Review: Unravel Me | Tahereh Mafi

This review is spoiler free.

“Loneliness is a bitter, wretched companion.
Sometimes it just won’t let go.”

Series: Shatter Me
Published: 2018, by Egmont.
Pages: 480
Format: Paperback
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fantasy, Romance
Contains: Death, Violence, Murder, Kidnapping, Blood/Gore, Guns, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Injury, Trauma, War, Torture, Grief

‘Unravel Me’ is the second instalment of the Shatter Me series, following Juliette as she lives with her deep secret. It should have taken her a single touch to kill Warner, but his mysterious immunity to her deadly power has left her shaken, wondering why her ultimate defence 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.

I first read this book a few years ago whilst recovering from illness, and I remember absolutely adoring the story. It seemed like such an easy read for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not much has changed, except my rating has decreased slightly. Here’s why.

To put it simply, Juliette is a bothersome character. She’s found herself in an underground base surrounded by those who have unique powers of their own, and there’s a war raging above their heads, and yet, she doesn’t want to know. She’s so wrapped up in her own head that the only thing she cares about is being near her boyfriend. Nothing else seems to matter. That is, until she’s no longer within access to her boyfriend, so her eyes fall to another. She’s incredibly self-centred in this novel, and it hindered my enjoyment of the story. I wanted to learn more about the rebels, the fight they were facing, or even The Reestablishment in general. Instead, I was reading about boy trouble for close to five-hundred pages.
Adam was equally frustrating to me, seeming to wrap himself up in girlfriend trouble and being increasingly grumpier the more the story progressed. It was infuriating, but thankfully his best friend was there to put him back in his place and get realistic. Thank you, Kenji!
Warner still remains my favourite character, discovering more and more about the person he is behind the façade, and it was incredible to read. There was some deep development to his character and I appreciated it. He wasn’t simply the villain from the first novel, he grew into so much more.

The writing style is simplistic and easy to read, with tiny chapters to make quick progress with it. However, the narrative does still seem to lack something on occasion. It may simply be because I found myself infuriated by the protagonist, however, the literary techniques used throughout the novel were a little out of place.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was frustrating at times, however, a few characters in particular have sparked my curiosity and I’m looking forward to reading further into the story. Hopefully, future instalments will consist of more about the world and less about the characters relations.

3/5