Author: Neal Shusterman

Dec 06

Thunderhead and The Toll: More Proof that Neal Shusterman is Genius

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Reviews 22 ★★★★★

If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you know that the Unwind Series is my absolute favorite series of all time. Neal Shusterman always manages to write books that are both exciting and philosophical—a difficult feat. Well, this latest series is no exception. I’ve already reviewed Scythe, so click the link to read what I had to say about the book (spoiler alert—I thought it was incredible with a small reservation about the way that the Scythes go about the business of killing). But, strangely I hadn’t read Thunderhead yet, despite my deep love for Scythe, so I’m going to start with a quick review of that one… Thunderhead was even better than Scythe (in my opinion) because it was less about the ways that the Scythes gleaned (though there were still some really interesting gleaning discussions—especially when it came to the way that Anastasia chose to do it)… Read more »

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Nov 22

Scythe Review: AKA An Ode to Neal Shusterman

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Reviews 26 ★★★★★

How has the entire world not recognized Neal Shusterman’s genius? Seriously, I am SO hoping that the Unwind movie comes out (I haven’t seen any news since May!!) and that it does the series justice because people need to talk about his books more. Scythe is one more example of Shusterman’s talent and imagination and his ability to shed light on humanity’s moral triumphs and shortcomings. Once again, he takes a look at a dystopian (utopian?) society—this time a society where humans have defeated death, pain, poverty, and every other earthly malady. The cloud has advanced into what the world terms the “Thunderhead.” It has amassed so much knowledge that it has been able to solve all of the world’s problems. All except one—with the defeat of death, overpopulation is a major issue. Even the Thunderhead can only figure out ways to support so many people. And up till this… Read more »

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Sep 30

I FINALLY read Undivided by Neal Shusterman!!

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction All-Time Favorites, Reviews 17 ★★★★★

Those of you who follow my blog regularly know I have a BIG problem with finishing series – especially series I love! Well, I’m proud to say that I finally did it! I finished Undivided by Neal Shusterman, the final book in the Unwind series (well, kind of – there’s a book of short stories coming out in December). I was very scared to see this amazing series end, so I was thrilled that the final book lived up to my (very high) expectations. I seriously think that Shusterman is a genius! What fed my addiction: Heart-stopping moments. There were some truly climactic scenes in this book that had me breathless. Shusterman puts our beloved characters through A LOT in this book, but everything that they go through brings them a deeper understanding of themselves and ultimately makes them stronger. The result is a beautiful conclusion to the series that leads us… Read more »

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Apr 21

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman – Review

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Reviews 21 ★★★★½

Challenger Deep is the type of book that you won’t forget long after you’ve finished reading it. This book sheds light on mental illness in a way I have never seen done before (at least not so thoroughly and realistically) – putting you directly into the mind of the mentally ill character and taking you on an enlightening, but also somewhat perplexing journey through his illness. Normally, I start my reviews with what I loved, but I’m switching things up a little because I feel like I have to get the negative out of the way first, before I can get to what I really loved. So, stick with me here! The negatives: Prepare to be confounded. I had a hard time rating this book, to be honest. I kept hovering between four and four-and-a-half stars, even though I think it’s brilliant in a lot of ways. Why? This book was very strange…. Read more »

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Jan 25

Review – UnSouled by Neal Shusterman

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction All-Time Favorites, Reviews 0 ★★★★

***This review may contain spoilers for the first two books in the series. You can find my review of Unwind HERE and my review of UnWholly HERE.*** This is one of my absolute favorite series!! If you haven’t read Unwind and UnWholly, you should. It is one of the most unique, thought-provoking dystopians out there. UnSouled picks up where UnWholly left off – Lev has just rescued Connor from the Graveyard and Risa has just escaped from Proactive Citizenry (after appearing on national TV and declaring that she is against unwinding and rewinding). Cam is desperate to find Risa and to somehow win her love – he figures that bringing Proactive Citizenry is the best way to do that. The negatives: A bit of middle book syndrome. While I loved this book, it did seem a bit like it was mainly just setting us up for book #4. Somehow Shusterman… Read more »

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Feb 17

Review: UnWholly (Unwind Trilogy #2) by Neal Shusterman

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction All-Time Favorites, Reviews 2 ★★★★★

As the summary says, this is a sequel to the 2007 book, Unwind. If you haven’t read Unwind, run now to your nearest bookstore and see what you’ve been missing. It was an amazing book that Neal Shusterman originally planned as a stand-alone. But, here we are, five years later, and he decided that there was more to the story that needed to be told. All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you! What I love most about this series is the way that Shusterman tackles some very tough and controversial topics in a way that makes you stop and really examine all sides of the issue. The series explores a future in which the battle between pro-life extremists and pro-choice extremists has turned into a literal war. The final compromise that is made is outrageous and yet accepted by both sides – abortion is… Read more »

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