Neal Shusterman has long been one of my favorite authors. I first read Unwind in 2017. I gladly put his series on my classroom shelves. Two years ago we had to take all books off and put them away until the district told us which books we could keep on our shelves. They all had to be "reviewed", and not by the teacher. I went from over 3000 books to a little under 700 books. Last year I changed schools. I started collecting books again. Parents signed letters giving their children permission to read whatever they wanted. I began purchasing my favorites once again. The first books I purchased over Christmas break this year was Neal Shusterman's Unwind Series. I reread them this week.

Unwind takes the issue of abortion and turns it on its head. After years of pro-life and pro-choice arguing the issue of abortion war breaks out. It is finally decided that the abortion issue is dead until the age of 13. At that time, with the advancement of technology and medicine children can be "unwound". This mean their body can be chopped up and sold to the highest bidder with all parts being used. There are two nefarious factions at play here. First you have the "tithes". They are children who have been dedicated as a tithe from birth. They are raised and trained that they have a higher purpose and willingly go to be unwound, to live on in the lives of others. The second is those that for whatever reason have not done well in school or society have been given to the government for unwinding; signed over to them by their parents. There is a third group that is lumped in with this second group. If you end up in a state home and are lucky you live there until you are 18. If you aren't lucky and they need more room you will be sent off to be unwound.
Our three main characters are Connor, who found papers his parents had signed to have him unwound. The reason? He was always in fights and had low grades. Then there is Levi, called Lev who is a tithe. Finally we meet Risa who is being unwound because they need more room in the state home she lives in. Connor leaves the night before he is to be unwound. Unfortunately he is caught the next day. He escapes across a highway, sees Lev and takes him as hostage. All of this causes a major accident which also involves the bus that Risa is being transported on. The three of them end up together and so the adventure begins.

We learn a lot about each of their lives, about something called "getting storked" and a group of people who want to destroy these "chop shops" and a group that is trying to help them survive. This is an awesome book. It is followed by 3 other books. I highly recommend the entire series, just like I will to my students when I return after winter break. ( )

wow. and I mean wow. A reality you don't want to think about.
storking....unwinding...tithing...it's all just so horrific, I just want to assume and imagine that it could/would NEVER happen. Right, it would never happen?!?! ( )

I really enjoyed this book. It's one of the few books that I've read lately that kept me up reading well into the night, and I could not wait to find out how it ended. An exciting story of survival with interesting, well fleshed-out characters. I was a bit disappointed to find out that there are sequels to this book—I thought the ending to this one was perfect. I kept thinking of this one long after I'd finished it, and I am excited to hear what my friends think of this thrilling tale of survival. ( )

This book was positively stomach churning. It snatches at you in the first two pages, and Shusterman is an accomplished literary veteran, with more than enough talent at his fingertips. The concept sounds like a truly ugly joke, but Shusterman makes the topic real. Even more real are the characters, who are truly different in every sense. Every character in the book--all of them--see their world from entirely different points of view. Some of them agree, and some of them do not. Many of those that don't agree still find themselves on the same side and vis versa. The settings, which Shusterman lingers on with care, also reflect this division. An arid desert is a haven, and a constructed paradise is a prison. A truly masterful book that seeks to scare the reader out of complacence--and does an excellent job. ( )

I have never read any Shusterman books and this one sounded interesting enough. And it was. There were even parts that I enjoyed.

But this, to me, is an example of some lazy storytelling and a clear lack of thought in the world that is being built. I mean, are there really THAT MANY parents that would "unwind" their teenagers? I mean, I get that kids can be annoying as all get out, but you still love them and for the most part don't want them to be chopped up so their body parts are given away. It just didn't feel right and was so far out of the realm of reality in a book that tried to make everything else feel like our world. This could have easily been explained by population control or something else, but it was just...existed.

Which leads to the characters. Bland, cardboard cutouts that I really didn't care for. Oh, an angsty teenage boy who loves to fight but is also morally centered and protects another teenage girl? Color me surprised.

I didn't HATE this book, but it just felt underdeveloped and lazy. ( )