Unwind (Unwind Dystology #1) by Neal Shusterman

August 27, 2014     erinbook     Book review

Unwind (Unwind Dystology #1) by Neal Shusterman


Release Date: November 6, 2007
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Reader
335 Pages
Received: Bought at TBF
Format: *signed* Paperback


Rating:

Description: Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child “unwound,” whereby all of the child’s organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn’t technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

Review: I went into this book hoping, but not expecting, to like it. Indeed, I was almost halfway through the book before I was able to say I was enjoying it. Perhaps one of the reason was its reputation or the obviously soapboxy nature of the story.

What do I mean when I say this book, and even the series, is soapboxy? I mean that there is an agenda. This is often true for dystopian books, the author is commenting on something in this futuristic world that is wrong. This one is a bit more current and a bit more pointedly directed at a current debate. I’ll not get much more into that but it can be a bit much at first and makes it harder to enjoy the boo.

Once I did start getting invested in the story I got through it much faster. It does really start to pick up, around the time Lev stops being a whiny little jerk. He’s one of the least likable characters for the first half of this book, mostly until you meet Roland. Thankfully Lev begins to change his tune or I would have hated him for the entire book rather than just the first half. Conner and Risa are interesting characters but the constant back and forth between POVs was really hard to like at time. The narrative just didn’t run very smoothly that way.

This book really did start to grow on me though, and by the end I was rabid for the next book. I don’t know if this book really lived up to it’s hype, I’d likely have to say no. However, it did end up becoming a good read.

What did you think of Unwind? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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