Thursday, October 8, 2015

UnStrung

UnStrung (Unwind, #1.5)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.

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The Legendary Warrior

The Legendary Warrior (Sage Saga, #5)The Legendary Warrior by Julius St. Clair
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Everyone is fighting to sway Bastion to their side.

Meanwhile Catherine seeks to find out if the threat from the Yama is real or not.

Bastion is at odds with his feelings and actions. He hopes to just be a normal teenager, but that seems to be impossible.

The Legendary Warrior was an adequate addition to the Sage Saga. The Sage Saga is losing steam for me and I felt like I forced my way through this book.

The characters have mainly stopped behaving like themselves by this edition. Catherine has turned into a character where the ends justify the means. James has taken a dark path in order to save Allay and hates himself for it. Bastion seems like a robot learning to be a real boy. The others really don't feel all that important.

A lot of questions that have gone unanswered since the first trilogy are answered in The Legendary Warrior. That was probably the best part of the book for me. There were also a few new plot twists that have peaked my interest. The characters have lust their luster, but I still intend on finishing the trilogy.

2.5 out of 5 stars

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