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

Popular posts from this blog

Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov

"When a scientist, Benes, who has integral and world changing information attempts to defect and join our Side, he's injured. A blood  clot forms in his brain and the only way to save his life is to miniaturize the crew of the Proteus and inject them into Benes' body, so they can break up the blood clot from the inside. Of course, one thing after another goes wrong and every chapter is a new catastrophe but it was definitely a fantastic voyage.   2 Stars Pros:  Grant is one dry character but he's a welcome bit of amusement in an otherwise serious and scientific novel.  Cons:  Grant is also SUCH a man that he spends most of the mission staring at saving the one woman board, Cora./Definitely ripe with anatomical lessons and what part of the body they were in. Since I've never been great at anatomy, a lot of it was lost on me and became burdensome near the end.  Full Review: As in all things, there is a good side and a bad side. This book is very vague as...

Animal Farm by George Orwell

"A blithe and scathing commentary on equality, power, corruption and how everyone is created equal, but...some are more equal than others. Orwell hit the nail right on the head with this novel and it's no wonder it's a staple for most high school curriculums. " 3 Stars.  Pros:  Benjamin the Donkey is the smartest animal on the farm and it would have done all the others a world of good if they had listened to him in the first place.  Cons:  The fact that societies like this actually do exist is nauseating and terrible. It's not a con, per se, it's just a gut wrenching fact.  Full Review:  When the overworked and mistreated Animals on Manor Farm decide to rise up and overthrow their cruel master, they're successful. They rebel and now find themselves with an entire Farm to run. They rename it Animal Farm and are intent on creating a paradise, where work and play are equal, where productivity is key but relaxation is a must and all the lives of all the animal...

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

"Arnold Spirit, Jr, or "Junior" as he's known on the Rez, does something no Spokane Indian has ever done. He enrolls in Reardon High School and begins the long and often painful process off navigating not only high school and adolescence but also being an outsider. Alexie handles it all with grace, humor and honesty. This was a great read. I would recommend it to anyone."  5 Stars Pros: Alexie handles the ups and downs of not only adolescence, but tragedy and loss in a stark, honest but gut wrenchingly relatable way.  Cons:  Some of Junior's all-consuming guilt, though understandable was a little repetitive but it's all part of being a teenager.  Full Review:  It all starts when Arnold Spirit Jr, or Junior, throws a textbook across the classroom. When he opened the book he saw his mother's name, her maiden name and it enrages him. He's furious that the reservation is so poor that they're learning from thirty-year old textbooks. He doesn't...