Becky's View: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
♦publisher: HarperTeen
♦release date: February 5th, 2013
♦hardcover, 461 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Shatter Me, book 2
              review of book 1
♦source: ALA conference

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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.

Review: So many emotions.  This series continues with the same raw intensity that Tahereh Mafi astonished us with in Shatter Me.  The way she structures her sentences, the strike-throughs (used slightly more sparingly this time around), the repetition---Mafi uses her signature writing style to convey an absolutely palpable intensity and emotion that runs through each page like a pulse. 

The story picks up right where Shatter Me ends, with Juliette trying to settle in to Omega Point, and you can really see her trying to get comfortable enough with herself to let other people in.  Being rejected and feared is all she knows, and it's hard for her to overcome that, especially when her powers are spinning a bit out of control, despite Castle's insistence that she learn how to use them to her (and Omega Point's) advantage.  Her struggle continues on how she feels about her own power and whether she wants anyone, even the good guys, to use it against their enemies. 

 The love story also takes a wild, heartbreaking spin as they discover more about Adam's own power to touch Juliette.  For those who have aversions to love triangles (they don't really bother me if they are well done), there is definitely one here, so be prepared.  It was definitely hard for me in the beginning to even consider Warner a viable love interest---his past actions were just too unforgiveable.   Still, Juliette's compassion for a boy raised by a heartless, cruel hand (much like herself) gets the best of her and she definitely lets her guard down for Warner. His actions this time around soften his character a bit and that definitely gives him some much needed vulnerability, humanity, and interest beyond the cruel leader we saw before. But I definitely reserve judgement on him until the end.  Great, great character development in this one. Some may be Team Adam, some may fall into Team Warner. As for me...I'm Team Kenji, all the way!! Kenji is an outstanding character.  I don't actually remember much about him in book one, but in Unravel Me, I thought he completely stole the show..  Not as a love interest, of course, since it just isn't there for him and Juliette, but best all-around character: courageous, outspoken, brilliant, caring, and absolutely hilarious.  His relationship with Juliet is perfect, showing good friendship, encouragement, and bit of tough love when needed.

The style, I have to mention again is just so distinctive---and while in one or two scenes, it gets to be just too much, just one step over the line into being slightly overdone and overdramatic, for most of this wild ride, it holds the reader completely captive.  With an ending that may very well explode your heart and the promise of one heck of a war on the horizon for these great characters, Unravel Me will leave you dying for the next book in this series.

Find Tahereh Mafi online:  Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase Unravel Me:  Amazon  •  BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound