My super Unwind Dystology rant (this is mostly for myself)
I really liked the first book, but just being nitpicky here, i didn't like how Connor was the main character. I felt that Risa was underdeveloped and didn't have anything major going on, especially for someone who's supposed to be one of the lesser main characters. I've always felt like Neal Shusterman sucked at making things descriptive. I gaslit myself into thinking Lev had impeccable writing and religious metaphors while i was reading the book just to cope. The few times that there are more symbolic comparisons for Lev, it always like, "He looked kinda like an angel." Like you got the ball rolling Neal just go a little further! PLEASE DONT STOP THERE!!!
Also back to Risa, i felt like she was JUST the girlfriend to Connor. I remember her motive for the entire book was just vague and boring like, "yeah sure i also wanna end unwinding, but no i'm not gonna do anything major even though i'm one of the three main guys." i blame neal shusterman for that. or idk maybe i need to read that book again.
I also was really sad that Lev didn't have more religious, existential crises. I didn't have much religious trauma, but i did have some mental issues involving religion at some point, so Lev who grew up his entire life devoting his soul to God should have some more reactions to how literally everything he believed in was a lie. It should've been prevalent all throughout the book. Today i just found out that Unstrung exists, so i will be reading that in hopes that it'll make up for the lack of suffering Lev needed. Yes i love making the people i love suffer!!!!
I also would like to add that the Bill of Life is inaccurate. No way that both sides would be like, "sure let's unwind teenagers. I feel that Neal was trying to say it's bad on both left and right wings, but i think that's a silly exaggeration. But i get it, we need a bit of inaccuracy because it makes things interesting. It's just a major whatif yk?
The rest of the book was pretty peak. I really liked how we didn't get too much about Roland because neither did anybody else in the book. I also really liked CyFi. No reason to elaborate on that me thinks.
Oohhh play on words! UnHOLY, UnWHOLE-Y. So clever! This MUST be about Lev! The book summary even says that that there's a cult about him!!!! So hyped i'm gonna buy this book and read it!!! I LOVE when religion is used as a cult (which it kinda is just in general..)!!! THEY BETTER NOT GIVE LEV A POOR EXCUSE OF A CULT AND CALL IT GOOD. I SURE HOPE THEY MENTION THE CULT IN THE UPCOMING BOOKS TOO!! HE HAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL FOR A CULT!! HE IS LITERALLY A TITHE GONE AWOL, GONE CLAPPER, THEN GONE NOT CLAPPER. YOU DO PLENTY OF CRAZY STUFF IN THIS BOOK!!! PUSH THE LIMITS HERE A BIT!!!
So guess what, Neal Shusterman did everything i told him not to do and nothing of what i told him to do. I came in so ready for this book. Lev was my favorite in Unwind. I was forced to read Unwind last year in 9th grade for English class and Lev was why i kept going. Same goes for Unwholly. I didn't get my heavily desired Lev Chapter for like 150 or so pages. But when i did it was really good i really like the first couple of Lev chapters ESPECIALLY when he was stifling his sobs after confronting his parents for the first time in forever. Then he's introduced to the cult. What part about this is a cult? Sure they worship him, but it's hardly anything... I just wanted more of the cult.... i was so sad when he just left with miracolina. I like the moments with Miracolina, but i don't exactly ship them. I enjoy the idea of it being one sided. I feel that Lev was searching for a bit of normalcy in his life and he assumed crushing on a girl would give him that, but what if Miracolina doesn't like him like that? Smirk emoji, evil emoji. Anyway i didn't care about the cult because it felt more like a kids fanclub, maybe i'm exaggerating a bit, but still you get my point. Nelson's chill i guess i liked him. Uhh yeah everything else just worked out in the end. Still bummed out about that cult... Could've made a super Lev fanboy( or girl, girls can also have unhealthy obsessions guys) who's leading the cult... or a clapper cult... literally anything more than thsi...
I lowkey forgot about what was happening to connor. sorry.... something, something graveyard attack, something, something spies. i don't remember his plot being bad, but it wasn't what i was interested in which is okay.
Starkey was good too. I like the parallels with Connor. I cant say much really it was just a solid character with a solid plot and motive.
Risa was finally freed from her shackles.. No longer is she JUST the girlfriend!!!!! I really liked Risa which was surprising for me! Cam too. Again i don't know what to say for this. it was pretty good idk! I did however wish we delved a smidge deeper into how gross and traitorous she probably felt when she got an Unwinds spine. Not too big of a deal for me. I am a bit confused on why we're allowed to have a full on frankenstein but we can't have a cultier cult? that's fine! that's awesome actually!!! i really like that!!! awesome awsome awesome!!! cool!!!
Idk what more to say. I like hayden i guess. go white boy.
For me Unsouled was a bridge for Undivided. the books blurred together for me becaude i went to Undivided the second i finsihed unsouled, so i may or may not mention undidvided on accident here. I was very sad that Lev didn't do anything MAJOR in Unsouled. Sorry, i'm just so greedy. I like his connection to his spirit animal, but i also wished that his religious trauma was mentioned. He had very different beliefs from the beginning, i'm not sure if they mentioned him leaving Christianity or anything but it could've been interesting. I fear Neal fumbled with Risa.... Risa from Unwholly you will be missed. I really liked Una. Very sad character. what else, uhh sonia's chill. this is a messy section.
I will say that I LOVED STARKEY. He's the one character that i can say has nothing wrong with the writing. Again, the parallels are awesome!!! Super fun i loved it. Then he had a super cool cult???? THAT WAS ACTUALLY CULTY??????? WHAT????? THIS IS PEAK????? god i loved Starkey like ten times more after this book. My jaw dropped when i read the part about him impregnating those girls. That was absolutely sick idk how they let Neal Shusterman do that in a YA novel. But it shows how vile and evil Starkey really is. So peak. I also liked Bam too!!! I thought she wouldn't be too important but she was a pretty good character in the book. My greedy self does want more of her though.. Why can't the girl characters have their own plot it's always connected to a man... angry emoji... come back to me Risa from unwholly... i did not like what they did to her in unsouled :(((( and what they did to her was nothing, they did nothing to her.
I like Nelson more here, very cool. The skinners too. I cant say much on Grace lowkey she was solid i guess sure. I really like Argent too. I liked the duo of him and Nelson. They were all pretty solid characters idk what to add to it maybe i'm getting tired.
Starkey just got better and better, same with Hayden, Bam, and Jeevan who i did not care for previously. I really liked how Starkey died it was so peak. It was sad too. It was just really good man. I really liked it. Hayden, Bam, and Jeevan were good. Not much to add when they're side characters, surprisingly though Jeevan had a some flesh on his chapters. I liked it. idk what to say besides it was good.
I going to skip to the part i liked and didn't like. I loved when Lev did the statue of liberty thing, but i wished he died. Also why i don't want miracolina back bro. Anyway, I also really liked when Argent lost half of his face and when Nelson attacked Sonia's shop. Super peak. Super sad.
I didn't like the ending. It was weird. Felt rushed and underdeveloped. It speedran to the end. Like it'd be fine if Connor came to Hayden's protest thing and gave a speech and it ended there, but I wished it was fleshed out before that. Idk it's fine, not a big deal.
They cooked with Camus Comprix here. The end was so devastating, like wdym he doesn't have a clear ending. I love that. And the whole Roberta thing was crazy too. I'm getting bored of writing this sorry.
Other thing i wanted to say:
I like how Risa and Connor constantly think of eachother. They were eachothers motives for a while and they don't know anything more than just eachother. There souls are like tied together and that's typically romantic, but it's also suffocating. It's restricting. In my opinion, they don't have much chemistry. I don't think this is what Neal Shusterman intended. I think it was just bad writing on his end.
At the end of the day, it’s a Young Adult series. I liked it and that’s all that matters. I’m gonna have to read the other books like Unbound and Unstrung. Risa from Unwholly come back to me…
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