Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

 BOOK BLOG: 

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi 

For this week’s blog I decided to revisit a series I wrote about a few weeks ago, the Shatter Me series written by Tahereh Mafi. If you read my last post on this series, then you’ll remember I was less than impressed with the first novel, especially when it came to the writing style. But my phone must have been listening in, because ever since I finished that first novel I’ve been shown video after video of creators convincing me to pick up the second book. So, after many weeks of persuasion, I had no choice but to give the series a second chance. 

SUMMARY: 

Unravel me follows Juliette Ferrars, a girl with lethal touch, who has found herself in the midst of a rebellion. After the events of the first novel, in which she escaped a military compound planning to use her to extract information from enemies, she has joined Omega Point. This is a movement run by other people with extraordinary powers who want to overthrow the oppressive Reestablishment. Juliette feels very out of place and is still feared by those around her. And after discovering the only person she could touch is now losing this ability, she feels more alone than ever. But when the Reestablishment kidnaps fellow members of Omega Point, Juliette must master the abilities she's feared all her life, and come face to face with enemies she wished never to see again.

REVIEW: 

Okay, I know I said the last book was bad, but I just HAD to read this second book. I am going to structure this review between 5 different sections by the character: Juliette, Adam, Kenji, Warner, and Misc. since this book is incredibly character-driven. Then I’ll do a final section for the overall book (can you tell I was passionate about this :D). 

Juliette:

THE WORST PROTAGONIST EVER. This girl has so little of her own motivation that if left to her own devices all this girl would do is have heated whisper arguments with her boyfriend. I actually lost count of how many times she and Adam stormed out of the dining hall to whisper about whatever random drama is happening when she could have been doing literally anything else to be of help. I actually ended up skipping so many pages because of this. It even felt like the author hated her, with how often she had side characters yelling at her and putting her in her place for whining all the time and wasting their resources. I’ve heard that she gets better, and towards the end she definitely got a bit more interesting, but I would definitely like her to have some kind of goal in life besides impress [insert one of her 10 love interests here]. 

Adam: 

This man is the absolute worst. He serves no purpose other than to keep Juliette from moving on with her life. She breaks up with this guy like 5 times and HE CAN NOT LEAVE HER ALONE. The brooding sad boy routine got tiring after page 100. After page 200, all this dude does is stare longingly at Juliette (kinda creepy if you ask me), ask “Are you ok?? What's wrong??” every .5 seconds, or threaten to punch something/someone. He is so boring, also has no goals in life besides dating Juliette, and lost every redeeming quality he had in book 1. Apparently, he leaves or something in the next book, and I AM SO HAPPY (literally you flip through my copy of this book and it’s just me crossing out his name and telling him to stop talking). I don’t even like Juliette but even I know she deserves better than this cardboard cutout of a boyfriend. 

Kenji: 

I LOVE HIM SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH. His back has to hurt after carrying this entire book on his back. This man is funny, smart, interesting….and guess what…..has actual motivation!! Kenji is one of the original members of Omega Point and is also one of Juliette’s ONLY FRIENDS. He is also one of the only characters in this book who actually seems to care about the world going to shit all around them. I swear me and Kenji had a shared brain throughout this book because he was the only one to ever call out Juliette and Adam for wasting everyone's time with their moping. He is also actually a very multi-faceted and well-written character, who works as a great comic relief but also keeps everyone focused on the mission at hand. He also gives good insight and background to what's happening on the inside, which is really intriguing as a reader. He is never afraid to call people out on their bs which is my favorite part about him. I annotate my books, and every page he’s on is basically just filled with my fangirling. Anyways, if wishes came true then every book in this series would be from Kenji’s POV instead of Ms. I mIsS AdAm’s. 

Warner:

This man is another saving grace of this book. He has been deemed one of the best “book boyfriends” of all time- and I 100% get it. This man has everything- he’s sarcastic and arrogant, but can also be very sweet and sincere- and he too has actual motivations (questionable motivations, but motivations nonetheless) He wasn’t even in it for the first half but was still one of the major highlights for me. He’s the son of the Commander of the Reestablishment, and may or may not be a murderer, but hey…..he feeds abandoned puppies :). He and Juliette spend a lot of time talking (I’m not gonna spoil anything here, but they do spend a lot of time talking) and it really gives the reader a chance to see he’s not as plain evil as he seemed to be. Even Juliette says many times that she can’t determine who he really is because every time she thinks she has him figured out he does something that totally changes her view of him. And in a world of completely flat one-dimensional characters, he is a breath of fresh air. He is also a love interest for Juliette (very much to my disappointment) but he actually makes her slightly interesting to follow so…..that’s something. He also hates Adam almost as much as I do which makes me love him even more :D

Misc.: 

Tahereh really has a talent for writing likable background characters, because I developed an attachment to them so quickly. Winston and Brandon are the main ones mentioned, as they are the first Omega Point members Juliette is introduced to, and are just generally around a lot throughout the book. They have a good dynamic with Juliette and are overall just very sweet and likable (unlike Juliette herself :D). Also,  SARA AND SONYA!! They are twins who work as healers and also split a room with Juliette (bless their hearts, they have to deal with her whining 24/7). They are so wholesome and sweet, and the kind of friends everyone needs in their life. They support Juliette through everything, and I really liked seeing some quality female characters in this book (I’ll touch more on this later)

Castle is the main member of Omega Point, and I don’t really know how I feel about him. He actually calls out Juliette on her poor attitude and behavior and also doesn’t really like Adam so that helps. But he is kinda shady, and definitely gives off cult-leader vibes (he frequently refers to large groups as “friends” and has an alarming amount of control over everybody at the compound). Juliette also sometimes questions his methods and I honestly can’t blame her, as he is very secretive and tends to get irrationally angry when she tries to ask too many questions. 

The final character is James, Adam’s 10-year-old younger brother. Despite my deep, pure hatred of Adam I absolutely adore James. This kid is so sweet and thoughtful and is always so kind and pleasant. His dynamic with Juliette makes her more tolerable to follow and he often disagrees with Adam’s actions so this makes him one of my favorites. My only complaint is that I wish he was included more :). 

Overall: 

I thought the story, in general, was maybe a ⅗, it was interesting enough but felt like a lot of filler to build up the next book. The characters (*cough cough* just Kenji and Warner *cough cough*) really had to carry the novel due to such a loose plot, but the dialogue and character relationships were enough to keep it relatively interesting in the dull moments. The writing also got better in this book, there are definitely moments that give off middle-schooler-writing-Wattpad-fanfiction vibes (like when Juliette talks about Warner’s green eyes for 10000000th time) but she definitely improved since the last book. 

One of my main complaints however is the lack of good female characters. Juliette is a female protagonist but her entire personality revolves around her love interest, and it just rubbed me the wrong way. I really hope we get to see some more of Sarah and Sonya in the rest of the series, and maybe get introduced to some more girlfriends for Juliette! 

In conclusion, this book was probably a 3.5-4/5 stars just because of how much I liked following some of the characters. This book did a good job of building excitement for the next installment in the series, but definitely felt dragged out at times. I really want to see some quality character development for Juliette, and something that makes her more compelling to follow. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book, but I wouldn't dissuade anyone from reading it either. Just know it's probably not gonna be the best book you've ever read. Anyways, thank you for coming to my TedTalk, hope this was somewhat helpful to your reading endeavors.

- Maryalice (#pleasegetridofAdaminthenextbook #Iliterallycantdealwithhimanymore)