Review: Unravel Me

Book: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
Publication Date: February 5, 2013
Series: Shatter Me (#2)
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Synopsis: tick
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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.


Overall Review:
As I'm sure quite a few people know, I wasn't a fan of Shatter Me at all. Beautiful writing and great promise but fell way too flat for me. So I'm sure you're wondering why the heck I continued reading if I didn't even like the first one and the answer to that is I've heard such good things about this series and I was hoping that Shatter Me was just a fluke. I will say that I enjoyed Unravel Me a heck of a lot better than I liked Shatter Me. I didn't love it but I did enjoy it. It had an addicting story line and a lot more action going on. Omega Point and The Reestablishment are preparing for war against each other and it's going to get brutal. Unravel Me is a lot more about preparing for war against a government that has all control over everything and Juliette having to learn to channel her abilities. There's a bit of drama in Unravel Me that bugged me because I just didn't see the point of it. Like, out of all the real issues that were going on around them they were most concerned about something stupid. Another thing that bugged me was the fact that this is supposed to be a dystopian of sorts and everyone is supposed to be focused on taking down the government but Unravel Me was all about the romance. I'm serious. All Juliette seemed to care about was Adam unless Warner was around, then it was all about Warner. Romance is great, but I hate when it takes over the story (especially when the story isn't just a romance novel). The writing for Unravel Me was beautiful yet again and the best thing is I didn't have any problems with it like I did before. There wasn't that ungodly amount of repetition or metaphors that made absolutely no sense. Mafi's writing is so beautiful and it so fits for Juliette's character and state of mind. In fact, Mafi admitted that her writing style was supposed to represent Juliette's state of mind. She did a great job with this and I'm wondering since Juliette is getting stronger and more confident that in Ignite Me the writing style will show that!

While in Shatter Me I felt so bad for Juliette and just wanted to hug her half the time because her life has been so traumatic, in Unravel Me I just wanted to shake her senseless. While most characters as the story goes on grow and develop, they get better and more mature, this didn't happen with Juliette. At the end of Shatter Me she discovered what exactly was up with her and her "gift" and even discovered there were other people with "gifts" so you'd think she'd feel more accepted and happy there right? It appeared that way at the end of Shatter Me but the beginning of Unravel Me she was back to just sitting alone moping. She complained about being alone, having no friends, having no one to understand her but she did! There was an entire compound full of people who understood her, who would've been her friend! She just refused to get to know anyone. She reminded me of the type of person who complains about how hard things are but has every opportunity to change that but doesn't just so she can continue to complain. She was also very childish. I don't know if she felt the world revolved around her or what but her attitude made it seem like it. She was the only one with problems. She had every right to cry over a guy while the rest of the world was dying. Everyone had to let things go her way or she'd throw a big old fit and punch something. She also kept secrets from everyone. She held secrets all the time,even very important ones that others needed to know, for no reason at all and then when they blew up in her face she would freak out. What does she expect?! I couldn't stand her in Unravel Me!

Still wasn't a big fan of the romance in Unravel Me because I still couldn't stand either guy and I hated that the romance took up the entire plot and not the impending war or anything actually important. Adam and Juliette are having some troubles in paradise and neither are handling it well. They have an off and on relationship where they either avoid each other, keep things from each other, or freaking bawl all over each other confessing how much they love the other and things are so hard. All I heard from Juliette was Adam this and Adam that. Oh there's Adam but I shouldn't talk to him but I'll just stare at him from across the room like a creeper! Then there was Warner. I couldn't stand him in Shatter Me because he was a literal psychopath who had mental issues. He was a bad guy who I couldn't understand why people liked him. Now in Unravel Me we get to learn a little more about him and I admit that I felt really bad for him. He's been through such hardships and grew up without love but that does not excuse his behavior in the slightest. I think he cares about Juliette in a creepy and deluded kind of way but he's still a psychopath who enjoys killing and no trauma excuses that at all. The romance in this series is a big no for me, sorry!

The pace wasn't too bad, wasn't incredibly fast but wasn't slow either. I liked the story line and the supposed plot of Unravel Me a whole lot better than Shatter Me. Now I say supposed plot because Unravel Me is supposed to be about preparing for a war against the government and about Juliette discovering more about herself and learning how to control her abilities for the best. When I read about that I was very interested and couldn't put the book down, but a majority of the story revolved around the romance. This is a dystopian series but you probably wouldn't realize it because Unravel Me is surrounded by Adam. Adam Adam Adam. Sometimes Warner but mostly Adam. I can't stand when a romance takes over the entire story. Especially when the romance isn't that good to begin with! Juliette and Adam spend time ignoring each other, keeping things from each other, making out, and bawling constantly while they confess their feelings and talk about how they can make things work but then they can't make things work. Warner is still a psychopath and probably always will be, but as we learned more about him I really felt bad for him. He's been through so much and I couldn't help the sympathy I felt for him, but that doesn't at all excuse the things he's done. I know it sounds like I didn't like Unravel Me but I did, a lot better than Shatter Me! The title isn't so bad but I like how Shatter Me fits with it's story more than Unravel Me does. I also adore the cover. It is so freaking gorgeous I can't even handle it.


Overall Rating:
I give Unravel Me a 3 out of 5 star rating. The story was a heck of a lot better than Shatter Me and once I started reading it was hard to put down. I know that my review doesn't exactly seem like I enjoyed this book but I did! I loved the action, the gruesomeness of it, the fact that Mafi held nothing back when it came to the violence. Her writing is even more beautiful than in Shatter Me. I just had a problem with Juliette and the gosh dang romance! I'll read Ignite Me for sure, not sure when though. Would I recommend this series? I guess. I know everyone seems to love it. Not a personal favorite of mine but if you like scientific dystopians with a powerful, front and center romance then you'll probably like this series. I'm really disappointed that I don't adore this series like everyone else does. I was hoping for such great things! Maybe Ignite Me will be different from the others? I'll cross my fingers! Thanks for reading!

3/5 stars

~Kayla~