4.5 / 5 Stars
Okay, I’ll be the first to admit, I was not overly excited to read this book. I liked Unwind--but didn’t love it. In fact, UnWholly sat at the bottom of my “to read” stack for about a month before I finally got around to reading it. It sounds silly, but the cover was a little too creepy for me and I wasn’t jumping to pick it up. But, I did finally read it, and…drumroll please…my expectations were wildly exceeded!
There were so many things that I just adored about this book. It had been several years since I read Unwind, but there were bits and pieces, (no pun intended) to help review the first book enough that I didn’t feel lost at all.
I generally don’t love the third person POV, but in this case, it worked. Observing things from so many different perspectives really helped capture the full story. Several new characters were introduced this time around and the author eloquently weaved each of their viewpoints together. We were also able to see deeper insights into characters we know and love, such as Connor, Lev and Risa.
I have seen so many middle novels in trilogies act as just a filler between books. This was not the case with UnWholly. Neal Shusterman did a great job picking up where Unwind left off. Not once did I feel like this was just a second book in the trilogy. It never felt stagnant or sluggish. The author is such a fantastic storyteller that this book really can stand on its own. It moved along at just the right pace, with each chapter making me more invested in the characters and their struggles.
I also really appreciated the fact that Shusterman was able to convey deep emotions without resorting to excessive profanity. I’ve read quite a few YA books where authors think the more they curse, the better they will get their point across. In UnWholly, I still felt all of the characters’ angst, fury, disappointment, love or fear without the author expressing vulgarity and profanity. This book just goes to show that emotionally charged stories can be told while still remaining clean and appropriate for the young adult audience.
One of my favorite parts of this book was the ending. I won’t give any spoilers away, but I was so happy that Shusterman was able to conclude the book with some resolution instead of leaving everything open-ended. It’s obvious that many questions still remain for the third book to answer, but UnWholly ended with some closure, as well as hints as to the direction the final installment will take. All in all, a great story that left me salivating for the next one!
