[Book Review] Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Unravel Me Tahereh Mafi

Book: Unravel Me

Series: Shatter Me

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Publishing Year: 2013

Introduction

So I was actually going to do a book review of the Shatter Me series starting from the first book but I figured since I already read it up to Unravel Me which is like the 3^rd book in the series, I might as well make a review about Unravel Me and then make a review about the first two books later.  

I actually did a draft on Shatter Me but it was a little disorganized considering that it is more of a book discussion instead of a book review. Memang nak publish review tuh tapi takut terbagi spoiler untuk the rest of the series sebab aku dah baca sampai buku ketiga and containing my feelings is, unfortunately, not my area of expertise lols. (Plus I’m already aware of the MAJOR character developments from Destroy Me so yeah. It’s kinda hard to keep it a secret and pretend like I haven’t read any of the sequels lol.)

Anyways, let’s jump to the review, shall we? :))

WARNING

SPOILERS AHEAD

Synopsis

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.

(Credit: Shatter Me Wiki)

The Way the Story was Told

Timeline.

Voice of the Book

The POV of the book was entirely from Juliette Ferrars’ point of view (which was awesome considering how it ended in Destroy Me when it was told from Warner’s point of view).

As for the mood of this book, it was mostly madness and melancholy with a hint of mysteriousness. There were cheerful and humorous moments but I’d say the book was mostly the first three mentioned. The madness part though, wasn’t as heavy as Shatter Me but it was still pretty angsty throughout the whole thing (and Juliette was still struggling with her inner demons so yup. Definitely madness.)

In terms of the tone, the overall tone of the book was ominous in my opinion. I always felt like something bad was going to happen even when they didn’t. In other words, it kept me on the edge almost ALL the time. Bad for my health to say the least but I did like the thrill lol!

In terms of personality, earlier in the series Juliette was portrayed as this scared, self-loathing girl, being abused, unloved, and made to feel like a monster her entire life (credit: Shatter Me Wiki). However, in this book, compared to Shatter Me, I’d say she transformed into this brave girl that finally found her sense of belonging. 

She did struggle with that at first but then as the story progressed, her relationship with the people in Omega Point also progressed. She still hated herself sometimes but she did not talk to walls anymore like when she was in the asylum and I’d say that was a major improvement on her part! (Good for her!)

Speaking of development and progress, let’s move on to my most anticipated part of this review.

Character(s) / Character Development

The number one thing I like about this book is the character development. I’m not talking about the hero (or in this case, heroin) though Juliette did have impressive character development in here.

No. I actually want to focus on the villain.

One way to determine the skill of an author, to me, is how the author portrays the villain. I love when villains are not one-dimensional. Villains with no drive and purpose and seem like they’re villains just so that readers have something to hate on is kinda boring. In other words, when villains are villains because the writer writes them as such.

In terms of creating depth for her antagonist, I would say Tahereh Mafi is incredible in that aspect. In the introduction of this series which is Shatter Me, we were introduced to Warner who was, supposedly, the big baddie that we hated almost instantly (at least I did lol).

But then in Destroy Me, the story was told from the standpoint of Warner the antagonist which totally shifted my perspective of him. 

In Destroy Me, Tahereh Mafi provided a more in-depth background of Warner’s life and childhood and his character developed further in Unravel Me.

In Unravel Me turned out, he was not the actual big baddie of this series. It was his father. 

Warner was still the antagonist though but he was no longer the cardboard villain like he was in the first book.

Satu lagi yang aku suka about her writing style and how she handled antagonistic characters like Aaron Warner is the fact that she wrote his character arc realistically. Like when Juliette persuaded Warner to change tapi dia cakap something about how changing is not easy.

It makes sense. This is not like your typical high-school villain yang boleh berubah overnight. He was an actual villain who was twisted due to his traumatic childhood and then benda tuh bled into his adulthood. He killed people, saw things and experienced things which made it almost, I don’t know, comical if suddenly the next chapter dia terus berubah jadi baik. Just because Warner started to have feelings for Juliette itu tak membuatkan dia rasa nak jadi baik. Change is not that easy especially a HUGE one at that.  

But I’m pretty sure this dude is gonna taubat soon though I mean that was pretty obvious. His character arc was obvious. The redemption arc.

Bila aku baca cerita nih especially during the exchanged between Juliette dengan Warner and how Tahereh Mafi wrote the development of their relationship so beautifully it reminded me of Kylo Ren and Rey from Star Wars. This is EXACTLY how their relationship would be like if the people behind Star Wars sequels weren’t such bad writers (minus Rian Johnson of course.)

How Do I Feel About This Book

This book was highly entertaining. I love the action, the angst, the character development, the world-building, everything! 

Therefore, 

⭐⭐ 4.5 out of 5 stars! ⭐⭐

According to the order release of the series, I should read Fracture Me next. Hopefully, this one is just as good!