Q

Read 22nd May 15

Recommended to me by a fellow dystopian novel lover. In summary – it has a great premise and the plot development did it full justice. What didn’t live up to its potential is the execution.

Things I liked:

Character development. I loved Conner, the protagonist. He had a distinct personality and motives, he was flawed, he experienced growth throughout the novel. Lev’s break from his initial beliefs was also very compelling! You know he was less one-dimensional than he appeared to be as a tithe, and this glimpse of him slowly came to view as the story progresses. Even the antagonist, Roland, was complex and believable. The dialogue was also well-written – especially loved Hayden and CyFi’s.

The premise and plot. Shusterman uses what we already have now, and projects it into a plausible future. There’s a slight spiritual twist to it, what with all the philosophical consciousness, but moving scenes and situations were weaved with his fresh concept. An upcoming spoiler here***: one of the ending chapters of Harlan’s parts being united was so chilling. I felt waves of goosebumps all over me. Also one of the few scenes that was well-written.

What I didn’t like:

The execution. Especially at the beginning, instead of presenting a scene or action, the story is bared out in plain narrative. There didn’t leave much for the reader’s inference, and was thus not as engaging as it could be. I love it when dystopian novels do not explicitly explain the world, instead unfolding a scene and allowing the reader to learn about it. It shows me that the writer respects my intelligence enough to keep things implicit. Unwinding had a tendency to spell things out as they were, which i found slightly jarring in the beginning.

The pacing was also quite poor. Some parts felt like rush jobs. There wasn’t a proper build-up, which left certain bigger events quite anti-climatic or inappropriately abrupt. The book is relatively short, so I feel like it could be expanded more for proper pacing. Given how compact it is though, it did a fantastic job developing plot and character.

Will be reading the 2nd book!