Rachel Rambles About Unravel Me

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
From Goodreads:
tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
it's almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

My favorite thing about Unravel Me is definitely the writing style. I think the writing is beautiful and unique and poetic, and it's the number one reason why I love these books so much. Even if everything else about this series was terrible, I would keep reading it because the writing style is so great.

Another thing I love about Unravel Me is Warner. I thought he was a great character in the first book, and he just gets even more intriguing and awesome in the second book. Warner is the villain/love interest/best character EVER and I find him fascinating. There are so many different layers to him, and he can't be put into a simple good or bad category. He is much more than that, and Juliette has a hard time deciding how she really feels about him, and it's confusing and wonderful and ahhhhh. He is one of the best characters in any book I've ever read! I would read anything with him in it. And uh, Chapter 62? *fans self* Yeah, that's my favorite chapter of the whole book.

While I have a huge amount of love for Warner, I don't feel the same way about Juliette. I had some issues with her in the first book, but in Unravel Me, I almost couldn't stand her. I understand that being locked in a mental asylum and never being able to touch anyone without killing them is bound to give a girl some mental issues, but I just feel like Juliette handles her situation really terribly. In Unravel Me, all the characters are preparing for a huge war, but Juliette is really only concerned about her relationship with Adam. She comes across as whiny and selfish to me, and the fact that she spends a huge part of Unravel Me keeping a major secret from everyone really bothers me. It would not have been a hard secret to tell, especially since it could potentially have a huge effect on the war. She waits until it is too late before she finally tells everyone, and by that point, the secret has already come out and she is SHOCKED when people react in a negative way toward her. I was so frustrated with her when I was reading the book! It's hard for me to side with and root for a character that I spend most of the book being incredibly annoyed with.

But Juliette isn't the only character who annoyed me. I feel like everyone in Omega Point treats Juliette really unfairly. They are upset at her because she isn't making any effort to socialize with anyone, but no one else makes any effort to socialize with her, either. The door swings both ways! And the reason Juliette doesn't really know how to be around other people is because, uh, SHE CAN KILL THEM WITH A SINGLE TOUCH. A lot of the people at Omega Point are scared of her, so yeah, it makes sense that maybe she'd be a bit wary of making friends. She's never had any friends in her life, because of, oh yeah, the whole SHE-CAN-KILL-PEOPLE-WITH-A-SINGLE-TOUCH thing, so I just really think everyone should have tried to be a little more understanding and considerate.

The plot is intense in Unravel Me, with the preparation for the war/revolution/uprising/whatever you'd like to call it. There are some super dramatic action-packed scenes that are really fun to read. I think the book should have focused more on those scenes than the romance between Juliette and Adam, which I honestly don't care very much for. Every time they pause to make out or have a moment or whatever, I feel like it really slows the book down. Also, I don't know what it is about Adam, but I don't like him that much in this book. I went from completely adoring him and swooning over him in the first book, to finding him boring in the second book. In Unravel Me, I feel like he's just sort of...there, you know? Don't get me wrong, there are certainly some scenes that feature Adam as an important character, but for the most part, I feel like Adam doesn't have a big purpose in the story.

However, while we're on the topic of Adam, that thing that's revealed about Adam and Warner and that certain something that connects them? COMPLETELY AWESOME. I totally didn't see that one coming, and I think it pushes the plot in a whole new direction that improves everything about the series.

I think a big part of the reason I don't like Unravel Me as much as Shatter Me is the fact that Juliette is no longer the girl in the cell writing in her journal with all the strikethroughs. I thought that part of the story was brilliant, and by taking Juliette away from that environment, I think the story suffered.

I obviously have some mixed feelings about this book, but overall, I did really enjoy it. I will definitely continue reading the series. The beautiful writing style and the amazing character of Warner cancel out anything I dislike, so as long as those things don't go away in the next book, I'm sure I'll enjoy that one, too.