Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi: Review

Goodreads Summary: It should have taken Juliette a single touch to kill Warner. But his mysterious immunity to her deadly power has left her shaken, wondering why her ultimate defense mechanism failed against the person she most needs protection from.

She and Adam were able to escape Warner’s clutches and join up with a group of rebels, many of whom have powers of their own. Juliette will finally be able to actively fight against The Reestablishment and try to fix her broken world. And perhaps these new allies can help her shed light on the secret behind Adam’s—and Warner’s—immunity to her killer skin.

 

“Sticks and stones keep breaking my bones but these words, these words will kill me.”

One touch of Juliette is enough to torture someone, crush them, kill them. She’s always been alone in the world, isolated for her “gift.” But not anymore—now she has allies who she needs more than ever in the broken world.

Unravel Me picks up right where Shatter Me left off, with Juliette in Omega Point learning to harness her gift among other gifted people—though none quite so powerful as she. She’s been broken by her life, and has to face the harsh reality that nobody is going to wait around for her to mope and cry alone. The world is changing, a rebellion is rising to give way to a war, and she has to be prepared.

There is a love triangle in this book. There’s Adam, the first boy who ever really saw and loved Juliette. He cares about her and wants to keep her safe at all costs; he’s the boy who helped bring her to Omega Point in the first place. Then there’s Warner, the cruel, ruthless leader who pushed Juliette to torture a helpless child and has shot a man without a second thought. But here, we start to get deeper insight on who he really is beneath his cruel exterior, and how his merciless father has pushed him to become himself.

We also get insight on why both Adam and Warner can touch Juliette, and the differences between them. Personally, I felt that they both had their good and bad qualities, and this book has really conflicted me on which side I am! This book was full of romance—it felt even more romancy than its predecessor, and I often felt like the greater issue of the war was pushed to the background in favor of Juliette moping about her love life. It actually felt a lot like a paranormal romance to me—only with superpowers instead of vampires!

Honestly, the reason I didn’t completely love this book was Juliette herself. She felt really whiny. All she did was talk about herself and her problems, and while they were certainly numerous, the other characters were suffering just as much as she was. It felt like all she cared about was the state of her love life, and she pushed that to the front of her priorities over the safety of the entire rebellion.

Her writing style, however, did get better. This book was still written journal style like the first book, but there are far fewer cross outs, and I thought that there were fewer metaphors, making it easier to understand. Mafi’s flowery writing style didn’t bother me very much, not as much as some other people, but it was nice to not have it so over the top.

We get introduced to a lot more characters in this book than the previous. Kenji is my favorite by far. He’s playful and jesting on the surface, very full of himself and always flirting, but underneath he’s fiercely loyal to Omega Point, and always has his priorities straight. I also still love Adam’s little brother James—he’s just so cute!

In the end, I enjoyed this book and the world that Mafi has crafted. I enjoyed this book less than the previous book, mostly due to Juliette. She seems to really mature towards the ending though, so I have high hopes for her performance in the third book, Ignite Me! The ending of the book was really intense; it was probably my favorite part, and the stakes are definitely higher than they were before. I can’t wait to read the next book!

3.5 out of 5 grey, crumbling stars

 

You can also read my review on Goodreads here.

Check out Unravel Me on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.