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UnDivided (Unwind Dystology Book 4) Kindle Edition
Proactive Citizenry, the company that created Cam from the parts of unwound teens, has a plan: to mass produce rewound teens like Cam for military purposes. And below the surface of that horror lies another shocking level of intrigue: Proactive Citizenry has been suppressing technology that could make unwinding completely unnecessary. As Conner, Risa, and Lev uncover these startling secrets, enraged teens begin to march on Washington to demand justice and a better future.
But more trouble is brewing. Starkey’s group of storked teens is growing more powerful and militant with each new recruit. And if they have their way, they’ll burn the harvest camps to the ground and put every adult in them before a firing squad—which could destroy any chance America has for a peaceful future.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSimon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Publication dateOctober 14, 2014
- Grade level7 and up
- File size3194 KB
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Review
"The battle for hearts and minds--and teenage body parts--winds to a dramatic close in the finale to Shusterman's darkly satiric UnWind Dystology...true page-turner like the previous books." (Booklist)
"Real recent news articles (with working links) about the present-day scientific and policy realities presaging Shusterman’s imagined future punctuate the narrative...Ambitious, insightful, and devastating—a fitting conclusion to a provocative series." (Horn Book Magazine)
"[A] lot of thought-provoking topics for discussion. The story is intriguing: a wonderful end to a unique and noteworthy series." (School Library Journal)
*"The popularity of this series is warranted: it is smart, it is dark, it is riveting, and the characters are drawn with respect. Furthermore, Shusterman’s series transcends the dystopian fan base. Libraries without books one through three should get them. Those who already have them, start the waiting list now." (VOYA, starred review)
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1 · AWOL
A tranq tears past his head so close that his earlobe is skinned from the friction. A second tranq flies just beneath his armpit—he actually sees it flaring past—hitting the trash can in the alley ahead of him with a dull clank.
It’s raining. The sky has torn loose with a late summer storm of near biblical proportions, but the storm is his best friend today because the relentless torrents hinder the Juvey-cops in pursuit. The sheets of rain make it harder for them to get a bead on him.
“Running will only make it worse for you, son,” calls one of the Juvies.
He’d laugh at that if he could catch his breath. If he’s caught, he’ll be unwound; what could possibly be worse than that? And calling him “son”? How can a Juvey-cop have the nerve to call him “son” when the world no longer sees him as a child of the human race. As far as humanity is concerned, he’s an object. A bag of biomatter ripe for salvage.
There are two, maybe three Juvey-cops chasing him. He won’t turn to count them; when you’re running for your life, desperate to remain undivided, it doesn’t matter whether there’s one, or ten, or a hundred Juvey-cops behind you. All that matters is that they’re behind you—and that you run faster.
Another tranq whizzes past, but it’s not as close as the others. The Juvies are getting sloppy in their aggravation. Good. He passes an overstuffed trash can and dumps it over, hoping to slow their pursuit even more. The alley seems to go on forever. He never remembered the streets of Detroit having back alleys this long. The end finally comes into view maybe fifty yards ahead, and he’s already visualizing freedom. He’ll explode out of the alley into the city traffic. Maybe he’ll cause a car accident, like the Akron AWOL. Maybe he’ll find a tithe to use as a human shield like he did. Maybe he’ll even pair up with a beautiful accomplice too. These thoughts push purpose into his bone-tired body, and speed into his strides. The Juvies fall farther behind, and now he has a spark of the AWOL’s most valuable commodity: hope. It’s something in short supply for those who have been deemed not worth the sum of their parts.
In an instant, however, that hope is eclipsed by the silhouettes of two more Juvey-cops blocking his exit from the alley. They’ve got him trapped. He turns to see the others closing in behind him. Unless he can sprout wings and fly, it’s over for him.
Then, from a dark doorway beside him, he hears—
“Hey, you! Over here!”
Someone grabs his arm, pulling him in through an open door just as a volley of tranqs shoot past.
His mysterious savior closes the door, locking out the Juvies—but what good will that do? Being surrounded in a building is just as bad as being trapped in an alley.
“This way,” says the guy who saved him. “Down here.”
He leads him down rickety stairs to a dank basement. The AWOL takes a moment to size up his savior in the dim light. He seems to be three or four years older than him—eighteen, maybe even twenty. He’s pale and thin, with dark stringy hair, and weak sideburns longing to be a beard, but failing to bridge the gap.
“Don’t be scared,” the guy says. “I’m an AWOL too.”
Which seems unlikely, as he appears to be too old—on the other hand, kids who’ve been AWOL for a year or more tend to look older. It’s as if time ticks by twice as quickly for them.
In the basement, there’s a rusty sewer cap that’s been opened, and the dark hole, which couldn’t be more than a foot wide, emits a malevolent odor.
“Down you go!” says the stringy-haired dude, as cheery as Santa about to go down the chimney.
“Are you kidding me?”
From upstairs comes the report of the door being kicked in, and suddenly that sewer hole doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. He squeezes through, having to wiggle his hips and shoulders to fit. It feels like being swallowed by a snake. The stringy-haired dude slides in after him, then pulls the sewer cap closed, with a scrape of metal on concrete, sealing out the Juvies, without leaving a trace of where they went.
“They’ll never find us down here,” his strange savior says with a confidence that makes the AWOL believe him. The kid turns on a flashlight to illuminate the space around them. They’re in a six-foot cylindrical sewer main that is wet with runoff from the storm, but doesn’t seem to actually be in use. It still smells rank, but not as bad as it seemed from the other side.
“So whaddaya think?” the straggly-haired kid says. “It’s an escape worthy of Connor Lassiter, right?”
“I don’t think the Akron AWOL would climb into a sewer.”
The kid grunts and leads them to a place where the sewer line is fractured, and they climb out into a concrete utility conduit that’s hung with wires and lined with hot steam pipes, which make the air oppressive.
“So who are you?” the AWOL asks his rescuer.
“Name’s Argent,” he says, “Like ‘sergeant’ without the S.” He holds out his hand for the AWOL to shake, then turns and leads the way down the steamy, narrow conduit. “This way, it’s not far.”
“Not far to where?”
“I got a pretty sweet setup. Hot food and a comfortable place to sleep.”
“Sounds too good to be true.”
“I know, doesn’t it?” Argent offers him a smile almost as greasy as his hair.
“So what’s your story? Why’d you risk your ass for me?”
Argent shrugs. “Isn’t much of a risk when you know you’ve got ’em outsmarted,” he says. “Anyway, I figure it’s my civic duty. I escaped from a parts pirate a while back, now I help others less fortunate than myself. And it wasn’t just any parts pirate I got away from—it was the ex-Juvey-cop who Connor Lassiter tranq’d with his own gun. He got drummed out of the force, and now he sells the kids he catches on the black market.”
The AWOL reaches through his memory for the name. “That Neilson guy?”
“Nelson,” Argent corrects, “Jasper T. Nelson. And I know Connor Lassiter too.”
“Really,” says the AWOL, dubiously.
“Oh, yeah—and he’s a real piece of work. A total loser. I showed him hospitality like I’m showing you, and he did this to my face.”
Only now does the AWOL see that the left half of Argent’s face is badly damaged from wounds that are still healing.
“I’m supposed to believe that the Akron AWOL did that?”
Argent nods. “Yeah, when he was a guest in my storm cellar.”
“Right.” Obviously the guy is making all of this up, but the AWOL doesn’t challenge him any further. Best not to bite the hand that’s about to feed him.
“Just a little farther,” says Argent. “You like steak?”
“Whenever I can get it.”
Argent gestures to a breach in the concrete wall through which cool air spills, smelling like fresh mold, instead of old rot. “After you.”
The AWOL climbs through to find himself in a cellar. There are other people here, but they’re not moving. It takes a moment for him to register what he’s seeing. Three teens lying on the ground, gagged and hog-tied.
“Hey, what the—”
But before he can finish the thought, Argent comes up behind him and puts him in a brutal choke hold that cuts off not just his windpipe, but all the blood to his brain. And the last thing that strikes the AWOL’s mind before losing consciousness is the bleak realization that he’s been swallowed by a snake after all.
Product details
- ASIN : B00IBHSBIC
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (October 14, 2014)
- Publication date : October 14, 2014
- Language : English
- File size : 3194 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Not Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 389 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #88,556 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Neal Shusterman is the author of many novels for young adults, including Unwind, which was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers, Everlost, and Downsiders, which was nominated for twelve state reading awards. He also writes screenplays for motion pictures and television shows such as Animorphs and Goosebumps. The father of four children, Neal lives in southern California.
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Top reviews from the United States
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Unwind 5 Stars
Unwholly 4.5 Stars
Unsouled 4 Stars
Undivided 5 Stars
I thought, I couldn’t be shocked anymore….
I thought, nothing Neal Shusterman says or does will surprise me now…
I thought, there was nothing more horrible than the things I’ve already seen in this series...
I thought, I knew who to hate and who to love in the story….
I thought, I was prepared….
I was wrong. So…so…wrong
-- “Tools are neither demonic nor divine. It’s all about who wields them.”
I’ve been severely disappointed with dystopian novels lately. They all seem to start out strong and then just dwindle or they are exactly the same as everything else out there Aligent, Requiem. However, the Unwind series is a true sparkling diamond in a sea of cubic zirconia. Neal Shusterman lines up all the pieces in the story, sets the tumblers in motion and much like a game of Plinko I had no idea where the pieces would finally come to rest. Undivided is an AMAZING wrap up to the Unwind series. This is the series you recommend first when someone asks if you know of any good Dystopian or YA novels.
Just like the other books in the series it is told in the multiple PoV fashion mostly from the viewpoints of Connor, Risa, Lev and Cam but also there are others from Hayden, Argent, Una , Starkey and more peppered in. It is amazing the full scope of the story you feel you are getting from seeing it from all of these perspectives. The villains are so powerfully portrayed, I really felt like I understood their motives and some of their craziness.
-- Starkey believes he is invincible. He believes he is more than just destined for greatness, but that greatness is owed to him, and every one of these “victories” makes him believe it more and more. The Stork Lord. Hayden’s epithet is more on-target then even he realizes, for Starkey truly does see himself as royalty reaching for divinity. A chosen one with the pride and privilege of a god.
The heroes are portrayed equally as honestly with all of their attributes and faults on display as well. No one is perfect but everyone is trying to do the best they can with what they have.
Conner is not the same troubled boy he was in Unwind. He has really grown up over that last two years of running. He is easy to like and I am so happy that he and Risa were finally together again for the majority of this book. The love story between them is truly fantastic, well developed and beautiful. There has been no insta love here.
There are a lot of really horrible disturbing moments in this book, but they are written in such a way that while yes, they are still disturbing I couldn’t help but read on, enthralled by the story. There are also as many truly touching heartfelt moments. I teared up more than once with the emotion of those moments. Even characters I thought I could not feel any sympathy toward somehow were able to elicit very confused feeling from me. I hated them but the events of a few situations really made me feel all the more sorry for them.
A revolution is building but for change to happen a bunch of things will all need to fall into place at the same time. So many issues on the ballot for the election that have to do with unwinding and Proactive Citezenry are ramping up their propaganda campaigns. This is one of the things I really like about these novels, the way that advertising is used to show how different organizations are really promoting the same ideas and really all working for the same organization even though they seem to be promoting different things. It is incredibly smart.
-- THE FOLLOWING IS A PAID POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT
DON’T BE FOOLED BY MEASURE F!
Supporters of the so-called Prevention Initiative claim that it’s all about the protection of at-risk children—but read the fine print! Measure F allows the Juvenile Authority to identify and track incorrigible children for the purpose of unwinding them as soon as they turn thirteen—which will be legal once the Parental Override bill becomes law. Measure G, on the other hand, funds the Juvenile Authority by giving cash incentives for the capture of AWOLs—who have already proven themselves to be menaces to society. No on F! Yes on G! Make the sensible choice!
-- Paid for by the Alliance for an AWOL-Free Nation
At the beginning of every section there are also references to actual stories from today that if taken just a little farther to a slight extreme could lead down this road. It is amazing to think that some of the stuff in the book is not that far from reality. There are also some radio broadcasts being put out by Hayden trying to ramp up support. He is slowly exposing Proactive Citizenry and the Juvenile Authority for the monsters they really are a little at a time in hopes that the people will have had enough and join in a single voice.
-- “Y’know, if I wanted to make sure that the Juvenile Authority had greater and greater support, I would trick angry teenagers into blowing themselves up, and then blame the angry teenagers! No mess, no bother. Well, quite a lot of mess, but you get my point.
All the little touches of the radio broadcasts, advertisements and articles from today and part of what makes this story so special and gives it just that little extra something.
The story ties comes together so well and I really sat on the edge of my seat near the end so worried for all of the characters I love. There are some happy endings, there are some endings and there are some new beginnings.
Our heroes Connor, Risa, Lev and Cam will all go to some extraordinary lengths so that no other troubled teen, ward of the state or tithe will ever suffer the fate of running from the law and the threat of being unwound. One of them will risk everything they are just for that hope. I’m sad to leave all these characters behind but I know that this is one of those storied that will stick with me and I will read time and time again throughout my life and get something different from it each time.
I don’t read much YA anymore but books like these are why I still bother to read this genre at all. It is the journey that you want to see in a YA novel, but rarely get. The series is complete so no time like the present to jump in.
I sobbed because Neal Shusterman crafted perhaps one of the most beautiful novels I have ever read. Only a very limited number of books (the third installment of the Bartimaeus Trilogy is the only thing that comes to mind) have affected me as powerfully and as emotionally as this book has. I'm still emotionally drained yet simultaneously wired that I don't think I can sleep for several more hours. And it's four in the morning.
I'll try to steer clear of general spoilers, but there were so many moments that I had to pause and reread because they were just so gorgeous or just plain kick-ass awesome. The talented Mr. Shusterman created so many heart-shattering moments, many of them from the perspective from complete strangers, and then seamlessly pieced our hearts back together as if he had Cam's special scar gel. Even though the story is still fresh in my mind now, I'm absolutely positive that certain lines will remain with me for a much longer time. A single line from page 300 (see, you guys have to read the book first) nearly made me topple off my dorm bed because the simple throwback to the first novel was so perfectly bittersweet and beautiful. And many, many scenes were just so fantastic and so surprising that any "assumed" ending was immediately blown out of the water by Mr. Shusterman. The fact that he is capable of creating unfathomable suspense and twists in over a grand total of 1,000+ pages is astounding, which further bolsters my obsession with his work.
You will fall in love with characters you hated. You will scream at the deadly and dark turns. You will bawl your eyes out in Chapter 55 and 59/60, just as you had during Hayden's Chapter during UnWholly. You will cheer and cry and laugh and basically lose any form of coherency at the very last few chapters. You will feel as if everything has been pulled out of you, catching a glimpse of the horror it is to be unwound.
But then you will feel whole again. I guarantee it.
I know it seems weird to describe a novel about unwinding body parts and black markets and revolutions as beautiful, but I honestly cannot think of a single word that could describe Mr. Shusterman's masterpiece better. Gorgeous and powerful are suitable synonyms too, though.
Crazy, right? So basically, your kid gets on your nerves, you sign an order and they are taken away and unwound to people who need organs.
The books were easy reads. The hero of the books is a kid named Connor who escapes his unwinding. It follows his journey - and all the people he meets along the way - and.....well - I don't want to give it away, now do I?
If you like Dystopian Future, this would be a good choice
Top reviews from other countries
Great idea. Difficult to accept that we could stoop so low but then again, there are multiple examples in real life (which are actually quoted in the book) that make this book more possible.
Great story. Great 4 book series.
5 sterne