Why read? Why listen? Why learn?

Seventh-grade Noelle, binge-watching “Crash Course: Psychology” videos on Youtube as she procrastinated her Macbeth paper, was very aware she was not being the most time-responsible student, but did not see how she was shaping a path that would become much more significant for her life than an English assignment.

Human behavior had always seemed inexplicable and unscientific; after all, my fundamentalist Christian education had taught me that science was a tool for understanding the world humans ruled, that humans were separate, unconstrained by the same laws that governed beasts. I craved even the most basic explanations for human self-concept, motivations, patterns, and dysfunctions.

But that couldn’t quite satiate my hunger for the knowledge I felt robbed of. The results of the brain’s functions were fascinating, but I around tenth grade I wondered more how an organ, just a bundle of cells, could create thoughts, solve problems, and grasp abstract concepts. Swayed by my friend’s year-long rave over Duke TIP’s Summer Studies program, I signed away three weeks of my summer to informally study neuroscience. I fell in love with my new friends, the subject, and even the rat whose brain we dissected.

Duke TIP had such a profound affect on my life that all I wanted was more of it. I signed up for AP Biology to hold me over as I searched for its replacement for the next summer, and I found NC Governor’s School, a five-week program that offered a natural science track featuring neuroscience.

I got in, and to my surprise, neuroscience was my least favorite of the four science mini courses. NCGS piqued my interest in many diverse areas of science I had never truly considered, especially biology, as it was the most emergent and the most plainly applicable to humanity’s well being.

Neuroscience was my first love, but it is one part of a network of complex, beautiful biological systems that make up the human experience. I’ve only just scratched the surface; I cannot wait to dig deeper, have my passions lead me places I don’t expect, and to contribute to this important and evolving field.

This pursuit of knowledge has easily characterized my education and my life for the past five years. It has grounded me in the midst of changing circumstances, guided my choices as different paths have become available, and substantiated my goals as I pursue my future. In a broader sense, a love of knowledge has deepened my relationships with my friends; asking questions and seeking answers has led me to more nuanced and trusting friendships, rooted in something deeper than shallow shared experiences. Learning has given me something to occupy my mind during classes that teach me nothing. When teachers insist I memorize and repeat, I teach myself how to poetically articulate my frustration with the education system in my notebook as I tune them out. Learning draws me to the things I ought to pay attention to and gives me an escape from the things I oughtn’t.

Learning is, I’ve decided, the one thing I’m sure I want to continue until I die, for what is life without growth, without evolution?

This post was inspired by the Activia Scholarship (https://www.activia.co.uk/scholarship-us), which provides financial aid to passionate college students.

Review: Paper Towns by John Green

I’m back to posting… check out this review, friends! 🙂

~ Alice

We're All Mad Here

Paper Towns by John Green

Pages: 305

Format: Book

Source: Barnes and Nobles

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis: Who is the real Margo?

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew…

Review: Hello! So this will probably take awhile to write. After my absence, I decided to review a book that is quickly rising on my list of favorites. I spent a few minutes scrolling…

View original post 958 more words

Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns by John Green

Pages: 305

Format: Book

Source: Barnes and Nobles

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis: Who is the real Margo?

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew…

Review: Hello! So this will probably take awhile to write. After my absence, I decided to review a book that is quickly rising on my list of favorites. I spent a few minutes scrolling through the Goodreads reviews for this book, which all I either agreed with or made me moderately to quite angry. So I thought I should address something here before I start really discussing the book: the similarities between Paper Towns and Looking For Alaska (another by John Green if you don’t know). The majority of the one star reviews on Goodreads were criticizing Mr. Green because of this. He is scarily good at writing teenage protagonists, and yes, Q and Miles are both male, and in high school, and they each love an interesting girl. I see where you’re coming from. But read each book and consider all the circumstances. They are very different. Q has loved and watched and idealized Margo his whole life. Miles meets Alaska and begins to idolize and fall in love with her right away. I believe all the characters and situations in the two books are notably different, and honestly, they are each incredible books. Does it really matter? Now, Paper Towns.

Paper Towns is a big change from most YA books. John Green is remarkable for telling stories in a way that honestly just capture a period of time realistically, rather than starting in one place with a crazily misunderstood protagonist with powers, or a dead family, or who is the lone survivor of the apocalypse. Nothing is nearly as dramatic, all of these things could have happened. The paper towns (and Agloe, NY) are real. These kinds of conversations, thoughts, and personalities are also very real. John Green is very good at writing that way.

There is just something about John Green’s writing that makes you think, wonder, and want to do the things that you read about… but the incredible thing is that nothing he writes is something that you couldn’t do. There is such a cold, hard, amazing truth to these characters and events.

All of this holds true for Paper Towns.

Q, Quentin Jacobsen, is a normal teenager. He’s preparing to graduate, he’s friends with the band geeks, he likes playing video games. He likes routine. And he also happens to live next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman.

I love Q, his banter with Ben and Radar, and his character development.Throughout Paper Towns, you see Q go from quietly loving Margo to understanding her in a much better way. When she takes him on an all night trip of adventure and revenge, he is even more intrigued. But when she disappears and he starts searching, he begins to realize how Margo is not an idea, not some enigma, but a person. As he gets closer to realizing this he understands her better,and eventually finds her when she never meant to be found.

He has two best friends, Ben, with a lot of interesting habits, fixated on going to prom, and Radar, who is dedicated to editing a Wikipedia-like search engine. Oh, and his parents own the world’s largest collection of black Santas. Actually one of my favorite parts of Paper Towns was something Radar said to Q,

“You know your problem, Quentin? You keep expecting people not to be themselves. I mean, I could hate you for being massively unpunctual and for never being interested in anything other than Margo Roth Spiegelman, and for, like, never asking me about how it’s going with my girlfriend – but I don’t give a shit, man, because you’re you. My parents have a shit ton of black Santas, but that’s okay. They’re them. I’m too obsessed with a reference website to answer my phone sometimes when my friends call, or my girlfriend. That’s okay, too. That’s me. You like me anyway. And I like you. You’re funny, and you’re smart, and you may show up late, but you always show up eventually.”

I feel like a lot of people have that problem.

Margo Roth Spiegelman is basically a girl who everyone idolizes, always doing interesting, unexpected things. Q knew her as a child, but they kind of got older and got different friends, so that Q only really watched Margo until the night she showed up at his window.

My favorite topic explored in this book is how Q, and we, will often look at people and decide for some reason that they are less or more than human. We put them up on a pedestal or shove them beneath us, when really they are simply… people. With the same kinds of emotions, senses, everything, as us. You shouldn’t try so hard to know how another person thinks without knowing them, it only twists your vision of them in a more confusing way. Q saw Margo as something he had made up in his head for so long, he had to finally break down that image and see her as a girl. That’s when he found her, talked with her, understood after so long.

“What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person.”

I know I’ve been talking about mostly the same thing this whole review but I could continue and go on forever. I love this book. I highly recommend it, as well as John’s other books. John and his brother Hank also have a great youtube channel (vlogbrothers) that you should check out. They just finished filming the Paper Towns movie and well, I really, really hope it’s good. But I’ve got faith in it, because John was a big part of it. So I’m sorry for such a long absence, I will try to get Chesh and the Red Queen on here soon, and I’ll post more. Thanks for reading such a long, talky review (rather than my usual nonsense filled with gifs). Give me something as great and interesting as this book, and I will never shut up. So… yeah. Read Paper Towns!

~ Alice

Apology and Blood of Olympus

So guess what?

And by Lord Voldemort, I mean me, as in Alice.

We’re basically the same.

So anyways, I am so sorry for not posting in forever! Our last post was Chesh about 2 months ago. Mine was like January.

Yeah, I guess school and life caught up with us.

Mostly school.

But now it’s summer again! I hope to post more, and coerce Chesh and The Red Queen into doing so as well.

I’ve read some good books! But right now, I thought we should talk about…..

THE BLOOD OF OLYMPUS.

EXCITEMENT AND WORRIES AND SO MANY EMOTIONS.

Before I freak out and analyze too much, here is the information.

Release Date: October 7, 2014

Synopsis:

“Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them, and they’re stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake. The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance

Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it might be able to stop a war between the two camps. The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea’s army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over.”

SO YEAH.

There are SO MANY things I must talk about. Here are some of them in a semi-organized bulleted list.

• THE COVER. If you’ll scroll up and examine it, you’ll see some giants, and above them, what I believe to be Frank and Jason, and….. Hazel? Maybe? I think it’s Hazel on the right. Design wise, it’s not my favorite cover, but I’ll take it. I’d also like to draw your attention to the UK cover, released a few days ago:

Well, look at those strapping seven young folks! Who- oh, you mean those are THE seven? Wow. Frank gives the impression of Orlando Bloom, if you zoom in.

Yeah, that is NOT how I imagine them. So attractive, so fashionably dressed! Is Hazel three years older? Is Leo tall? Piper has got one SCARY BLADE. I am angry that Percy still looks like Logan Lerman? This is strange.

These are some fabulous and fierce warriors in the UK. Yeah, Gaea, you bettah run.

I’m also worried about the scary Gaea eyes at the bottom. Creeeeeepy.

Let’s make a petition for Viria to do a new cover and character art.

If you’re not familiar with Viria, observe:

(I especially love her Leo.)

That was a long bullet point. The bottom line is, covers are weird. Especially British covers.

• I AM STILL SO WORRIED FROM THE TITLE. JUST THE BLOOD OF OLYMPUS. THE BLOOD, WE ALREADY KNOW THEY NEED DEMIGOD BLOOD.
• I AM ALSO WORRIED ABOUT LEO IN GENERAL AND MY WELL BEING IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HIM.
• Will Percy find out about Nico? Poor Nico. I love Nico
• THE BATTLE AT CAMP HALF BLOOD! UAHBGBAFFGHAFH
• I WANT TYSON AND GROVER AND ELLA IN THE BOOK AND I WANT THEM TO STAY SAFE
• I miss Grover a lot aaah
• Also I hope nothing happens to dear Frank.
• or Hazel
• or PERCY OR ANNABETH OR PERCABETH BREAK THEM AND I WILL BREAK YOU
• or ANYONE.

I should probably stop before I have a conniption..

This  post was probably like 3 years long, but I hope you enjoyed it. I’ll probably be posting a review soon. I’ll try to get my cohorts to post, and I bid you a good day!

~ Alice

Clarity by Kim Harrington

Clarity by Kim Harrington

Series: Clarity #1

Published by Scholastic Point on March 1, 2011

Pages: 177

Format: Ebook

Source: Barnes and Noble

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis (courtesy Goodreads):

When you can see things others can’t, where do you look for the truth?
This paranormal murder mystery will have teens reading on the edge of their seats.

Clarity “Clare” Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch a certain object, and the visions come to her. It’s a gift.

And a curse.

When a teenage girl is found murdered, Clare’s ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case–but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare’s brother–who has supernatural gifts of his own–becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up with Gabriel, the smoldering son of the new detective, Clare must venture into the depths of fear, revenge, and lust in order to track the killer. But will her sight fail her just when she needs it most?

Review:

I’m going to start with the things I disliked because I’m just that much fun.

First off, the cover is awful. It poorly represents the book and it looks like a Sims animation.

So yeah.

Also, there were a couple of plot points *tries not to spoil anything* that seemed a bit ridiculous.

NOW THAT THAT’S OUT OF THE WAY this book was 300% fwamtastic.

Clare is realistic, likeable, and relatable, but she’s not so perfect that she’s cliche. She has a few very serious flaws that are strongly represented throughout.

That said, the antagonists aren’t irrefutably bad, either. They had some redeeming factors.

It was a well done mystery. Maybe it’s just me, but the ending was surprising and it had several plot twists that threw me off the scent of the murderer.

The infamous love triangle makes its appearance too, but this is one of the better ones I’ve read. Nobody is head-over-heels in love with anyone. They each have their own doubts and mixed emotions.

Clarity is entertaining, cute, and overall enjoyable. I recommend it to anyone with some spare time.

~Cheshire Cat

 

Blog Tour Stop: The Polaris Uprising by Jennifer Ibarra

We are thrilled to be a part of The Polaris Uprising blog tour. This is an excerpt post and there is a rafflecopter link below.

About The Polaris Uprising:

In less than seven years, eighteen-year-old Ryla Jensen will succeed her father as the president of Neress, a nation where all citizens are cared for from the moment they’re born. Fed, sheltered, even educated—every need of theirs is met.

The only price they pay is their free will.

Groomed since childhood to take on a role she’s not even sure she wants, Ryla’s only escape from the pressures of duty is her sister, Alanna. But when her eyes are opened to the oppressive regime her father built, she begins to question everything she’s set to inherit—and finds herself at odds with her sister’s blind allegiance to their father.

Torn between loyalty to her family and the fight for freedom, Ryla must decide just how far she’s willing to go to make a stand and risk losing the person she loves most in the world: Alanna

Goodreads Amazon B&N

 

Excerpt:

“So what happens now?”

“I can’t let him take the fall for this,” Ryla said, looking up at her. “I have to get him out, and I need your help.”

Gates’s eyes widened, blinked back at her.

“That detention center has the highest level of security—even under ordinary circumstances. And now it’s guarding the country’s most notorious prisoner… Ryla, what you’re planning is sheer insanity.”

“So you won’t help me?”

Gates was quiet for a long time. She issued no denial but offered no confirmation, either. Finally, she turned back to Ryla.

“You want my help? Here’s how I’ll help: I’m going to give you some advice, and if I were you, I’d listen very carefully. Go back. Go back to your comfortable life, where you’re safe and you’re oblivious and you can pretend you never got involved with us. Too many things have already been set into motion, and this is bigger than any rescue mission you could possibly stage.”

“You mean there’s a war coming. A genuine uprising.”

Gates didn’t look at her this time. But Ryla knew the answer was yes. It had all led to this moment, even if no one had said it out loud until now.

“You’re asking me to sacrifice him, then. He’ll be a casualty while Polaris gears up for the real battle—is that it?”

“There will always be casualties, Ryla. Remember that.”

“Maybe so. But if I have it in my power to save someone from becoming collateral damage, I’m not going to pass up the chance.”

“So you’re going through with this? Whether I help you or not?”

Up ahead, the camera ticked by.

Ten…eleven…twelve…

“Yes.”

Author Info:

Jennifer Ibarra grew up on a steady diet of books, Star Wars, and other fantastic feats of the imagination. Her debut novel, The Polaris Uprising, is the first book in a trilogy and mixes dystopia with family drama, romance, and political intrigue.She lives in Silicon Valley, where she does marketing for a tech company and spends her time running, cooking, baking, and keeping up with celebrity gossip.

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Cover Release: Anomaly by Tonya Kuper

Hi again everyone! We are extremely excited to be part of the cover release for Tonya Kuper’s ANOMALY. Check out the cover and make sure to enter the giveaway (link is at the bottom).

Release Date: November 4, 2014

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Synopsis:

What if the world isn’t what we think? What if reality is really only an illusion? What if you were one of the few who could control it?

Yeah, Josie Harper didn’t believe it, either, until strange things started happening. When this hot guy tried to kidnap her, shouting about ultimate observers and pushing and consortiums hell-bent on controlling the world… Well, that’s when things got real. Now Josie’s got it bad for a boy who weakens her every time he’s near and a world of enemies on her tail who want to control her gift, so yeah, she’s going to need more than just her wits if she hopes to survive much longer.

Einstein never saw this coming…

About the Author:

YA scifi author of ANOMALY, out 11/14, Entangled Teen. Represented by Nicole Resciniti. Contributor at yastands.blogspot.com & allthewritenotes.com. Music freak. Chocolate addict.

Website   Twitter   Facebook   Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

1 eARC of ANOMALY International

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Cover Release: Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

Hey everyone! We are really excited to be part of the official cover reveal for Gretchen McNeil’s GET EVEN (Get Even #1). There is a Rafflecopter giveaway at the bottom for a free copy.

Release Date: September 16th 2014

Publisher: Balzer+Bray

Synopsis: 

Follows the secretive exploits of four high school juniors – Kitty, Olivia, Margot and Bree – at an exclusive Catholic prep school.

To all outward appearances, the girls barely know each other. At best, they don’t move in the same social circles; at worst, they’re overtly hostile.

Margot Mejia – academically ranked number two in her class, Margot is a focused overachiever bound for the Ivy League.

Kitty Li – captain of the California state and national champion varsity girls’ volleyball team, she’s been recruited by a dozen colleges and has dreams of winning an Olympic gold medal.

Olivia Hayes – popular star of the drama program, she’s been voted “most eligible bachelorette” two years running in the high school yearbook and has an almost lethal combination of beauty and charm.

Bree Deringer – outcast, misfit and the kind of girl you don’t want to meet in a dark alley, the stop sign red-haired punk is a constant thorn in the side of teachers and school administrators alike.

Different goals, different friends, different lives, but the girls share a secret no one would ever guess. They are members of Don’t Get Mad, a society specializing in seeking revenge for fellow students who have been silently victimized by their peers. Each girl has her own reason for joining the group, her own set of demons to assuage by evening the score for someone else. And though school administration is desperate to find out who is behind the DGM “events”, the girls have managed to keep their secret well hidden.

That is until one of their targets – a douchebag senior who took advantage of a drunk underclassman during a house party, videotaped it on his phone, and posted it on YouTube – turns up dead, and DGM is implicated in the murder.

Now the girls don’t know who to trust, and as their tenuous alliance begins to crumble, the secrets they’ve hidden for so long might be their ultimate undoing.

Find it on Goodreads

Pre-Order Links Will be available in the coming months, keep an eye on your favorite retailer for more information!

About the Author:

Gretchen is a former coloratura soprano, the voice of Mary on G4’s Code Monkeys and she currently sings with the LA-based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk. She is a founding member of vlog group the YARebels where she can be seen as “Monday,” and she is an active member of both The Enchanted Inkpot, a group blog of YA and middle grade fantasy writers, and The Apocalypsies, a group blog of 2012 children’s debut authors.

You can find Gretchen on Twitter, Facebook, and on her blog.

Click below to enter the giveaway:

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Review: Croak by Gina Damico

Croak by Gina Damico

Series: Croak

Pages: 311

Format: Ebook

Source: Barnes and Noble (also known as the land of butterflies and magical unicorns)

Rating: 4 and 1/2 stars

Synopsis:

Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex’s parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape.

But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach Lex the family business.

She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can’t stop her desire for justice – or is it vengeance? – whenever she encounters a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again.

Will she ditch Croak and go rogue with her reaper skills?

Review:

Contrary to what the cover and synopsis might suggest, Croak is not a hide-under-your-bed-the-grim-reaper-is-coming kind of book. Its not even a I’m-kind-of-scared-let-me-cuddle-with-a-puppy-for-awhile book.

Not even close.

Croak is hilarious. It’s one of those will-get-you-strange-looks-in-public-because-you-are-laughing-like-a-mainiac books.

So, Lex starts off the book like Dug from Up.

Except, instead of seeing squirrels and wanting to chase them, she sees people and wants to punch them.

This made me squeal with happiness because, anger issues are not your typical heroine behavior.  So, after almost getting expelled from school because of the said anger management problems, her parents decide to ship her off to her Uncle Mort’s farm, which obviously means that she will be scooping horse poop and milking cows all summer. Nopedy nope nope.

Uncle Mort is actually a Grim Reaper, and so is pretty much everyone in his little town, Croak. They “kill” and “cull” souls and take them to the “afterlife”. Throw in a milky-eyed murder mystery, an insufferable yet undeniably hot partner, death jellyfish, Edgar Allen Poe, black hoodies, a Titanic poster, and a dash of awesome sauce and you’ve got yourself a book.

And not just any book, but a book without insta-love (praise the lord), with witty death puns, and with characters that actually are not cardboard cutouts.

Excuse me while I go explode with happiness.

Witty quotes that I must share with all of you:

“Should she go on? Or drop it? Maybe this was one of those things that people should keep to themselves, like a hatred of baby pandas or a passion for polka music. Everyone needs a secret or two.”

“The list of scars my students have sustained at the hand of your daughter grows longer each week. Poor Logan Hochspring’s arm will forever carry an imprint of her dental records!”
“You bit him?” Lex’s father said.
“He called me a wannabe vampire. What was I supposed to do?”
“Oh, I don’t know–maybe not bite him?”

“There comes a time in every young girl’s life when she is instructed by a complete stranger to scale a tall ladder for dinner atop a roof, and in almost every case the best thing to do is refuse and run home to call the asylum from which the stranger escaped.”

“It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye,” Ferbus said too loudly. “Then it’s one-eyed fun.”

I could go on, but I’ll leave some of the book for you to read.

Speaking of you reading, why are you still here? You should be frantically racing to the bookstore to go buy Croak. Go now my minions.

~TRQ

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Series: Unwind Dystology #1

Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on November 6 2007

Pages: 335

Format: Paperback

Source: twas a gift, dahling

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis:

Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child “unwound,” whereby all of the child’s organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn’t technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

Review:

When you look at the cover and synopsis of Unwind, it looks pretty darn creepy. Like, horror movie creepy. If you’re considering this book because of its horror, you might be sort of disappointed. Although the premise that teens can have all their organs taken out and retransplanted into someone else is chilling, the book as a whole isn’t really like that. The book follows Connor, Lev, Risa, and several other unwanted children in their escape from the twisted laws that are in place.

Although the book leaves you with a pretty good idea of each character’s fate, it leave soooooo many questions. Questions the author himself doesn’t know the answer. The point of the book is obviously not the characters’ stories, but the super deep questions behind unwinding. Are you really alive when your body parts have been scattered? What would happen to your consciousness? Would it be as if you had died normally, or would you exist in each of the people who took an organ? Is unwinding any better or worse than abortion? These questions are discussed briefly by the characters, the Neal Shusterman’s purpose was probably only for us to think about it ourselves. Aaaand now I have a headache.

The characters were beautifully written. Connor and Lev in particular were excellent examples of character development. The only character I really had a problem with was Roland. His evilness seemed exaggerated. Perhaps I’m missing the point of his character, I don’t know.

I feel like Connor and Risa’s relationship was realistic. No insta-love here, folks. It was very refreshing to read a book where that wasn’t shown as one of the problems that needed to be resolved. I find it funny how some other dystopian books can have characters that are in mortal danger constantly, but still find time to stress over their love life. Maybe it’s just me, but if I were trying to escape from a bunch of crazy doctors that wanted to sell my kidneys, I wouldn’t be too concerned about whether a certain boy liked me or not. Priorities, people.

Like I said earlier, the whole book isn’t that creepy. But the part that was really was. I read it late last night and had trouble sleeping because of it. A+ for horror writing. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to write a scene like that.

I would recommend Unwind to someone who is interested in the genre of creepy YA, but still deciding whether they really want to read it or not. It gives you a piece of adventure/dystopian fiction with a little taste of scar-you-for-life near the end, almost like it’s teasing you with it. It left me wanting to explore Neal Shusterman’s writing a little more, but probably not the Unwind Dystology. I’m satisfied with the way the story ended and I’m afraid the next book will spoil it.

~Cheshire Cat. Rawr.