I, like many others, absolutely loved Shatter Me. When Ignite Me came out just a few weeks ago, I knew it was time to dive back into the series. However, I was afraid that had taken too much time in between both books (2 years) and Unravel Me wouldn’t live up to my expectations or I would forget everything that had happened, etc. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I had no trouble remembering events and, overall, Unravel Me surpassed my expectations. The first thing I would like to address is the writing. Why is Tahereh Mafi so amazing? I mean, can her writing not be anymore beautiful and poetic? I just absolutely love the use of strike outs and how the syntax isn’t grammatically correct. The sentences are occasionally fractured, run ons, and formatted like poetry. She uses actual numbers instead of writing them out. And the whole of that is because that is how Juliette thinks and writes. Mafi takes the act of writing in first person to a whole new level.
That being said, I kind of felt that Unravel Me was a different story from Shatter Me (but still as excellent). It’s a continuation of course, but while we see into Juliette’s past in book one and follow her on a journey to discover her powers and potential, book two is more about their preparation for war. We still follow Juliette and see her discoveries of what she can do, but it’s in a whole new setting that we only get a glimpse of at the end of Shatter Me. I feel that she was constantly on the run in the first book, which really held my attention, but book two is much more about character interactions then action. Which, in many ways, I loved. The dialogue and the conversations between the characters were the absolute best part.
Now, on the topic of the love triangle, I don’t know what to think. Reading Shatter Me, I was a strong member of Team Adam. When I started hearing all these things about Warner and seeing the huge amount of supporters he has, I didn’t get it. He was so much of a villain in Shatter Me. But now… I get it. Tahereh Mafi does such an excellent job of crafting each character and showing the good and bad sides of each, and how each of those sides kind of blur together. I really don’t know what to think. Right now, it really could go either way.
Now, let’s take a moment to talk about chapter 62.
I think I was the only one who was actually bored. I’m really not one for romance and it takes a lot for me to really get into scenes like that. (Sweet Evil is the only book so far that has really gotten me to feel those kinds of feels.) So was I skimming a bit through the first half of the chapter? Yup. But the second half? That’s when it got really good.
Overall, Unravel Me was just as addictive as the first book. I ended up binge reading the whole book over a three day weekend, which is not surprising since I ended up binge reading Shatter Me as well. I was a bit hesitant since I haven’t read the novellas, but you really didn’t need to. Those are extra bits that don’t affect the story if you take them out. I’m so glad I don’t have to wait for Ignite Me to be released because I’ll definitely be needing that soon.
- Caroline
Originally posted on The Attic blog
