Introduction
Unravel Me, written by Tahereh Mafi, was published on February 5th, 2013, by HarperCollins Publishers. This book is the second in the Shatter Me series and was released two years after the first. This book did not disappoint, and I did find it to be better than the first, if just barely. As I mentioned in my previous review, I read all of these books in quick succession and took notes as I went. Some opinions I held when I read this book changed as the series continued. However, I wrote this review as I would have if I had stopped to write it immediately after completing this book, ignoring my knowledge of the events that take place in future installments. Therefore, the Thoughts section of this review will only contain spoilers for and opinions of books one and two of this series. If you haven’t had the chance to read either, I would highly recommend starting there before continuing with this review.
If you want to learn more about Tahereh Mafi and her future work, you can follow this link to her website: https://taherehmafi.com/
Plot
Picking up two weeks after the end of Shatter Me, Juliette’s story continues to be told through her own eyes as she navigates the resistance to The Reestablishment and her place within it.
Thoughts
Whereas the first book was threaded with feelings of desperation and longing, this book feels far angrier, often verging on irrational. The poetic undertones are still there, but the edges are sharper, and Juliette’s behavior is far more openly rebellious and erratic. She is facing incredible inner turmoil, and this is displayed clearly to the reader through her internal monologue and to the other characters through her outbursts. It’s an interesting shift, and one that I thought was done well. However, I did find myself getting more frustrated with Juliette in this book than the previous one. Many conflicts felt as if they could have been avoided if she had had an honest conversation with someone. Alternatively, she anticipates that people will lie to her, and honesty is not something she’s familiar with.
Kenji really calls her out on this and puts her in her place. He is very quickly becoming one of my favorite characters because he is a great friend to her. He isn’t going to sit there and let her act like a child, regardless of what she’s been through. He pushes her more than anyone else and makes sure that she’s doing what she needs to do. He isn’t callous though, and it’s obvious that he genuinely cares about her and wants what’s best for her. He helps her find her way through training with her and forcing her to socialize while also protecting, reassuring, and listening to her when she needs him to. I really want to know more about his backstory. He clearly has scars of his own, but he hides them behind a sense of humor. I want to see behind the mask and get a more in-depth look into his character in the next installments because he really is amazing.
I like the twist to Adam’s immunity. The fact that he can turn off others’ energies could have huge ramifications for everyone, but it needs training. It also makes more sense now that the literal physical heat between him and Juliette wasn’t just passion, it was his body protecting him from her. I see now where the love triangle comes in because Juliette opted to take a break from him for his safety and, in turn, her sanity. It was a smart choice, and it was one I almost wasn’t sure she would stick to. Adam would disagree, and the aggression behind his reaction alone made me rethink how I wanted this to end romantically. All the while, I can feel Juliette drawing closer to Warner.
Kidnapping Aaron Warner was interesting and brilliant. Now he’s a prisoner, but he seems to be exactly where he wants to be. Knowing how calculating he is, this is automatically interesting. It also gives the love triangle more of a chance to develop. On that note, I am so mad at myself for not realizing sooner that Aaron and Adam are brothers. The fact that both have a similar (though not identical) ability to withstand Juliette’s gift should have immediately alerted me to this plot twist, but I completely overlooked it. Aaron is completely immune to Juliette, and - ironically for someone who seems so detached - he can borrow gifts from others and use them himself when close enough, hence his immunity. He just absorbs her power. We finally get to know more about Aaron, his horribly abusive father, and his sick mother. We even get an unexpected “who hurt you” moment from Juliette when she sees Aaron’s “birthday presents” from his dad. Even through all of this, I was torn on Aaron’s character until the ending.
The ending of this book was the best part of it. Anderson getting revenge on Juliette for crippling him by attempting to murder her in front of his son who loves her was diabolical. Aaron’s reaction of begging the twins to help him save her had the hopeless romantic in me satisfied and seriously reconsidering Adam’s character. But it was Juliette’s reaction to the prospect of death that sold it for me. She promised herself that if she had the chance to do it all again, she would do it differently. She would work harder, she would make herself stronger, and she would tear down The Reestablishment if it was the last thing she did. It’s so contrary to the shy, weak girl we were introduced to at the beginning of the previous book, and I absolutely love the promise it holds.
While I found the overall plot of this book to be less notable than the previous one and the pacing to be a bit slower, the all-around character development and powerful ending absolutely saved this one for me. I enjoyed the new characters, though I didn’t talk about them here, and I adore the old ones that are kept fresh with continuous development across the board. I do think it was better than the first book, but only marginally, which is why I’m giving this one an 8.8/10.
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