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...people can no longer turn a blind eye to unwinding. Ridding society of troublesome teens while simultaneously providing much-needed tissues for transplant might be convenient, but its morality has finally been brought into question.
Cam is a product of unwinding; made entirely out of the parts of other unwinds, he is a teen who does not technically exist. A futuristic Frankenstein, Cam struggles with a search for identity and meaning and wonders if a rewound being can have a soul. These books challenge assumptions about where life begins and ends—and what it means to live.
So I LOVED the first book of this series, Unwind. It was thrilling, realistic and the very thought of unwinding made me cringe. The main characters are Connor (the troubled kid), Risa (a ward of the state) and Lev (a child born just to be unwound). The book progresses from all three different viewpoints until they all converge at the end with the culmination of some epic craziness.
I normally don't like these types of books, I like to know the point of view I'm reading from and if it changes I tend to get annoyed and generally dislike the book. I'm not sure why Unwind was different, it just was so intriguing that I got over the annoyance of the viewpoints fairly easily. I cannot say the same about UnWholly. This story line wasn't that bad looking back at the book as a whole. I just hated the viewpoint shifts. For this book the author decided that each and every passerby deserved their own chapter which was confusing and redundant.
For example, Connor would have his narrative about a situation, then some kid near him would get a chapter saying the EXACT same thing. Like literally, exactly the same.
Connor: I need some more food for my friends and it's really hot here.
Other kid: I'm hungry, Connor should get more food. I'm hot.
It was ridiculous. And the second book introduced new characters that I wasn't fond of. Miracolina was so brainwashed that she spent the whole book trying to be unwound. Cam was a person, but not technically a person because he was only made of other people. He was the most annoying in my opinion. Because he had all different brain bits his speech wasn't normal, or understandable at all. He would say things like "caboose behind tails!" and we're supposed to understand that he means 'the end'. I still don't get it to be honest.
Then on top of all the new characters and their drama there was the forced love triangle between Cam and Risa (and technically Connor, but he wasn't actually there for any of it). I say forced because it didn't need to be included in this book. Connor and Risa were rocky as it was, but adding Cam into the picture was just something to entice teens to read this book. Their romance was strange because reading Cam's parts (he LOVED her with every ounce of his being) you really felt a connection between them, but Risa could care less (she's still in love with Connor). Overall their 'love' was just a media charade (Hunger Games anyone??).
I decided to put these two books into one review because they are a series. Unwind was amazing and didn't need a sequel (let alone another 4 books in the works) so UnWholly was a giant disappointment. The characters I fell in love with were pushed aside to make way for the new characters and no one wants to see that in a sequel.
Mr. Shusterman, your original story was fantastic, I'm discouraged that you decided to keep writing this story after everything was wrapped up sufficiently. I feel like these next books are going to be grasping at straws and I'm nervous to read them, but I'm an optimist and will hope for the best in your next adventure.
Unwind: 5 stars!!! AMAZING!!!
UnWholly: 2 stars...disappointing at best
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