Thursday 10 May 2012

Unwind (Unwind, #1) by Neal Shusterman

Blurb
Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.


                                                     Review
If you haven't already read this book, then I suggest you go do that now. Trust me, you'll be grateful for this.  Neal Shusterman, also the author of the Everlost trilogy, has created such an original, and promising book with amazing characters that people can connect with. The plot is so magnificent, I don't even know where to begin. I remember that I went up to practically everyone saying 'Unwind, want to know what that is?'
After having read this book, I don't think I will ever look at surgeons, and nursery rhymes the same way. The author has taken everyday children's rhymes and shone a darker light on them. Get this :


Humpty dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty dumpty had a great fall.
All the kings horses and all the kings men,
couldn't put Humpty together again.


Now relate this to the little blurb up above. If you haven't figured it out, let me tell you. The author here is saying that Humpty broke (unwound, so his body parts are transplanted to other people) and no one could put him back (and no matter what, they couldn't fix him ever again.) Read the story and you'll find out what this all means *shivers*.


Connor, who in my eyes was like the main character even though there were three point of views, is a trouble maker. Not the kind who deals with drugs and all that, but a trouble maker who is misunderstood. He likes to sit around near the highways, just because he loves the feel of it, not because he's some bad boy. So I really felt for him when his girlfriend decided not to runaway with him when he found out he would be unwound. Of course, he found someone better- cough, cough. He has a really kind heart, sort of gets into fights when he's tempered, but that gave him a unique personality. Even to the other characters in the story, he was someone people really looked up to, and was given many honourable titles. If there's a character you really fall in love with, there's nothing better then to see them being praised in the story.


Then there's Risa. I could really connect with her in ways that, honestly, I don't even know myself. The author just had this influencing writing style, that you find yourself in love with everyone. Risa wasn't talented enough in the over crowded State Homes, and Lev, a tithe, was born for unwinding.

I felt sort of sad for him. He was so convinced that it was his duty to be unwound, but in the end, he was actually a really big hero, and I admire him for it.

The author came up with many interesting thoughts and ideas in the story, for example, in the book, there were people called clappers. Clappers were people who had some sort of explosives in their bloodstreams, and when they clapped, everything around them would explode. They were sort of like terrorists. Anyway, the clappers are somehow connected to the whole story, and you'll have to read to find out.

Overall, this book was AMAZING! No, even more then just amazing, I can't find words. Words don't exist for this book. It's the kind of book that stays with you for a long time, and really makes you geek out over everything in it. A true sci-fi, and adventure with romance that was paced just perfectly. Five stars for sure, in fact, a million stars!  


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