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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Unraveled by Gena Showalter

Book Details
Unraveled by Gena Showalter
Hardcover, 576 Pages
2010, Harlequin
ISBN: 0373210221
Series: Book 2 of Intertwined

Synopsis
Since coming to Crossroads, Oklahoma, former outcast Aden Stone has been living the good life. Never mind that one of his best friends is a werewolf, his girlfriend is a vampire princess who hungers for his blood, and he's supposed to be crowned Vampire King—while still a human! Well, kind of.

With four—oops, three now—human souls living inside his head, Aden has always been "different" himself. These souls can time-travel, raise the dead, possess another's mind and, his least favorite these days, tell the future.

The forecast for Aden? A knife through the heart.

Because a war is brewing between the creatures of the dark, and Aden is somehow at the center of it all. But he isn't about to lie down and accept his destiny without a fight. Not when his new friends have his back, not when Victoria has risked her own future to be with him, and not when he has a reason to live for the first time in his life….

Review
Unraveled introduced very few new characters, which was a major plus. We're finally getting to see more of the many that showed up briefly in Intertwined. A lot of questions were raised in Unraveled. The problem is there were almost no answers provided. The book ends with a huge new issue without resolving any of the many issues that have come up in either book. While I enjoyed the ride, I found myself unsatisfied in the end, wondering when if we would ever actually be given answers or if the questions would just continue to pile up with no hope for closure in sight.

There is a lot of Mary Ann in Unraveled and much of the book seems more about her than about Aden. This would have been fine, if she or Riley, or anyone had been interested in getting to the bottom of what was going on with her. It seems as though everyone involved would like to live in a state of annoying denial. Aden remains an intriguing character but I fear we many never get the opportunity to understand his origins, especially now that things have changed in such a major way. I'm certainly curious as to what may come next, especially for Aden and Victoria, but not quite enough to be excited about reading any future books in this series.

The real problem with Unraveled, and the series thus far, is that it seems there is a complete lack of focus. Intertwined bombarded us with characters and supernatural races/abilities. Unraveled has continued the trend with unending plot twists that push the story forward without regard to how and why these things are happening. The characters and the story are very imaginative and could possibly be leading up to something incredible, but it's hard to keep going when it feels like there's a good chance the series will continue in this scattered, unsatisfying fashion.

Rating

Links
Gena Showalter's
Website
Facebook

5 comments:

  1. some of my same thoughts too. Too many characters and I only care about riley/mary ann

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  2. The character clutter mutes what could be a good book.

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  3. This seems to be the opinion of most people. I have both books but have started the series yet. I might wait until it's done when it might make more sense.

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  4. I'm really curious about the new issue that comes up in this book, but if it's as scattered as the first, with no answers, I really can't see myself picking this up. Although I am a fan of Mary Ann and Riley...

    Awesome review!

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  5. @My 5 Monkeys - Really? I like Aden and Riley, but I'm not sure how much I like the girls.

    @Kittie Howard - Definitely.

    @Karen - That probably isn't a bad plan. I don't know how many books Gena's planning for the series though. It may be a long wait.

    @Dazzling Mage - The issue doesn't come into play until the very end, so it won't actually be dealt with until the 3rd book. At least I hope it's dealt with then. There are so many things still waiting to be addressed that I can't be certain when anything will be shown.

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