Cam

Unsouled-Neal Shusterman-Final Review

AngelaLeave a comment

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What an ending to a wild ride of a story. Is it the end of this series? I can’t say for sure. Checking Neal’s website shows me that I missed a short-story book about Lev, called Unstrung, which was sandwiched between Unwholly and Unsouled. It details exactly what went on with Lev from the time Conner kidnapped him from his tithing, until he finally ended up at the Graveyard.

Book 3 finds Conner, Risa, Lev, and Cam all together, knowing they have to pull out all the stops to finally put an end to unwinding. The key seems to lie with Sonia, whom Conner knows more about than Sonia finds comfortable. But what she does let them know, is the final work of her husband, determined to fix the mistake he made by inadvertently allowing unwinding to come to be.

A printer, that prints real human organs, making unwinding unnecessary. The powers-that-be bought this from Janson for millions, and destroyed it, making the printers, blueprints, everything disappear. There is too much money to be made in the unwinding market.

This story, and series, is definitely well worth the read. There doesn’t necessarily need to be another book to this, and it would still seem like a complete series. There is plenty of room for another story to follow. If one does, it will definitely be on my bookshelf.

I bought, and read this series, for two reasons. Because it sounded interesting, and to make sure it was okay for my 12 year old daughter to read. In my household, this is a series I will let her read (she is currently reading the first book, Unwind. There is not much in “bloody-gore” violence, but both children and adults are killed throughout the series. The actual act of unwinding is not graphic, but as I said in an earlier review, the way it was written was very disturbing to me (my imagination got the better of me). There are a lot of weapons in this story, mostly guns and assault weapons.

As a perspective, I will not let my 12 year old watch rated R movies, but she does watch PG-13 movies. I try to not let her watch any obscene, rude shows of gross humor or blatant sexual behavior. If I said I never swore in front of her I would be lying, but I do try to monitor what she is exposed to as best as I can in this internet-driven world. We have a very open relationship where we are comfortable discussing anything with each other, without the uncomfortable awkwardness that can sometimes occur.

Unsouled – Neal Shusterman – almost finished

AngelaLeave a comment

I am midway through Unsouled. I thought with all of my free time I would have been finished by now. Not yet, but hopefully by Monday night!

This story seems to be starting to tie up some loose ends about mid-story, so I am thinking this is likely only a 3-book series. I am not sure if I am happy about this or not; I’ll let you know when I get to the end!

Everyone also seems to be in a place (location) at this part of the story that they do not want to be. Emotionally as well as physically.

Cam is bound and determined to do what he needs to do to earn Risa’s love and respect. Conner and Lev have finally caught back up with each other, at a reservation that Lev has a history with. Starkey is travelling the country with the remaining storks from the Graveyard, blackmailing their way to Nevada, and a harvest camp they plan to rescue every teen from.

An interesting couple of paragraphs in the story:

“In this case blackmail for blackmail was the right move, and the man caves, just as Starkey had known he would. Even the hint of harm to his precious children was too much for the man. Incredible. It never ceases to amaze Starkey how far society will go to protect the children it loves and to discard the ones it doesn’t” (Shusterman, N. 2012, pg. 109)

“‘You want to know the real reason unwinding keeps going strong, Miss Risa Ward? It isn’t because of the parts we want for ourselves-it’s because of the things we’re willing to do to save our children.’ She thinks about that and laughs ruefully. ‘Imagine that. We’re willing to sacrifice the children we don’t love for the ones we do. And we call ourselves civilized!'”(Shusterman, N. 2012, pg. 173)

Food for thought, and the central theme to this series. One never really knows what they would do to save someone they love, until they have to make that choice, do they?

Unwholly – Neal Shusterman

Angela2 Comments

Well, I was certainly kept in suspense with this second book in the Unwind series. I have to say, Neal was very clever by leaving the end of this book completely hanging with no resolutions. You absolutely have to read the next book to get any type of closer on what is going to happen with Conner, Risa, Lev, and Cam.

I am very happy I already have the 3rd book on my bookshelf (I spent enough at Barnes and Nobles yesterday!)

The action was great, the story flowed very nicely, and this book is definitely a page turner!

Lev and his rescued Miracolina (another tithe) manage to work their way back to the graveyard. Conner has someone turn on him, and put everyone at the Graveyard in danger. Risa appears to have turned to the enemy, but all is not what it seems. A Conner is just doing every possible thing he is capable of to get the AWOL’s in the Graveyard to safety. I’ll just say this was an Epic fail for Conner.

Definitely digging into the 3rd book, Unsouled, starting today.

Have you been reading anything great during this holiday season?

Unwholly – Neal Shusterman

Angela1 Comment

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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.