Review: Unravel Me – Tahereh Mafi

Posted April 3, 2013 by Andi in Books, Review / 0 Comments

Review: Unravel Me – Tahereh MafiUnravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
Series: Shatter Me #2
Published by HarperCollins
Published: February 5, 2013
Buy on Amazon
Add to Goodreads

The thrilling second installment in New York Times bestselling author Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me series.

It should have taken Juliette a single touch to kill Warner. But his mysterious immunity to her deadly power has left her shaken, wondering why her ultimate defense mechanism failed against the person she most needs protection from.

She and Adam were able to escape Warner’s clutches and join up with a group of rebels, many of whom have powers of their own. Juliette will finally be able to actively fight against The Reestablishment and try to fix her broken world. And perhaps these new allies can help her shed light on the secret behind Adam’s—and Warner’s—immunity to her killer skin.

Juliette’s world is packed with high-stakes action and tantalizing romance, perfect for fans of the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard and the Darkest Minds trilogy by Alexandra Bracken.

Ransom Riggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, raved: "A thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love, the Shatter Me series is a must-read for fans of dystopian young-adult literature—or any literature!"

Not gonna lie, I was scared to read this after I skimmed some reviews and saw I was in for a roller coaster of emotions. And after all the twist and turns in Shatter Me I knew Mafi wasn’t going to let us off easy. Not to mention the rumblings about a certain chapter 62. But even with all that said, I was dying to read this one. So I put on my big girl panties and dived in. And man was I ever shattered, destroyed and unraveled. Mafi killed me with this book and I loved every painful minute.

Unravel Me continues right where we left off in Shatter Me. Juliette, Adam, and Kenji are now with the people of Omega Point lead by Castle. Since arriving at the secret headquarters of the resistance and meeting people with gifts like her, Juliette has been trying to learn how to use her gift and what her gift means. But as Juliette begins to get a handle on her power everything else in her life begins to fall apart. Now Juliette is stuck between deciding with her heart, with her needs, and with her life just what is important to her and with the reemergence of Warner things become a whole lot more complicated than she ever could have imagined.

I was so frustrated reading this book. I felt like everything that I didn’t want to happen happened and yet everything that happened left me wanting more. I was a jumble of contradicting emotions and that was the case from beginning to end. Juliette made some choices I just didn’t like nor did I understand on the surface, but then when I would think about them deeper I could see where she was coming from and why she reacted the way she did.  Did I like it, most of the time no, but I understood it.  I also completely understood where Adam was coming from. Adam goes through a major transition in this book and it isn’t easy on him, on his friends, on anyone. Everything he thought he knew about himself is different somehow and he is grasping at ways to make things right. I think that is what broke me the most. I hated a lot of the Adam and Juliette parts but I loved them just the same because I got it and it made sense to me.

What doesn’t make sense is Warner. I’m going on the record as saying I don’t like him. I didn’t like him in Shatter Me and I really didn’t like him in Unravel Me. When I read the brief eBook Destroy Me which was solely focused on him, I liked him a little more because I thought I understood a little more about him. But I was wrong because all Warner showed me in this book is that he is selfish, self-serving and has a sick, creepy obsession with Juliette. He was completely manipulating everyone around him and that left a bad taste in my mouth and the fact that Juliette felt the way she did about him left a bad taste in my mouth.  Because the thing is it is easy to say Warner is the way he is because…<insert any reason>. But the truth of the matter for me is that he is the way he is because he chooses to be that way and I just can’t get behind him as a character because of that. The only reason my feelings on Warner didn’t lower my rating on this book is because I do have feelings on him. He is an awesome villain, simple as that. Without him, you would just have a pretty book with gorgeous words and an adorable couple. Warner brings the conflict which is needed, but I also think he needs to grow up and become likable if I’m supposed to root for him.

With all that said Unravel Me is a poetically written story about uncertainty and your world being ripped apart leaving nothing the same. Mafi brings the exact same magic she brought to Shatter Me and give you twist after twist after twist that will leave you breathless and wanting more. Your heart will be trampled on and then ridden over again with a bus that has nails in its tires, but it is well worth the distress if even for the beauty. If you like angst then this is bar far the book/series for you. Can’t wait for the conclusion.

Tags: , ,

Divider

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.