Unwind | Teen Ink

Unwind

November 30, 2016
By rekrap BRONZE, Exeter, New Hampshire
rekrap BRONZE, Exeter, New Hampshire
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Have you ever imagined a world where you could live forever, and any part of your body could be replaced with a new, younger one that boasts it's own skills and personalities? In the world of Unwind, all you need to get that and more is to sign your unwanted, unloved child to be dismembered and stored to be put to anyone's purchase, so they can reap the rewards of this system. No need to worry though, the kids are not murdered, they simply live in a divided state, their whole body lives on in different people, so it's not illegal.
Unwind is a very curious and grueling tale by the author Neal Shusterman. In a timeline like ours, the second civil war has just ended. Called the “Heartland War” this society is fighting against themselves to find out if abortion policy should still be allowed. However, to end the war, the “Bill of Life” was created to allow all children to live for 13 years, and for that time until they are 18 they can be unwound, a technology created by the Proactive Citizenry that allows all a person's body parts to be taken apart perfectly and be stored for anyone. However, even though the war is over, nobody has won, since this technology has allowed the Proactive Citizenry to control the government and misinform the public into thinking that the kids that have escaped unwinding are bad people, and that makes them more powerful. The story follows three children, Connor Lassiter, Risa Ward, and Levi Cadler. All these kids come with their own personal backstories that make you want to crave to know more about them, but they all have the same reason they met, they were signed into the unwind system. Now they have to fight for the right to live, and not be defeated by the Juvenile Authority, the non-lethal police force the Proactive Citizenry created to make sure the unwinds do no escape. They must uncover the truth about what really happened during the war that made the Proactive Citizenry create unwinding.
I opened this book with an open mind and a lust for a book that would keep me hooked for a long time, and I can say I definitely found what I was looking for. I enjoyed the beginning, as it mixed introducing the backstory with a little bit of suspense. First off it introduces Connor and his girlfriend, and I hoped it would not be a kissy kissy romantic dystopian book, but as the action quickly rose I forgot all about it. Shusterman captivates the reader into reading more, as there is a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter. At times I noticed that I looked at the clock and it showed 7 PM, and looking back up I realized that I had just passed three hours reading the book, and I can say that most books have not done that to me.
If you enjoy action suspense and even a bit of romance, but still kicks butt in the making, this is the book for you. Each chapter makes you ponder what has happened until then and the book leaves you satisfied every time you put it down (if you can). It's present-time setting and relevance to the speedy advancements in technology makes this book hard to miss.



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