Book Review: Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2)

About The Book:

  

  Title: Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) 

  Author: Tahereh Mafi
  Pub. Date: February 5th, 2013
  Publisher: Harper Teen
  Pages: 461

  Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia, Romance

  Rate: 4/5 stars

Synopsis :

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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:

I must say, I liked Unravel Me exponentially more than I liked Shatter Me. If I hadn't purchased the entire series in one fell swoop from a Book Outlet sale, I probably wouldn't have continued with the series. BUT since I'm trying to read lots and lots of series in 2016 I thought that I'd start with the series I already owned. Shatter Me leaves off with Juliette, Adam and James finding Omega Point - a place for people mostly like themselves to cultivate their powers in a safe environment. What? Is this Xavier's School For Gifted Youngster's you may ask? I thought so too. Ok, ok last X-Men reference, I ranted enough about that in my Shatter Me review. 

“Sticks and stones keep breaking my bones but these words, these words will kill me.” 

The plot mostly centered around a war brewing between the rebel resistance and the same fanatical group we've seen in Shatter Me led by Warner - however we see them headed by a new leader in this installment. Meanwhile, the resistance headquarters is trying to pry Juliette and Adam off each other for long enough to train them to do something useful like learn how to shoot a gun (because the world is basically over and there aren't that many people left). The plot was much more edge-of-your seat than Shatter Me in my opinion, possibly because I was more invested in characters in this book like Kenji and James. 

To put it nicely, Juliette is an idiot. She is constantly endangering herself and everyone around her with her raging hissy fits. She is conscious of what her powers will do to people but when someone or something sets her off she doesn't even care what the repercussions are of what happens. Please see the gif below this paragraph to see a little bit of a representation of one of her hissy fits. This brings me to Adam - the second point in this love triangle. At this point, I think Juliette and Adam very well might be made for each other besides the fact that her touch might maybe kill him. They could be made for each other because: 1) They both like to make out while the world is in chaos, 2) They both like to feel sorry for themselves, and 3) Both of them hate doing what they're told. I understand that Adam has a troubled past but why does he have to be so clingy and creepy? 

Finally we can conclude with Warner, the third and most important point in this love triangle. Warner is too precious for this world and Juliette doesn't deserve him. He is also the bad boy of this triangle and this book. If you haven't already seen a pattern in my book boyfriend habits, I kind of have a thing for them. BUT WARNER IS SO DIFFERENT. You see a completely polar opposite side to Warner in this book - a softer side, a troubled side, a conflicted side. He fights so hard for Juliette and it breaks your heart because she's such a POS sometimes. And if you don't come out of Unravel Me loving Warner then ... are you even human? Warner is in a lot more of this book than he in Shatter Me but he doesn't come in until about 40% (my estimation, I was reading a hard copy). I'd like to say that Juliette was forced to choose between him and Adam, but nobody forces her to do anything - let alone does she do anything anyone asks of her.

“The truth," he says, "is a painful reminder of why I prefer to live among the lies.” 

While there were still a few cheesy lines, I think that was what Ms. Mafi was going for! I will be continuing with this series by reading Ignite Me. I honestly can't believe how much more impressed I am with Unravel Me than I was with Shatter Me. It's almost like she took exactly what was wrong with her writing in the first book and tweaked every little thing for this book. I'm hoping for the same in the third book! If you had regrets with Shatter Me I highly recommend giving this series one more go with Unravel Me. 

- Jocelyn