Sunday, March 17, 2013

Book Review: Undone (Novella)

Before the accident. Before their universes collided. Before they fell in love.

Riveting and romantic, Undone: An Unraveling Novella contains three short stories set in the world of Unraveling, the first book in the gripping sci-fi duology by Elizabeth Norris.

Before Ben Michaels saved Janelle Tenner’s life, Janelle saved Ben when he stumbled through an interuniverse portal into a completely new world. That day, he fell in love with the girl of his dreams. And he never forgot her.
Through three stories told from Ben’s point of view, learn how Ben and his friends discovered their ability to travel between worlds, how Ben first met Janelle, and how he pined for her for years before he actually got the chance to meet her, save her life, and capture her heart. And find out what happens to Ben between the cliff-hanger conclusion to Unraveling and the beginning of its heart-stopping sequel, Unbreakable. Quoted from Goodreads

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This is what a novella should be.

Really it's about perfect.  First it's three short stories from Ben's POV: "Before She Knew Me," "When I Saved Her," and "After I Left Her."  The first two kind of what you'd expect. It just fleshes out a few points a bit more fully, shows how Ben's been crushing on Janelle, etc.  They were sweet and I liked them, but they weren't really groundbreaking.  I'll warn you now, they weren't as romantic as I thought they'd be. I sort of thought we might get a scene from Unraveling from his POV, their first kiss, or maybe where he saved her life and knew she saw him and tracked him down.  It's nothing like that.  Sure, he crushes on her, but they take place before he appears on her radar.

Then we have the third and longest story.  This story I loved. It left on such a ridiculous cliff hanger, I can't wait for book two to come out.  Plus, it gave me an idea of where book two is headed.  Basically we get what happens to Ben after he steps through the portal.  I really loved seeing his world, what was the same and what was different from Janelle's.  Plus, we get to see what happened because he and his two friends disappeared to another world. Honestly, it's sort of what I expected, but at the same time, not at all. I imagined certain consequences, but they went a lot further than I ever dreamed.

I also loved how we get to know Ben better.  We get to meet his family, see his world, and get a little more insight into his crush on Janelle.  Plus, you better understand why his friends hate her so much, or at least hate his relationship with her.  

All in all, if you like Unraveling, this is a must read.  Plus, it's actually decently long.  Too many novellas are really short, like 20 pages, and it's less than satisfying, even if you are only paying a dollar or two.  I'm giving it a short 4 stars.  Now I'm just counting down the days (literally. I mean, you've see my widget, right?) until Unbreakable comes out.

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