UnStrung

UnStrung by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After leaving CyFi and before heading to the graveyard, Lev stayed at a wealthy Native American reservation. Native American reservations don't participate in unwinding and they sometimes shelter AWOL kids. While there, Lev meets a young man Chowilawu, Wil for short, who has an incredible talent with a guitar.

UnStrung is an interesting tale that I must admit didn't sound too intriguing. I thought I knew enough about why Lev became a clapper and wasn't all that interested in reading the novella. Fortunately for me Unstrung was available at my library as a digital download so despite my mild interest I checked it out anyway. I'm thankful I didn't skip it because this really is a strong and emotional novella.

The story started out slowly and doesn't seem at first to fit into Unwind outside of Lev being involved. Some unfortunate circumstances change that quickly and bring the heartbreaking reality of the Unwind world into the novella. I think I have to leave some time between reading the different books in this series because I can barely handle the hell these children live in.

Lev and Wil's time together was a bright spot in the story. Despite the brevity of their relationship Lev and Wil seemed to bond and understand one another quite well. I also appreciated seeing a whole people group stand against the atrocity of unwinding.

UnStrung is a quick strong novella that's worth reading for any fans of the Unwind series.

View all my reviews