Line #5 Literature/ThoseThatWake


1	[[quoteright:316:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/those_that_wake.jpg]]
2	%%[[caption-width-right:316:some caption text]]
3	->''"Hope is but a dream of those that wake."''
4	-->-- '''Matthew Prior'''
5
6	->''"The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."''
7	-->-- '''Charles du Bois'''
8
9	''Those That Wake'' is a YoungAdult book written by Jesse Karp.
10
11	New York City’s spirit has been crushed. People walk the streets with their heads down, withdrawing from one another and into the cold comfort of technology. Teenagers Mal and Laura have grown up in this reality. They’ve never met. Seemingly, they never will.
12
13	But on the same day Mal learns his brother has disappeared, Laura discovers her parents have forgotten her. Both begin a search for their families, but the more they try to look for them, the more they realize that ''something'' wants them silenced. Mal and his only friend, Brath, encounter a mysterious building, a delivery girl that works there named Isabel, and a terrifying, implacable man in a suit. Laura, on the other hand, encounters shady government agents who seem to be after her for no reason.
14
15	At the same time, Mike Boothe, a jaded schoolteacher, and Jon Remak, an education task force manager, realize that ''something'' is making New York became more cynical, apathetic, and ultimately hopeless. They, too, run afoul of the building and mysterious man in a suit. Thrown together by chance, they must work together to find their way home, learn who, or what, caused this and how to reclaim their lives--and fight the hopelessness gnawing at them throughout.
16
17	A sequel, entitled ''What We Become'', was released February 26, 2013. Set two years after the original, it deals with Mal and Laura adjusting from the fallout of the first book. While Mal loses himself in his old ways, Laura seems to have entirely forgotten the events of the first book--including people, such as Mal. Feeling ''something'' is missing from her life, she goes in search of the truth. Meanwhile, Mal is captured and confronted by corporate agents who give him an offer he can't refuse: In three days, give the Old Man what he wants, or else. And what he wants is the key to absolute power.
18
19	The author's blog can be found [[http://www.beyondwhereyoustand.com/ here]].
20
21	----
22
23	!! This book contains examples of:
24
25	* AbstractApotheosis: Inverted in the first book. [[spoiler:Man in Suit is hopelessness given form]].
26	* AchillesHeel: Castillo's is a weak knee.
27	* AllYourPowersCombined: Due to [[spoiler: the neuropleth]], the Old Man's mental and ''physical'' strength shoot through the roof after [[spoiler:assimilating most of New York]].
28	* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Arielle Kliest makes such an offer to Mal in the beginning of ''What We Become''.
29	* AnthropomorphicPersonification: [[spoiler: Man in Suit ''is'' hopelessness]].
30	* ApatheticCitizens: Already prevalent. [[spoiler: It's made even worse by the building and its doors]].
31	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: From ''What We Become''.
32	-->[[spoiler:'''The Librarian]]:''' Tell me, Laura, what is your life like now?
33	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Corporations rule everything, advertisements invade every minute of your life, people retreat into their cellphones, the government patrols public transportation... and the Mets have moved to Las Vegas.
34	* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: The Librarian points out in the sequel that hopelessness, while greatly reduced, is still around.
35	* AssimilationPlot: Both books have this, though in different ways. Man in Suit, the villain of the first book, plans to [[spoiler:make everyone hopeless and vacant so he can fill them with him]]. The Old Man, the villain of the second book, [[spoiler:uses the neuropleth--a hive mind of mental energy--to assimilate most of New York with plans to do so worldwide]].
36	* TheAssimilator: Both Man in Suit and the Old Man.
37	* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Mal and Laura]] in the sequel, though at different times and not without costs.
38	* BigBad: Man in Suit in the first book; the Old Man in the second.
39	* TheBigRottenApple: Ever since Big Black, New York has not been a nice place to live at all.
40	* BiggerOnTheInside: The building and its doors lead to places like this.
41	* BittersweetEnding: The building and Man In Suit have been taken down, his influence is less widespread, and [[spoiler: Tommy and Annie]] have been rescued, but [[spoiler: Mike, Brath, and Isabel are dead, Remak's whereabouts are unknown, no one remembers Laura or Mal, and the corporations are constructing a new building where the old one was--though this one is visible at least]]. Also, the sequel reveals a new villain is around afterwards.
42	** The sequel also has this. The Old Man has been defeated and the world is free of his influence, and seems to be on the road to recovery, [[spoiler: but Remak and Mal are dead]].
43	* TheBlank: Man in Suit is described as being hard to describe, with a lack of facial or clothing features but definite familiarity.
44	* BodySurf: [[spoiler: Entering the neuropleth allows you to do this at the cost of your physical body]].
45	* BreadAndCircuses: Prevalent in the second book.
46	* BreakTheCutie: This happens to Laura in ''Those That Wake'' and to Rose in ''What We Become''.
47	* BreakingSpeech: Man in Suit is scarily good at this.
48	* BrutalHonesty: Man in Suit weaponizes this.
49	-->''I will answer any question you have, because by merely being honest, I will defeat you.''
50	* ChekhovsGun: The Global Dynamic conversation.
51	** Graffiti on a wall in the first book reveals the name of the villain of the second book.
52	* ChekhovsGunman: Isabel appears early on in the first book and reappears halfway through.
53	* ChildProdigy: Aaron in the sequel; he's the son of the CEO of Intellitech.
54	* ClingyJealousGirl: Rose in the sequel, towards Mal.
55	* CoDragons: Castillo and Roarke to Arielle.
56	* CorporateConspiracy: Intellitech, a company that [[spoiler:literally manufactured hopelessness until it grew a mind of its own, becoming Man in Suit]].
57	* TheCorrupter: Man In Suit. He corrupts people through hopelessness.
58	* TheCorruption: Loss of hope. Isabel was unknowingly spreading this via her packages, and [[spoiler: Brath]] falls victim to this.
59	* CoversAlwaysLie: Minor example, but the jacket for ''Those That Wake'' says Mal is erased from the memories of everyone who's ever known him. [[spoiler: While this ''does'' happen, it's not until much later]]. The wording also implies that Tommy, Mal's brother, may be the memory-erasure victim, which isn't the case at all.
60	* CrapsaccharineWorld: New York is this in the second book.
61	* CynicismCatalyst: Big Black was the tipping point that sent New York into a state of unending hopelessness.
62	* TheDeterminator: Mal and Laura. Mike actually calls them on this, saying that never giving up just ''hurts'' after a while.
63	* DeterminedDefeatist: Mike. He thinks the world sucks, he's worthless, and he probably can't do anything to change it, but he'll fight anyway.
64	* {{Deuteragonist}}: Mal and Laura in ''What We Become''.
65	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Of all people, ''Mike'' does this. [[spoiler: But it's an illusion]]. Later, [[spoiler:he does it for real by proving Man in Suit wrong and destroying him through noble self-sacrifice]].
66	** In the sequel, [[spoiler:Laura singlehandedly frees the captive minds from the Old Man, reverting him to a feeble old man that Mal destroys with one blow]].
67	* TheDragon: Arielle Kliest to the Old Man in ''What We Become''.
68	* DrivenToSuicide: Man in Suit's influence can cause this. In the sequel, it's revealed that this killed Aaron's father.
69	* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: People corrupted by hopelessness have these eyes.
70	* {{Dystopia}}: The entire city is consistently described as grey and apathetic, and it's slowly been getting worse.
71	* TheEeyore: Mike is this because he feels he's worthless.
72	* EldritchLocation: [[spoiler: The tower, only visible to the protagonists]]. Also, [[spoiler: the looping forest]].
73	* EnergyBeings: What [[spoiler: people in the neuropleth]] become.
74	* EquivalentExchange: [[spoiler: Healing someone via the neuropleth can bring them back from the brink of death, but it erases you from existence]].
75	* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler: Arielle is horrified by the totality of the Old Man's plan and betrays him]].
76	* EvilOldFolks: The Old Man has been around for centuries.
77	* FakeMemories: A plot point in the sequel. [[spoiler: Remak can implant these, and he's done so to Laura]].
78	* FictionalFieldOfScience: Global Dynamics is basically [[Creator/IsaacAsimov Asimov's]] [[Literature/ThePsychohistorians Psychohistory]], with both being a mixture of applied mathematics and social sciences, both deriving material from highly detailed data about the population, and both using that data for the purpose of predicting the future.
79	* {{Foil}}:
80	** In the first book, Mike and Mal. Mike is an older man who can't fight for anything because he believes he's worth nothing, while Mal is a young man who fights no matter what because fighting is the only thing that gives him purpose.
81	** In the sequel, Aaron and Rose are foils to Laura. Aaron is a child genius who believes in the good that technology can bring, while Laura is a teenager who doesn't believe technology is good. Rose is clingy and fragile, while Laura is stronger and assertive.
82	* GeniusLoci: [[spoiler: The building and Man in Suit make each other up]].
83	* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler: Man in Suit and his influence]].
84	* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: Brath asks this when the main characters all meet; some tried to, but Isabel didn't get the chance to tell anyone. [[spoiler: So he shoots her]].
85	* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Arielle]] in the second book.
86	* HeroicSacrifice: In the first book [[spoiler: Mike does one to save Tommy and Annie]].
87	** The sequel has [[spoiler: Remak sacrificing himself to save Mal, and Mal sacrificing himself to save Laura]].
88	* HiveMind: [[spoiler:The neuropleth, a hive mind of mental energy]].
89	* HopeBringer: Laura is this to Mal, particularly in the sequel. [[spoiler: By the end of the series she becomes this for the world]].
90	* HopeCrusher: Man in Suit lives by this, as he's hopelessness given form.
91	* HumanoidAbomination: Man in Suit is a humanoid man in a suit who's so blank his features are impossible to describe, and his influence can cause you to kill yourself or try to kill those around you. [[spoiler:This is because he's the living idea of hopelessness]].
92	* IceQueen: Arielle Kliest. The only person she warms up to is Roarke.
93	* ImCryingButIDontKnowWhy: Happens to Laura's mom in the first book and Laura herself in the sequel.
94	* ImplacableMan: The Tower Guardian is impossible to take in a straight fight, and is only defeated by tricking it.
95	* InHarmsWay: Mal isn't happy unless he's fighting something, and sees not fighting as a failure.
96	* InSeriesNickname: Man in Suit for... the man in the suit.
97	* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: In ''What We Become'', [[spoiler:Remak and Rose enter Mal's mind]].
98	* KissOfDeath: The Old Man kisses Rose to [[spoiler:extract the neuropleth from her, which would doom New York and the world]].
99	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Everyone that ever knew Laura doesn't remember her at all, including her parents.
100	** In ''What We Become'', Laura can't remember a thing about the previous book, and everyone she knows remembers her like nothing had happened.
101	* LastNameBasis: Jon Remak generally goes by Remak.
102	* LossOfIdentity: In the sequel, Laura feels ''empty'' after losing her memories of the first book and Mal, and has no idea why because she can't remember--but she feels very strongly that her "normal" life is like a dream.
103	* LotusEaterMachine: Mike has a vision where [[spoiler: he just beats up Man in Suit and saves the world. He gets famous, rich, has a supermodel wife...but is told his child is worthless and it gets it from his side of the family. This drives him even further into hopelessness]].
104	* MegaCorp: The MCT, and Intellitech.
105	* TheMentor: The Librarian.
106	* MercyKill: [[spoiler: Done to Brath]] in the first book, as hopelessness has corrupted him beyond help.
107	* MindVirus: This is how Man in Suit propagates himself.
108	* MoreThanMindControl: Man in Suit's influence amplifies the already existing hopelessness in people's hearts; this is why it's so hard to fight him. [[spoiler: Brath falls victim to it]].
109	* MrExposition: The Librarian is this in both books.
110	* MultipleChoicePast: The Old Man's origins are never clarified. [[spoiler: If the Librarian is to be believed, he used to be a student of {{Carl Jung}}, before twisting his mentor's idea of the collective unconscious into the early stages of [[Main/FictionalFieldOfScience Global Dynamics]]. His theories garnered attention that grew into cult activity, which eventually led to a vaguely explained catastrophe.]] The real-life reason for this nebulous backstory might be [[spoiler: the fact that Jesse Karp initially conceived of the second book's villain as a sort of vessel for the first book's villain, before changing the concept in a rewrite]].
111	* MurderTheHypotenuse: Not murder, but close. In ''What We Become'', [[spoiler:Rose tries to replace Mal's memories of Laura with herself]].
112	* MusclesAreMeaningless: Once he [[spoiler:gains access to the neuropleth]], the wizened Old Man becomes obscenely strong.
113	* MysteriousInformant: The Librarian, who went off the grid shortly before Big Black.
114	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Mal leaving the door open at Mike's school let hopelessness infect it.
115	** In the sequel, [[spoiler: Rose gives the Old Man access to the neuropleth, an action which leads to Mal's death]].
116	* NightmareDreams: The main characters each have one before their lives are altered.
117	** In the sequel, Mal has recurring nightmares of Man In Suit.
118	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: A rare heroic version in the sequel, when [[spoiler:Rose viciously beats Castillo with a chair]].
119	* TheNondescript: Man in Suit, who's described as just that.
120	* NotHimself: [[spoiler: Brath]], once they reach the forest.
121	* PocketDimension: The Forgotten Places, places that people forgot about and subsequently faded from normal existence.
122	* PrimalFear: Everyone forgetting who you are, starting with your parents and friends.
123	** The sequel taps into the loss of identity that goes with losing memories, as Laura feels part of her is empty and has no idea why.
124	* ProneToTears: Rose, stemming mainly from childhood trauma.
125	* QuestForIdentity: Laura goes through one in the second book, and to a lesser extent the first.
126	* ResetButton: This seems to have been pushed in regards to Laura in the sequel. [[spoiler: What really happened was that her memories were erased]].
127	* RetGone: Forgetting about places makes them fade from reality [[spoiler: so Man In Suit can claim them]].
128	* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler: Isabel]].
129	* SamusIsAGirl: The second book reveals [[spoiler: the Librarian is a girl]].
130	* ScienceIsBad: Laura grows to believe this by the second book.
131	* SentientPhlebotinum: [[spoiler: Man In Suit is hopelessness given life]].
132	* ShootTheDog: Done to [[spoiler:Brath]].
133	* ShrinkingViolet: Rose in the sequel.
134	* ShutUpHannibal: [[spoiler: Mike's]] HeroicSacrifice shuts Man in Suit up.
135	* SirSwearsALot: Mike has the record of the most profanity in the book.
136	* SourSupporter: Mike. He thinks the world sucks, he's worthless, and he probably can't do anything to change it, but he'll fight anyway.
137	* UhOhEyes: People corrupted by hopelessness have a blank, zombie-like look to their eyes.
138	* UncannyValley: In-universe; Man in Suit evokes this trope, leaving the characters confused and frightened by their inability to describe him.
139	* UnholyMatrimony: Arielle and Roarke are close, and implied to be romantically linked.
140	* UnlikelyHero: The main characters, but particularly Mike, Laura, and Rose.
141	* {{Unperson}}: This happens to Laura, and eventually the other main characters.
142	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: Both books end with one.
143	* WistfulAmnesia: Laura has this in the sequel. It's averted elsewhere in the series, where no one can remember anything about the forgotten characters.
144	* TheWormThatWalks: [[spoiler: Man in Suit has slimy, wriggling things inside of him; it's unclear as to whether they inhabit him or if they're what he's made of, or if it's all just part of Mike's dream]].
145	* WorthLivingFor: Laura and Mal are this to each other, as are [[spoiler:Tommy and Annie]].
146	* YouAreNotAlone: This is the theme of both books.
147	* ZergRush: The brainwashed students do this to Mike and Remak.

Context Literature / ThoseThatWake