Unraveling Eleven: review

Hi, guys! I had the opportunity to read an e-galley of the sequel to Escaping Eleven and let me tell you, it will blow you away! Don't read anymore if you haven't read book one. If you have, read on!

Jerri Chisholm is a YA author, a distance runner, and a chocolate addict. Her childhood was spent largely in solitude with only her imagination and a pet parrot for company. Following that she completed a master's degree in public policy and then became a lawyer, but ultimately decided to leave the profession to focus exclusively on the more imaginative and avian-friendly pursuit of writing. She lives with her husband and three children, but, alas, no parrot.

Published on: November 16th, 2021

Publisher: Entangled

Page Count: 384 pages

Genre: YA dystopian

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In Compound Eleven, freedom from tyranny is impossible.

My name is Eve Hamilton, and I’ve managed the impossible.

I am free.

Until just like that, it is wrenched from my grasp. And this time, the corridors of the dark underground city are even more dangerous than ever before. But my brief taste of freedom has left me with something useful, something powerful, something that terrifies the leaders of Compound Eleven.

And now I have a monster inside.

One I’ll need to learn to control, and fast, or I’ll lose everything and everyone I hold dear. Starting with Wren Edelman. The one boy who has taught me that anything is possible if we stick together.

But will that matter if I become the very thing he fears the most?

Thanks to Entangled and Edelweiss for the e-galley!

Unraveling Eleven is very much a story about Eve growing more desperate o escape the hell-hole that is her compound once and for all. She's unraveling, dear readers.

After escaping the compound, Wren and Even find out how unprepared they are to live aboveground. Or how to live in general. They can find food or water and they're encountering simple things like bees and barely surviving. You can't blame them. They have no stinking idea what it's like living off the land and they don't know what insects and animals are save for rats and maggots, so our brave heroes venture back into Eleven and scheme up a way to infiltrate the food storages and maybe bring down the hierarchy that seemingly wants to keep the poor and desperate, well, poor and desperate. While Eve finagles her way into becoming a guard, Wren takes his Preme position in the upper floor.

Eve navigates her emotions in her most teenage way possible. She's angry and has every right to be, and she doesn't quite know where she stands in the world. Or with Wren, for that matter. Their on-again, the off-again deal is just what you'd expect from two people from opposite sides of the track, but the journey they take only strengthens their bond. I love how non-lovey-dovey these two are. There's no cheese to be seen.

My gripe started at the beginning when these two went back into Compound Eleven. When book one ended, I thought we were getting some City of Ember-type where the heroes emerge and find a society on the outside. BUT I'm not the author so boo-hoo to me. I can't be too mad because Jerri Chisholm is a fantastic writer and my saltiness faded fast. This is definitely a bridge book setting up our hero's topside adventures in book three. I'm not mad about it. We needed Eve and Wren to work out the kinks in their arc's and I feel this book did them justice.

I first saw Escaping Eleven is Barnes and Noble. I didn't buy it because I was only there to browse and expand my tbr list. But it is one of the few books I have gone back and bought without waiting more than a week or so to see if my interest was still piqued. I'm still on board with Eve and Wren, and I hope my babies find their happiness.