Unravel Me

By Tahereh Mafi

Source: Library

My Rating: 3.5 / 5

I waited a while to read this book, which is the sequel to Shatter Me. Here’s the Goodreads summary:

tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
it’s almost
time for war.

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.

I read Shatter Me last year and was torn, because I loved the idea, loved some of the characters, but the writing annoyed me so much at times that I wasn’t sure I’d want to read any more. However, I kept reading great reviews of this book, and because I did want to know what happened next to Juliette and the others, I borrowed this from the library.

I’m pleased to say that I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. Things that annoyed me in the first book were not as much of an issue for me in this one. For example, the writing still annoyed me at times (purple prose), but either because I knew what to expect or it was toned down somewhat, it wasn’t as distracting or irritating as it had been when I read Shatter Me.

I was also so frustrated with Juliette at the beginning of this book because she was just like a bump on a log – she sat in her room having a pity party, not getting to know anybody. She was so hesitant and indecisive, and every time Kenji showed up and dropped a truth bomb, I wanted to applaud. BUT by the end of the book, I thought Juliette had become stronger, confident, and (almost) everything that I disliked about her in the beginning was reversed. I was also super interested in the development of her abilities.

I mentioned it on Goodreads, but Kenji totally saved this book for me. I don’t know that I would have continued to read beyond the first few chapters if it wasn’t for him, because he seemed to be the only person who was brutally honest with Juliette. She had no idea what the world was like, and yes she’d been through some crappy stuff, but if she was going to be at Omega Point with Kenji, Adam, James, and the others, she had to become part of the group, stop isolating herself. He said a lot of the things that I was thinking. Kenji also brought humour that I think really helped keep this book from being too bleak or depressing. I love him!

Adam was barely a character in this book. It felt like the only reason he existed was to make out with Juliette and to mope when they couldn’t be together. I really liked Adam in Shatter Me, but it felt like he barely had a personality here. However, I was really interested in his ability, and in fact learning about the abilities of the others at Omega Point.

Warner. What can I say. There seems to be a lot of people feeling the romance between Warner and Juliette, but sadly, I don’t think I am one of them. I was really liking the fact that there wasn’t a big love triangle in Shatter Me, and that Adam and Juliette had a history. With Warner, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that he was creepy. Sure, he’s attractive, but he’s also a villain! I mean, I was really interested in learning more about his character’s background – I like learning more about characters, especially the ‘bad guys’ because I like finding out why they are the way they are – but the romance just seemed strange to me. SPOILER ALERT: I didn’t see the major twist coming about Warner and Adam being brothers! I loved it because it was unexpected (for me), but I also don’t like that it just adds more drama to the love triangle. END OF SPOILER.

The book was a bit long for me – it felt, at times, like it was dragging on – but overall, I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it all ends with the final book, which should be out next year.