Review: Shatter Me

Shatter Me

by Taherah Mafi

Published: 10. 2. 12

Pages: 340

I have a curse.  I have a gift. I'm a monster.  I'm more than human. My touch is lethal.  My touch is power. I am their weapon.  I will fight back.

No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has plans of her own. After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever.

***WARNING: mild spoilers for SM*** 

I don't even know where to be begin! After all the hype and the pressure to read this book, I have nothing to say that hasn't been said I really don't know where to begin. This book was good, but it was not perfect. It's not something that will stick with me for ages, but it is fresh and enjoyable, and I did indeed find myself enjoying it.



Let's start with something that becomes obvious from basically the first sentence. The writing style. I adored it. As a writer, seeing and comparing styles is big for me, when done right. And I found that Taherah had beautiful writing. Her style of strikethrough text was fascinating. It seemed to add layers to the story and Juliette that wouldn't be there on first glance. So I found Juliette to have a beautiful voice that was engaging.



But as a character? I'm not sure what to think of her. She's strong and has been dealt a heavy hand in life. And yet, sometimes I didn't know what to make of her. It seemed to me that she was a bundle of feelings that escape through the story. However as good and true as this all was, I wasn't as connected to HER as I was to her voice. Make sense? That's basically how I can describe it so we're gonna leave it there.



Of course like any good dystopian we gotta fall in love with the hot boy. I feel kinda lucky going into this prepared and knowing that Adam has center stage in Shatter Me and Warner is like the thing in Unravel Me. However I still know know what to make of either of them. Since Jessi you're probably dying to know, I liked Warner. I don't appreciate him as a love interest....yet. His character is fascinating. Of course he comes off as the villain. That's what we're supposed to see. But he's a strange villain in a way that makes me curious about the layers under the Warner we see. And dang, his very forward lovey-dovey interest in her. Where did that come from? So I can't say that I'm Team Warner yet.



As for the other side of the triangle, I can't say that I'm Team Adam either. Sorry Eileen. Honestly? I don't care for him that much.He's a boy toy. He comes in. Juliette is already in love with him, so is Adam. So once they get past the issues it's kiss-me-love-me-touch-me and I was just sitting here like okay then. Sure he's got a dark past don't they all but.....he's just Adam.*shrugs*



Kenji though, HA! Notorious sarcastic Kenji. The humorous bone in the book. Gotta love him. I heard all about him and as soon as he came on the scene, I totally jumped on his bandwagon. He's not a love interest, thank goodness, but he's classic, and added a spark of like to the story. Team Kenji all the way.



Now the plot? It's a Dystopian, what do you expect. As far as elements and twists go I felt like it followed the generic pattern of the genre for the most part. Although there are some things set-up that have me interested to see if anything comes of it in the next book.



So Shatter Me. The final analysis? I liked it. It was an enjoyable read. It had an engaging plot and a nice cast. But at the end of the day, some emotions lacked for me. However I'm very curious about this infamous Unravel Me, so I will be getting my hands on that one, at some point. Probably next year when Ignite Me is all the rage. Because reading the books a year behind everyone is totally the things these days you know?



Content: Moderate

[Language including the s word at some points. Kissing, touching, innuendo.]

There you go, all you peeps who were dying to know. What do you think? Agree? Disagree? XOXO,