Unravel Me Review: Beguiling Characters In A Vague New World
Last week, I reviewed Book 1 in the Shatter Me series and today I am back with Book 2. I am currently reading Book 3 and I am not sure how I feel about this series. I like the story and the main characters, but when it comes to certain important aspects of world-building or the writing, I feel a little letdown. I love the characters so much that I want to love the series like I love the Fever series but there are a lot of elements that keep me from enjoying the series to the fullest.
Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.
She’s finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.
Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.
In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam’s life.
(Summary of the book as written on its back cover)
Points I Liked About Unravel Me
Love Triangle: Saving the world and destroying the evil is just a backdrop of this book and the main focus remains of the love triangle between Juliette, Adam and Warner. I am on the third book now and I know why I did not like Adam from the first book itself. Mafi makes it very clear that Warner has more layers to his character in the first book and I had a feeling that Adam isn’t really the guy for Juliette. Adam is a nice guy but he isn’t ‘the’ guy for her. Also, there is a big revelation in this book and I am hoping it changes the dynamics of the characters in the third book or else the supposed big revelation will be a total waste.
Writing: I’m not really sure if I like Mafi’s writing or no but I can safely say that I got accustomed to her metaphors and hyperbole in this book. In fact, I did kind of enjoy her writing. This is the first time I ever laughed while reading a love scene. And I mean seriously laughed. Some lines were so funny that I could not believe I was reading a love scene. The serious romantic scene between Juliette and Warner was hot but Mafi went so crazy with her metaphors that I ended up laughing out loud.
Here are some interesting lines from the book.
‘Panic is doing backflips in my bones.’
‘And I think, Wow, I did it. I actually managed to die of a stroke at the age of 17.’
‘There’s glue all over my tongue, stuck to my teeth, my lips, the roof of my mouth, and I can’t speak, I can’t move, I’m pretty sure I just had a seizure or an aneurysm or heart failure or something equally as awful but I can’t explain any of this to Castle because I can’t move my jaw even an inch.’
‘My pants fall to the floor and his hands are responsible.’
‘He has a hundred thousand million kisses and he’s giving them all to me.’
And some seriously swoon-worthy lines.
“Please.” He says, “Please don’t shoot me for this.” And he kisses me. His lips are softer than anything I’ve ever known, soft like a first snowfall, like biting into cotton candy, like melting and floating and being weightless in water. It’s sweet, it’s so effortlessly sweet.
‘I want to know where to touch you, I want to know how to touch you. I want to know convince you to design a smile just for me. Yes, I do want to be your friend. I want to be your best friend in the entire world.’
“The truth,” he says, “is a painful reminder of why I prefer to live among the lies.”
Points I Did Not Like About Unravel Me
Bleak World: When I read the first book Shatter Me, I was hopeful that the second book will explain in detail about the kind of world Juliette dwells in. I thought she will meet new people at the Omega Point who are similar to her. I thought I would get to see new people with new powers training to save the world but that doesn’t happen. In fact, I am not even sure how many people live at the Omega Point because Mafi has given a very restricted access to the people dwelling in this secret space underground. A few new people are introduced that come and go as per the writer’s convenience. Juliette often states that everyone in the canteen is looking at her but I am not sure who these people are because I can’t really imagine them. I don’t know how many of them are blessed with special powers or what kind of powers they have. I really wished she could elaborate a little more on that so I could correctly place the characters new and old.
Vague Powers: I thought since Juliette is one of the most powerful persons at Omega point she will have some serious training sessions to contain her power and learn how to use it. But that never happens. There are hardly any training sessions before she is sent out to fight the villain. I understand that they do not have the time since Warner’s father wants to hunt Juliette down as soon as he can but instead of having her cry over Adam, she could have focused on developing her powers so her ability to control it in the next book would make sense. Even after the second book, I am still not sure if she has Hulk-like qualities or Rogue-like powers.
Final View: Even though I was left disappointed on the information or world-building front, I still felt totally connected with the story and the characters. The romance lover in me blissfully clung to the love story and enjoyed every bit of the love triangle.
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