5 Stars
Pros: Though there are new characters, there aren't so many that the old ones, Connor, Risa and Lev get lost in the shuffle/Lev's growth as a character is probably my favorite.
Cons: There always has to be a manipulator, someone who's vying for power, it gets kind of old/Starkey and Miracolina's stories, though slightly different, felt similar to those of Connor/Lev etc, just with new names added.
Full Review:
SPOILER ALERT
It's been a year since the events of Unwind and Connor, Risa and Lev are still just trying to get by and survive another day. With the destruction of Happy Jack Harvest Camp and the Admiral leaving Connor in charge of the Airplane Graveyard, Connor and Risa find themselves in a very difficult situation. They're only teenagers themselves and now they're in charge of keeping close to 500 AWOL Unwinds alive. It's a feat that takes its toll on Connor, emotionally and mentally and though Risa tries, she can feel the pressure straining she and Connor's relationship.
Lev on the other hand became infamous overnight. Named "The Clapper who refused to clap", his actions at the Happy Jack Harvest Camp have made it so people either feel pity for him, as the poor lost child who turned to violence and chaos to deal with his emotions, or view him as a murderous monster who has no regard for life.
He is taken in by his brother Marcus and in return for a lenient sentence, complete silence when it comes to anything regarding Happy Jack/Lev's time as a Clapper, he is allowed to live at Marcus' house under house arrest and works with Pastor Dan to try and make "division risks", unruly, misbehaving teenagers, see the error of their ways and avoid unwinding. It's part of his sentence, 500+ hours of community service. And though he sometimes gets letters from Connor, he knows he can never write back, not wanting to put a target on the Airplane Graveyard's whereabouts and lead the Juvenile Authority to Connor etal. So he is stuck in a perpetual state of mixed emotions, not knowing which way to go, what to do but it all comes crashing down, literally, when a Clapper, disguised as a Girl Scout, destroys Lev's house in retribution from the "higher ups" of his Clapper cell for divulging all the information he knew when he became a Clapper. The explosion kills Pastor Dan, seriously wounds Marcus and Lev is left with nothing.
He's approached in the Hospital by someone from the Cavenaugh Fund, which turns out to be a splinter cell of the Anti Divisional Resistance (ADR) who has made it their primary goal to rescue Tithes from Unwinding and deprogram them to try and help them realize that their life is their own and they shouldn't want to be unwound, much as Lev came to realize.
During all of this, Starkey, a Storked baby who's managed to make it to sixteen before his "parents" are fed up with his behavior and sign the unwind order, Miracolina, a Tithe who is completely accepting of her fate as a Tithe and Camus Comprix, the first human to ever be made entirely by parts from other Unwinds, are introduced. Starkey makes it to the Airplane Graveyard where he uses his master manipulation to try and rise to the top. Miracolina is "saved" by Lev but refuses to see it that way, feeling as if she's been kidnapped and robbed of her life's purpose. And Camus Compix (Cam) is the first of his kind and is slowly introduced into the world, much to the horror of some and the wonder of others. And he and Risa end up getting mixed up with one another when a deal is struck to save someone's life.
It's all very convenient but the end comes together in a very satisfying way open ended way, leaving it al open for another installment, Unsouled. Within Unwholly we're also given some background as to the Heartland Wars, the "Terror Generation" and the name Janson Reinschild, who by the end of everything will become extremely important. Suffice it to say, I'm looking forward to starting Unsouled right after I post this review.
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