27 November 2011

Shatter Me - Tahereh Mafi

Release Date: 15th November
Number of Pages: 342
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. In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

One thing you must know before you start this book is that this book is more similar to X-Men than to The Hunger Games. At first I thought had more dystopia in it, but I was disappointed, because the The Reestablishment and the world's situation were more like a background story. Maybe we will find out more about the enemy in the next book. Shatter Me is actually a beatiful written love story. With superpowers! The first chapter really gives you the feeling of loneliness that the main character, Juliette, must feel all the time. I enjoyed Mafi's unique writing very much and I found funny how everytime Juliette thought something she didn't want to say outloud it would be strikethrough. One day in prison a mysterious but gorgeous guy called Adam appears in her cell. Adam is full of surprises. My feelings towards him changed frequently through the book and I still don't know if he is trustworthy, but I guess we will find out in future books (Shatter Me will be a trilogy). The secondary characters also caught my attention. The bad guy, Warner, was weird, but likable. Adam's friend from the military was also really enjoyable to read. I loved him from the time he appeared. Towards the end of the book his part in the story gets bigger and that made me happy. Hopefully we will learn more about him in the sequel, who knows, maybe he will even compete for Juliette's heart against Adam. I think the whole book was like a introduction for the ending. Because in the end I finally understood the connection between X-Men and Shatter Me. The sentences in the cover describe really well the transformation Juliette goes though. Seeing her ability as something lethal in the beginning to seeing it as a power in the end.
I was a bit skeptical before I started reading it, but the book grew in me. The beginning started slowly but in the end you just can't wait for the sequel. I would recommend reading it :)

Here is the book trailer for Shatter Me:






3 comments:

  1. I'm dying to read this book. I keep hearing awesome things about it. Thank you for the review!

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  2. I love your review of "Shatter Me", especially since it mirrors all my feelings about this wonderful novel. When I began reading it, I knew I really enjoyed the unique premise, but then the beginning was extremely slow...and I had already almost written it off as a dud, but then things began happening, and I really enjoyed it. I thought the book was a bit more sexual than is to my liking, given that it is a YA novel. But I began to really like the characters, especially Kenji. I'm still not sure about who I should trust, Warren who is driven by pure ambition, or Adam who seems to have a secret around every corner.

    But thank you so much for this insightful review - I really enjoyed it! :D

    Name: Hira Hasnain
    Email: Enamoredsoul(at)gmail(dot)com

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  3. I keep hearing such differing opinions on this book... and I had NO idea that it was a superhero-ish book!

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