Review: UnSouled by Neal Shusterman

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopia
Pages: 404
Series: Unwind Dystology #3
Release Date: October 15, 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

I was thinking about how fucking creepy this cover is, but I realized it fit because it matched how fucked up the books are. Seriously, unwinding is one of the most horrifying things to come out of the dystopia. Especially the way Shusterman makes the reader believe in the progression of normal society—as normal as any society can be—into that.

This is the third book, and our protagonists are still looking for a way to put a stop to unwinding, while the rest of the world villanizes them for it. And I wanna start by saying that this isn’t the most eventful of books. No, it’s not boring. I mean, I binged through the last 230 pages in a single evening (till midnight, since I’m not that fast a reader), and I was always interested. But what the book accomplished wasn’t big developments. It was setting everything up for the end. It’s a bridge-book done right.

At the end of UnWholly, Connor and Lev are reunited, and they set off to find Sonia. She’s the one person who might be able to help them stop unwinding once and for all. Risa finally escaped the clutches of Proactive Citizenry, though she doesn’t know where she’s going from there. And Cam, the Rewind, has sworn to take Proactive Citizenry down so he can win Risa over.

Let’s start with Cam. I don’t like him. I haven’t liked him since he was introduced. But he does have an arc to look out for. He might be made of teenagers, but he’s just a child in many ways, and I like seeing him grow up. Though he really needs to get over his Risa obsession. He thinks she’s his salvation or something. And believe me, as wonderful as Risa is, getting the girl is not going to solve your existential crisis. Risa herself, she’s feels directionless and doesn’t have much of an arc in this one. Onto Connor and Lev.

Funnily enough—to me, anyway—Lev was kind of annoying. But that’s Lev for ya. He’s undergone so many changes throughout the series, what’s one more? Connor was… Connor. He feels responsible for all unwinds, and he wants to do as much as he can, as soon as he can. He didn’t take well to the delays he and Lev faced in the book.

There were also other characters with POVs. Like Starkey—I fucking hate that kid—and the Rheinschilds. There were also chapters from the perspectives of random unwinds. Not to mention, Nelson-the-former-juvey-cop is still fucking alive. And yeah, he still wants to kill Connor and take his eyes. But one thing that was constant throughout was the propaganda about different kinds of unwinding. The book paints a picture of how deep a part unwinding is of this world, and how hard it will be to stop. By the end, shit is about to go down.

Unfortunately, the libraries in my city are closed so I’m gonna have to wait to read the fourth, and final, book. But I’m very excited to see how this series will end.