Monday, May 21, 2012

UNWHOLLY by Neal Shusterman - REVIEW

KARIN'S REVIEW:


UNWHOLLY picks up where UNWIND left off. Shusterman does a great job catching up the reader so you don’t feel lost. However, I still recommend reading UNWIND before diving into this book. Since it doesn’t come out until August you have time to read it now. This review is intentional vague.  I don’t want to spoil anything for people who haven’t read either book.

After a terrible war between the Pro-Life people and the Pro-Choice people, an agreement was made to add The Bill of Life to the Constitution. Basically, life is protected from conception until the age of 13. Once a child reaches 13 a parent then has the right to Unwind their child.  Unwinding is a process where the child officially remains alive – but in a “divided state.” Every part of the body is harvested at a Harvest Camp and preserved and later used for people that need replacement parts. For instance, if someone is suffering from heart failure – instead of have bypass surgery you just get a new heart that once belonged to a child that was Unwound. A parent or legal guardian can sign the unwinding order until the child reaches 18 (now 17 after an amendment because of developments in UNWIND). Chilling, huh? Well, just wait!!

UNWHOLLY follows the characters we connected with in the first book, Lev, Connor, and Risa. They face horrible and dangerous situations at every turn. Shusterman provides us with several new characters – some you grow to like and others you grow to hate. Together, they are forced to make ethical decisions that will determine whether they live or die (a.k.a. live in a divided state).
This book brings up questions about what it means to be alive. How far would you go to survive? Would you take a new arm, new spine, new eye knowing they came from a kid between the ages of 13 and 17? A kid that became too much trouble for the parents? A kid that didn’t want to “die” anymore than you do? It really makes you think.

Absolutely fantastic! That is all I can say. If you liked UNWIND then you’ll love UNWHOLLY.  If you haven’t read UNWIND yet, get on it NOW!

Karin's rating:



JULIE'S REVIEW:


 Unwholly is the sequel to Unwind. It has been a long time waiting for this sequel. It did not disappoint!

Unwinding is still taking place. Children between the ages of 13-17 can be unwound if their parents sign the paperwork. The age used to be to 18, but has now changed to 17 which has caused a shortage of available parts. This has given rise to black market pirates.


Characters from Unwind are also in Unwholly. Connor, Risa and Lev are still fighting the battle for the right to live. Each one has a different battle that puts them in constant peril.


There are also new characters in Unwholly. One a horrifying creation that has taken unwinding to a whole new level.


I was not disappointed in the excitement of the story. The introduction of new characters kept the story from becoming stale. I'm looking forward to the last book in the trilogy and can only hope that it doesn't take another 4 years to come out.


Julie's rating:


              










                                                                         


UNWHOLLY comes out August 28th 2012. Karin received her copy at TXLA in April.

2 comments:

  1. Awesome review ladies!!! I loved the first book so Im super excited to read this one....:)Julie since I cant seem to comment on your personal blog Ill just comment here from now on....;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so sorry Tina! I'll have to figure out what is up with my blog. But we love for you to visit here too!

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