Review: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Grade: 4.5 Butterflies
Series: The Shatter Me Series, #1 Shatter Me (Review), #1.5 Destroy Me, #2 Unravel Me, #3 Ignite Me.
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: Hardcover, 461

Goodreads Summary

tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
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.

I read and loved the first book in this series, Shatter Me, a while back. I loved everything about it, the writing, the characters, the world, the plot, anything and everything. However, It took me awhile to get to this book, not because I wasn't excited for it, but because I was terrified that this book wasn't going to be as good as Shatter Me. I've read so many series where I've loved the first book, but then the series just goes down hill. Thankfully, I finally got up the nerve to read this and Loved it!! Everything I loved in the previous books I love in this book. This was such a outstanding sequel!! It did have a bit of the middle book syndrome, but not enough to overshadow the good things about it.

Let me first tell you why this book had a little bit of middle book syndrome. I felt like the plot mostly resolves around Juliette deciding who she is and being a scared and hating herself and than having mini panic attacks (or not so mini). And the most common thing that you will see in reviews about this book is that a lot of people didn't like how Juliette acted. A lot of readers didn't like how she thought of herself and let her doubt define her. And I did get a little annoyed with it, especially all the mini panic attacks in the beginning.

 However, while this plot closely resolves around that, it doesn't fully. The plot is still moving forward, the war is happening, people are dying and that really made the book for me. If that all wasn't happening, if the author made the war happen after Juliette went through her stage I think I would have hated this book. Because the author made the perfect balance of emotional struggle and action-war-stuff. And that really put more depth in it, because while all Juliette wants to do is sit and cry, there is a war to fight and this forces her to fight. I felt like this really made the book more real, because in real life you just can't sit and wallow in you self loathing and doubts, you need to find the strength to get up and fight.

Tahereh Mafi walked a line in this book that few would, because if she wrote a little bit more of the emotional struggle I would have been bored, but if she wrote more action I would have felt like Juliette's doubts and fear where more of an after thought. Tahereh Mafi blew me away with her outstanding and writing again! She is such a brilliant writer!

Like I said, the war between Omega Point and the Reestablishment really gets going in this book. There is some major fights in this one and those where so awesome to read!! Another thing that I really liked about the war, besides all the action, was how it helped us to see more of this world. Not much more I admit, but you get to see it again, you learn about the system it has, and you learn some of it's history. And I really loved that! Of course there is many twists and turns that you really don't see coming. The one about Adams family didn't shock me as much, because I was hopping something like that would happen, but the one about Warner was really great!

You also get to learn more about the characters in this one. Not just the main characters, but also the side characters as well. We get to see some of Juliette's past, just little words here and there about it, but it still gives her a lot more depth. And of course we get to see her character development through out the book. And we get to learn a little about Kenji, about his powers, his past and some of the pain he is carrying. And he is one of my favorite characters now!! I love his attitude on life, how he is silly but how he never forgets that there is work to be done. I just loved him!!

We also get to learn more about many others, including Castle. And of course we get to learn more about Warner. I love Warner and I loved how we got to see more of him and his past and how we got to read Juliette learning all that and connecting with him. But I feel if he doesn't let Juliette help him, he will become one of those characters that is tragic and brings pain with him, because I know Juliette won't stay with him if he keeps acting like he's been.

The only one that seemed to skipped the more depth department was Adam. I really didn't like how he wasn't present for most of the book. I didn't like how he didn't try harder to make it work between him and Juliette. I know he is trying to get ride of what made the rift between them, but I it still annoyed me. But at the same time I'm glad what happened between them did. I felt like it allowed Juliette to grow more and help her realized she doesn't need a man to lean on. I loved that!

Overall I loved this book! The writing and the plot are just outstanding!! And while I did get annoyed with Juliette and how she was afraid to fight, I loved her character development throughout the book. And I just can't wait for Ignite Me to release!!

This book got....

4.5 Butterflies

Beautiful, this is a great book. 

Happy reading