Review Detail

UNRAVEL ME (Shatter Me, #2)

Author: Tahereh Mafi
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Genre: YA Dystopia/Paranormal
Format: EBook, Print
Publisher: Harper Collins
On Sale Date: February 5, 2013
Recommended Reading: 15+

****THERE ARE NO SPOILERS****

THE GIST: Unravel Me is a strong second piece in the Shatter Me series. It’s the pay-off for the angst built into Mafi’s novella Destroy Me (Shatter Me, #1.5), while delivering heart-breaking new degrees of devastation, realizations, twists, and yes, even more angst. There’s a third book coming so we know it can’t be relieved in book two, right?

SYNOPSIS: Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She’s finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam’s life.

BREAKDOWN: I should start by saying “anticipation” doesn’t quite cover how much I looked forward to this book’s release! Shatter Me rocked my world. It’s one of only a couple books I’ve ever read twice. Actually I read it two and a half times, I just never had time to finish reading it the third time. It was also the first book I read almost entirely in one day.

So, yeah, I was pretty stoked about this sequel! And now that I’ve finished, I can’t wait for book three!

If you saw my reviews of Shatter Me and Destroy Me, you know I thought very highly of both Unravel Me predecessors. How did this installment stack up? Quite nicely. You know an author is doing something right when she makes your heart-break (and race) for the bad guy. Even better, when you root for him. I often found myself just as conflicted as the heroine, Juliette.

Without compromising the style that made Mafi’s first book so compelling and unique, she delivered a highly emotional and visceral look into Juliette’s greatest dilemma thus far. Juliette made choices that took an incredible amount of resolve, and she grew because of them. And yes, one decision in particular brought me to tears. I like who she is becoming, and I’m excited to see how the new Juliette polishes off the war taking place in her world.

Which reminds me…Can you say cliffhanger? Said war is still raging with no resolution in sight. How do I feel about this? Not sure, perhaps a little slighted, but Mafi did her job of making me ready for the next book, as she always does. That’s not to say the book was unfulfilling, just that it took place in a very brief three-week time span, and most of the book’s central conflict was directly related to Juliette and the characters that are closest to her, while focusing less on the external story taking place in the background. I feel this book’s purpose was to set the stage for something huge in the final installment, and I certainly hope it pays off. For now, I get to (im)patiently wait for the 2014 release of the untitled finale.

(Review originally posted on GliteraryGirl.com)