I read it.
I finished it.
And I. And I.
Okay so now that I spammed you with my emotions in SHERLOCK GIF form, I'm going to attempt to put one letter in front of the next to create a thing called words that you will actually understand.
Unravel Me is written by Tahereh Mafi, and is the second book in the Shatter Me series.
Don't know anything about it? Here, have a bit about book number one, Shatter Me:
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The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior."
(Blurb taken from Goodreads.)
And check out my review of Shatter Me over at my GoodReads!
Yes, it IS as good as it sounds. Actually--correction--it's even BETTER than it sounds.
This little bit doesn't nearly touch on the beauty of this book. Literally every page is like reading poetry with descriptions and words that are daring and loud and get stuck inside your head and weave their way into your heart. It's stunning, Tahereh's writing is.
My Updates while reading it:
| 03/18 | page 106 | 22.0% | "I'm not okay with this. at all" | |
| 03/18 | page 149 | 32.0% | "HOLY FREAKING CRAP WARNER AND A PUPPY. I REPEAT WARNER AND A PUPPY. I'M IN LOVE. MELTY HEART. Be with him please. My ship shall sail." | |
| 03/19 | page 261 | 56.0% | "Oh my goodness." |
And characters. As you well know, that's what does it for me--if a book doesn't have good, quality characters, I'll dislike it instantly. Sure, a book may have a super awesome plot. Sure, it make be written perfectly. But if the characters are boring, flat, and unrealistic?
NOPITTY NOPE.
But these books hold within its pages some of my all-time favorite characters.
Juliette, our leading lady, is a hard one to figure out. She has so many mysteries and uncertainties tied to her, but her character development and progression though out the story is absolutely incredible and very well done. I have to admit, in Unravel Me especially, there were some times when I just wanted to shake her and tell her to get a grip.
Which is one of the many reasons I absolutely adore Kenji, who does just exactly that. He's introduced in the first book, and I really loved him from the start even though he was a total jerk. I still knew there was more to him, and indeed there was! He's hilarious and quirky and has so many sides to his characters, as all of them do, that I'm still shaking my head, trying to figure out how our Miss Tahereh Mafi managed to create characters so real and understandable and breath-taking.
Adam honestly is the one I rooted for at the beginning. He's your standard YA male love interest--steady headed and brave and kind and caring, but though he was a fantastic character, I can't help but think he pales in comparison.
In comparison to who, you ask?
Why, Warner, of course!
I'm in love. I'm love with ANOTHER freaking fictional character and I am NOT EVEN ASHAMED.
I fell all over myself for Warner from the very beginning, which made it hard to even appreciate any moments between Juliette and Adam. The whole time I'm just thinking "You are with the wrong guy, you idiot."
And can I just say. Warner. And a Puppy.
Oh. My. Gods.
I don't think I've ever laughed and cried and died over a book so hard. I don't know why, but that was it for me--that was the moment that I realized I was taking this wonderful book way too seriously, and that I loved this particular character WAY too much, but...
That just made it all the better. This book could sneak it's way inside of me and made me gasp and laugh and, yes, cry. It's a powerful, unique book that screams with it's own voice and it's own words.
The descriptions paint realistic pictures in your head and many times I was just stunned silent, sitting there staring at the pages.
These books are inspiring to me, as a writer, and teach me to be brave with my words. And, as a reader, these books will set on my shelf of pride forever and ever. (I don't ACTUALLY have a self of pride, sadly--I imagine it more of a mental shelf, you know?)
So I plan on buying the third and final book, Ignite Me, as soon as humanly possible! I'm dying here!
Have you ever read Unravel Me? How about Shatter Me? What's your opinion?
Thanks for reading, and I hope you all go out and purchase these books right away!
