Review: Unwind

Unwind
By Neal Shusterman, read by Luke Daniels
Published 2009 by Brilliance Audio

This book has been recommended to me since it was published and I picked up the audio version for our recent long car trip (since I thought it was one my boyfriend might enjoy as well).

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The solution (for better or worse): life cannot be terminated from conception until the age of thirteen. But between the ages of 13 and 18, parents can have their child unwound, donating all their organs, so that technically, life doesn't end. Connor, Risa and Lev may all come from different situations but they are all about to be unwound. And their paths are all about to cross...

This book certainly lived up to its recommendations. Shusterman has created a chilling (yet unfortunately, believable) future with a highly suspenseful and compelling plot. The time flew as we listened to this story as we were totally engrossed in this world. I cared about every single one of the characters and loved that Shusterman used the three different main characters with their unique situations to take us through this story. He manages to balance the perfect amount of drama and romance, action and dialogue; everything flows incredibly well. The reader was excellent at making the characters each distinct without attempting to do voices that would have proved distracting. I was engaged the whole time we were listening and couldn't wait to discover what the next twist in the story would be. I'm so intrigued with the idea of a sequel to this - I think it stands perfectly well on its own. But I will definitely be interested to see what Shusterman does with a sequel. Highly recommended!