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This book started pretty much where Unwind left off; and I appreciate the fact that the author does not cover every single detail from the first book.

Conner is now running the Graveyard, and they are down to about 700 teens. The age limit for unwinding also got lowered to the age of 17, which means thousands of 17 year olds at harvest camps had to be released.

There now appears to be a shortage of organs, and tissue, so children are now being kidnapped and sold on the black market. The Juvey Cops (that is what they are called in the story) are well aware of the Graveyard, but have a very good reason for leaving the kids there alone.

Supply and Demand

The powers that be can charge enormous fees for body parts while there is a perceived shortage. They want the AWOL teens to stay in the Graveyard, or they will have to lower their selling costs.

And then there is the advertising campaign. One such ad as in the book:

“When Billy’s behavior became too much for us to bear, and we began to fear for our own safety, we did the only humane thing. We sent him to harvest camp, so he could find fulfillment in a divided state. But now, with an age restriction preventing seventeen-year-olds from being unwound, we wouldn’t have had that choice. Just last week a seventeen-year-old girl in our neighborhood got drunk, crashed her car, and killed two innocent people. Would it still have happened if her parents could have chosen to send her to harvest camp? You tell me.” VOTE YES ON PROP 46! End the Cap-17 law, and lift the ban on late teen unwinding! Paid for by Citizens for a Wholesome Tomorrow. (Shusterman, N. 2012, pg 36).

And I thought all of the political advertising was ridiculous!

As for Risa and Lev, they are both still a huge part of this second book; Risa dealing with feeling abandoned by Conner, and Lev being worshipped by everyone for being the “clapper” that didn’t clap. (Clappers are teens who have their blood mixed with explosives, and basically do a suicide mission by clapping their hands, where detonators are implanted, and killing themselves and everyone in the vicinity).

This book has kept me just as interested as the first story did, and I hope to have this finished by tomorrow.