UnWholly

UnWholly (Unwind Trilogy #2)

Neal Shusterman, 2012

In this world, first established in Unwind, abortion is illegal. However, parents can decide on retroactive abortion for teens. For troublesome teenagers or orphans in group homes, anyone from the ages of 13 to 17 can be 'unwound' - the teens are not killed, but are broken down into individual parts and transplanted into those who need their organs. This is called a 'divided state' and is supposed to be a good thing - you know, except for those who are selected to be unwound. After one of the Harvest Camps was destroyed by runaway unwinds in the last book, a new law was put into place that 17-year-olds could not be unwound and a number of runaways have set up a safe haven at an old airplane graveyard. But things are not all good. Connor, the leader of the Graveyard, is trying to keep everyone safe and alive while worrying that they could be raided at any minute. And a new character, Cam, emerges, who puts a whole new spin on what unwinding can create.

I wasn't sure how I felt about this book when it first started, because I thought that Unwind did a decent enough job with the story that a trilogy wasn't absolutely necessary, and I wasn't sure what this book had left to cover. Despite a somewhat slow beginning, however, this one ended up being, in my opinion, better than the first book. I loved the characters in this book - the old characters were better developed and the new characters were really interesting and/or I wanted to punch them in the face (because they were written to be evil bastards). I also loved the direction the plot took. Can't wait to see what happens in the next book.