Title Unwind Author Neal Shusterman Cover Art --- Publisher Simon & Schuster - 2007 First Printing Simon & Schuster - 2007
	Title Unstring Author Neal Shusterman Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Unwholly Author Neal Shusterman Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Unsouled Author Neal Shusterman Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Undivided Author Neal Shusterman Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title Unbound Author Neal Shusterman Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Category Young Adult Warnings None Main Characters Connor, Risa, Lev Main Elements Dystopia Website storyman.com

Unwind

Alright, the premise is ridiculous and unbelievable. The Pro Lifers and the Pro Choicers went to war (this part is ok) and the solution was...that a child up to the age of 13 is untouchable, they must be allowed to live. However between the ages of 13 and 18 you can have them unwound, their body parts solving the organ donation problem (oh right...the target age group of this series, coincidence? Heheh). I'm like WHAT??? Who would ever agree that if someone isn't even born yet is already a person but a 13 year old can be discarded as recycling? This makes no sense whatesoever and gee, people are surprised when kids have issues, I mean with THAT looming in my future children will either become desperate to show off how great they are, or will give themselves up as a lost cause, that is not actually motivation to being a good person but a guaranteed source of neuroses.

Ok, now step back and say this totally absurd thing actually happened (real life is often crazier than fiction), it does open really interesting ethical and emotional questions. Like being a child before the age of 13, being one between the ages of 13 and 18, and of course the relief of surviving, but what if you younger siblings are now up on the chopping block? And if children are untouchable, what do you do with unwanted babies? What are the impacts on the parents that have their children unwound and then regret it? What if in religious fervour you "tithe" your children, for every batch of children you keep you sacrifice one back to God in thanks?

And of course what happens to the unwound, as their body parts are put into different people does their soul split up, spread out, become untethered, and are they even dead? After all, all their parts are still working, just broken up. And this is not science fiction, what happens to the people that receives the parts? People have claimed personality changes, or physical ticks that belonged to the donor that they then pick up.

Of course there will be those that will support the system, why bother with old school medicine, if something breaks just replace it, and the better quality the part the more expensive, need a lung transplant but don't have money, here, this lung is asthmatic. There is profit selling off legally acquired body parts after all, and in theory, a bunch of people do benefit from the new, young parts. Noticeably you only unwind teenagers that annoyed their parents, not adult crimminals.

On the flip side there will be those that are appalled by the system and will try to save those slated to die.

Thus, on the whole I found the book both absurd but also thought provoking. I wouldn't actually go out and buy the rest of the books, but since the library has them, when Covid lets up, I'll probably go and find out how they overthrow this system.