5.34k reviews for:

Unwind

Neal Shusterman

4.07 AVERAGE

dark emotional sad medium-paced
adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
challenging emotional hopeful tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Shusterman was recommended by a friend of mine, but said friend didn’t like this book. Nevertheless, I loved Scythe and Everlost and decided to give this a try

Holy crap, I’m so glad I did. 

The world building, the clues… everything was a twist that I only predicted a few paragraphs before the reveal. I found myself feeling sad over the worst characters, and constantly hoping for the best outcome for everyone. 

The ending was particularly poignant. 
I worry I might not read many books later this year, since what else could live up to this one?
challenging slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
dark tense

3.5 stars

Not my favorite by Neal. I felt that there was a lot of build-up (more so than Neal usually writes) for a very rushed third-act conflict. However, the ending was really sweet! 

Also, what I love about Neal's books is the twists and action. I didn't get that same feeling.
challenging dark sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I adore the way Shusterman analyzes big topics and questions through the struggles of people wrapped up in their implications. Unwind was an excellent exploration of the ideas behind the abortion debate which allowed the reader to see some of the human impacts of the claims made in political and social discourse.
One complaint though: the structuring of this book felt a little off, mostly because the characters' desires changed midway through the second act of the book. Maybe that was intentional and Shusterman was hoping to break from the three act structure, but Unwind did leave something to be desired from a structure standpoint.
adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was my first Neal Shusterman book and based on this early book alone, I can tell he's good and I understand the hype that surrounds his work.

At the beginning of the book, I only had a mild interest. I thought Connor was too immature for his age and young "feeling" for the tough guy he was supposed to be. His growth and change was perfect by the end. Same with Risa and Lev. I think Neal made them so young feeling to show just how far they could grow.

Also, the dystopian twist didn't seem that impacting until a trucker who helps Connor at the beginning shows a magic trick he couldn't do with his own hands...meaning he was only able to do it once he had an unwind's "donation"

It made the whole story really roll. Loved it.