Skip to main content

Undivided (Unwind Dystology #4) by Neal Shusterman

 "An intense, gut wrenching, emotional, honest and genuine ending to a truly amazing, thought provoking series."

4 Stars

Pros: The same cast of characters Connor/Risa/Lev/Cam/Grace/Sonia etc, so we don't have to keep too many new people in mind/All of the loose ends are tied together in a nice, tidy bow at the end. 

Cons: The ending was decidedly convenient for most involved but it wasn't surprising/I hope Shusterman leaves the series as is and doesn't add to it, it's great as is. 

Full Review: 

Again, it's nearly impossible to describe anything in this book without doing two things. 1. Giving something away and 2. Having it make any sense. If you haven't read the first three books in this series (Unwind/Unwholly/Unsouled) then I suggest you go back and read them and then come back to this review. 

Undivided leaves us right where we left off at the end of Unsouled. There has been a discovery that could very well be the answer to ending unwinding, but it's up to Connor et al, to get it working again and see if it can actually do what it's supposed to do. Connor/Risa/Grace/Sonia have their separate storyline but it all eventually comes together. 

Lev, who's remained on the Arapache reservation, decides that after trying to make the Tribal Council take an official stance on Unwinding and failing, he has to take matters into his own hands. He is quite a different person from the naïve, trusting boy that was willingly going to his Tithing when we first met him in Unwind. His actions are more drastic and have farther reaching consequences but in the end, he more or less does what he set out to do . 

Camus Comprix, the composite human, the first ever "rewind", a human made entirely of unwound parts, is back at the Molokai Complex in Hawaii with Roberta and the other shady members of Proactive Citizenry. He's soon to start his tenure at West Point where he'll be the shining star of the Marines. But he realizes when General Bodeker comes to pay a visit that things seem off and he's determined to find out what's causing all this tension. He does find out and the revelation is horrifying. 

All the storylines end up coalescing and combining to more or less end the book and the series with no real loose ends. There are endings, not all of them happy, but in the same vein as Shusterman's other series, Arc of a Scythe, the ending is pretty satisfying. It's all rather convenient, to be honest, but, this is YA fiction, so sometimes it's nice to have things work out for people.

Overall, this was a great, well paced, hard hitting, deeply unsettling, thought provoking series that I know will stay with me for a long time. It all brings to light the eternal questions of Pro Life/Pro Choice, when does life start, when does it end, do we have a soul, what happens at the end? Shusterman hits on basically every aspect you could think of when it comes to this extremely sensitive subject and he does it with grace, poise and an expert knack at never quite letting on where he stands on the matter. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Spark of White Fire (The Celestial Trilogy #1) by Sangu Mandanna

"Similar to "Game of Thrones" only in space, there was a lot going on with a lot of different people and they were all important and connected but my tired, overworked brain had trouble keeping up. " 2 Stars  Pros:  I liked Max as a character, I'm all for the tall, dark, mysterious supposed bad boy with a heart of gold cliche, but the kissing cousins thing just made it weird.   Cons:  It felt like Game of Thrones, only in space, so there was a bit of a kissing cousins vibe going and I wasn't feeling it/The book tried to have these big, shocking moments I was just non-plussed, unaffected./The presence of the Gods irked me as they did in The Illiad, it's all terribly convenient to have divine intervention for your MCs. I feel like it's the cheapest fake-out cheat of all time 👍🤣 Full Review:    My co-worker, who has recommended some amazing reads such as, A Man Called Ove ,   The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse,  and I'll Give You The Sun...
Post a Comment
Read more

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

"The classic tale of Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up and his adventures with his Lost Boys and the Darling Children, Wendy, John and Michael. At times fun and whimsical and other times surprisingly dark, it was an interesting read as an adult." 3 Stars  Pros:   There is something appealing about flying away to a mysterious island where you can play all day and never have to grow up. The thrall of Neverland is a constant for this dreamer.  Cons: Peter Pan is truly the most arrogant little brat and very much in need of a mother/I was surprised at the bloodshed because I always thought this was a children's book, it was rather dark at times.  Full Review Mr. and Mrs. Darling are the proud yet rather dismissive and negligent parents of three children. Wendy, John and Michael. All three have flights of fancy and dream of an island, with mermaids and pirates. Mrs. Darling dismisses these as the whimsy of childhood but she herself remembers when she too dreamt of...
Post a Comment
Read more

Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) by James S.A. Corey

" Science Fiction at its most epically, horrific best. Mankind has colonized the galaxy and is reaching for the stars but something dark and fathomless waits in the recesses of space, biding its time and when it strikes, life itself will change." 5 Stars Pros:  Deep and likable characters for all their flaws and a story that grabs you from the very beginning and never lets go.  Cons:  Some parts were a little technical, like how many G's a ship was flying under and the spin of planets, but it didn't take away from the story too much.  Full Review:  Julette Andromeda Mao. The heiress to a lunar corporate dynasty who's decided to turn her back on her life of luxury and venture out into the solar system to find work and earn her keep.   Miller. A cynical, downtrodden but intelligent and resourceful cop who works out of the Ceres Station on the Belt.  Holden, the commanding officer of a water hauler that ships ice from the rings of Saturn to stations ...
Post a Comment
Read more