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A review by heartpages
UnWholly by Neal Shusterman
4.0
Seconds in trilogies have tough jobs: they have to a) introduce new characters while b) keeping the first-story characters interesting and c) expanding on the first story enough to create something fresh. Shusterman does a really good job with all three things, especially (c). Given the unwinding premise, having a boy 'rewound,' or put together from nothing, is a terrific addition. None of the first book is rehashed; instead, it's expanded upon, and the reader understands so much more of the background of unwinding that it feels like it actually could happen. The perfect storm of new technology with a public fear can create a very scary world. Shusterman does an impressive job following up.
I only take one star off, probably unfairly, because this one reads like a YA book. A page-turner, yes. But the characters are at once far too eloquent and far too emotional to make me buy them wholesale.
I only take one star off, probably unfairly, because this one reads like a YA book. A page-turner, yes. But the characters are at once far too eloquent and far too emotional to make me buy them wholesale.