the frequent descents into classic paranormal-romance angst tire rather than titillate. But Cabot’s characterizations are mostly sharp, and when she indulges her talent for snappy dialogue, the book wakes up. Though unlikely to win new fans to the trilogy, this closer offers its enthusiasts some moments to enjoy. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)