Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

RATING: 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑

Published: November 15, 2011

Publisher: Harper Collins

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 329

 

 

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“Life is a bleak place … Sometimes you have to learn how to shoot first.”

SYNOPSIS:

I have a curse
I have a gift

I am a monster
I’m more than human

My touch is lethal
My touch is power

I am their weapon
I will fight back

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

 

 

THOUGHTS:

Shatter Me is one of the most hype and popular books back in the golden age of dystopian. It is one of those books that I picked up after finishing The Hunger Games. And back then this book has a mixed review but still I decided to pick this up because I am trash with any YA Dystopian at that time. I’ve finished the original trilogy way back 2014 and all I know is I love them specially Warner. And now that the final book to the extended series, Imagine Me, is coming out this March 31, 2020 I decided to reread the whole original trilogy plus the additional books.

I have to admit that I was a little hesitant as I was about to dive back in the series because I rated this book a 2 star back then. And I do not rate book that low back in 2014 because I considered my enjoyment instead of the actual structure and development of the plot or the whole book itself. But after my reread, I remember why I rated the book that low and what I don’t like about it. So let’s get into it one by one.

I believe back then or even up to this day, there are some who does not like the writing style of this book. But I guess I am not one of them. I am one of those who enjoyed the author’s writing style. And I think that is the only consistent thing that I like about it up until this day.

To be  honest, if I read this book for the first time this year I am positive that I will not continue on with the series no matter how many times I have heard that the series gets better. It’s because of the characters. I did not find any of them likable in this reread, even Warner. And I am a huge Warner fan. I realized now that Warner is quite a problematic character. He is like a combination of a control freak and an obsessive boyfriend. And although I did not hate Juliette’s character, I did not like it either specially when she is with Adam. To be honest, I am not annoyed with how Juliette acted in the story. I understand where she is coming from. But Adam is probably my most hated character of all time not a single scene did I find him redeemable. He is on the top of my list for my most hated characters. And so the scenes between Adam and Juliette are not my favorite scene. They are cringy at best. And their scenes could easily turn this book from YA Dystopian to Smut real quick. I think most of the chapters with the both of them involves kissing, touching each other’s body or mentally thinking how Juliette badly wants to be kissed or touch. So yep, I kinda hated this book because of this reason alone.

Moreover, this is a character-driven story so we don’t see a lot of world building or how the politics work in this world. We just have a faint idea as to what is going on based on what Juliette knows, which is not a lot. And often times when I read a book, even though it is lacking in world building, if I enjoyed the character and the story as a whole I would have rated it higher. But considering the lack of world building and knowledge about their world, I ended up borderline hating this book because of Adam and Juliette’s scene.

But don’t get me wrong. Even though I did not find Juliette’s likable whenever she is with Adam, I like her without Adam. Which is why I still rated it 2 out of 5 moons. Her character development, no matter how slow and little by little she is making it, is enjoyable to read. As you see herself finds confidence in herself, you became interested with how much she will grow and what she will be capable of. And I think that is the reason why I still continue on with this series back then. Moreover, the end of this book (like a 3 to 5 chapters before the book ends), we finally get to discover something more interesting that Juliette and Adam’s relationship and Warner’s problematic character.

All in all, I really enjoyed my first reread of this book. And I know I will be a hypocrite for saying this but I recommend that you guys read it because it will be worth it once you read the second and third book. Just bare with this book.🤣

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So that’s all for my review for this book. Hopefully I could put out a review for all the books and the novellas in this series.

I hope you guys are all safe and healthy.

Until next time!

Maria ❤