Shatter Me Book Review
Book Name: Shatter Me
Author Name: Tahereh Mafi
Genre: Dystopian/Romance
Release Date: November 15, 2011
Page Number: 338 pages
Review:
Juliette has been in the same room for 264 days with no contact from anyone. The room is in an asylum and is believed to be the only place to keep her from harming anyone. You see if Juliette touches someone even slightly, the person will feel horrible pain. If touched long enough, the person will die. She is a monster.
Then on day 265 someone arrives in her room, a young man named Adam. Juliette is terrified at first. What if he is there to kill her? What if he touches her? Is he even real? Has she gone insane? Adam's arrival is only just the beginning, as Juliette is taken by a group of soldiers working for an organization called the Reestablishment and given a choice by the soldier's leader Warner: Work for him as a weapon or die! With little choice, Juliette goes with Warner and discovers how much the world has changed since her absence. The world is a wasteland, and the population lives in fear of the Reestablishment. Juliette’s fate is to be a weapon.
But hope might not be lost, for Adam is one of Warner’s soldiers. He secretly hates the Reestablishment and has a plan to escape with Juliette. She must play along with Warner’s whims until there is an opportunity to put the plan into action. Will Juliette and Adam escape? Where will they go?
This book is set in the first person of the main character Juliette. We get to read her thoughts, and feelings, and see the world through her eyes. There are lots of books in first person as well but Shatter Me has more parts dedicated to the main character’s inner self. We read how lost and lonely she feels, wanting nothing more than someone to touch her, to be around her without fear. She has negative thoughts that are then scratched out as the story goes. She wonders if she’s gone insane. She also will go on long paragraphs about the feelings and thoughts going through her head, only to be brought into the present and realize she’s missed what someone has said.
I am a fan of the writing style for the most part but will admit it would get a bit tiring at times. I also feel that Juliette and Adam’s romance is bad. It is an instant love-type romance but does make sense as Adam for some reason is the only one that can touch Juliette without being hurt by her powers. So naturally Juliette would want him all the time, he’s giving her something she has never had. But I still do not like the pairing too much.
Warner is a good first-book villain, with his actions and obsession with Juliette being horrible and a bit creepy at the same time. I did become curious every time he made an appearance, wondering what he would do next. I wonder what the author will do with him in the next book.
Adam on the other hand was just bland in my opinion. But him being the straight guy to Kenji’s antics was fun. Regarding Kenji, I hope he gets more page time in the rest of the series as his action had me laughing. A great way to set off the bleakness of the rest of the book. Though the romance is much to be desired, I feel this is a good first book in a promising series. I look forward to reading the rest this year. I give Shatter Me a four out of five rating.
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