Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Series: Shatter Me #1
Published by: HarperTeen on November 15, 2011
Genre: Dystopian, Post Apocalyptic, Romance, Science Fiction
Pages: 338
Source: Purchased
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Rating: ★★★★★

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.

This book. How the bloody freakin’ hell do I review this book? This amazing, gorgeous, breathtaking, nail-biting book.

Shatter Me is written with such unique voice. It’s from Juliette’s point of view and immediately we can tell that she’s empty. She’s not psycho, she’s not brain dead, but she’s empty. She’s lost her passion, her spark, and her sense of true emotion. But then her thoughts are shown in such an awesome way in the book! Tahereh Mafi uses crossed out phrases to distinguish between what Juliette says and what she actually means. We can see how she’s holding herself back and trying to stop herself from thinking certain thoughts. And man, the prose. The way this book is written is almost poetic. It’s not written in verse, but sometimes it feels like it is.

Okay, so after I dug into Shatter Me, I was really enjoying it but I wasn’t fangirly. I honestly don’t know how to explain it. I was loving it, I was getting through it quickly, but maybe something was missing. The book wasn’t exactly ‘slow,’ but I think after a while I was really just itching to find out more about Juliette and we weren’t getting the info. I mean we learn bits and pieces about the deteriorating world and society, and there’s an incredibly breathtaking and delicious romance that had my heart racing and brought back memories of my boyfriend and I. But really I wanted to know more about Juliette. Why is she the way she is? Why is it that she can kill people with her touch? How the heck did this happen! For most of the book we’re kind of deprived of this information. But then holy crap.

It’s suddenly like someone flipped on the X-Men switch and it’s freakin’ amazing. I let out an outrageous fangirl scream that probably disturbed my poor neighbours. I slammed the book shut and dug into some ice cream. (Coffe Heath Bar Crunch, by the way.) Okay maybe that makes no sense. Maybe I’m just weird. Why did I slam the book shut? I was just so enveloped in delicious awesomeness that I felt like I had to take a moment to bask in the beauty. Seriously. All of a sudden, all the answers are pouring out. Everything is getting intense. I’m getting the answers I was so long waiting for — and they’re amazing.

Do you ever feel that way? Like a book is just so good that you have to take a minute to stop and think about it? Imagine the possibilities? Maybe prolong the inevitable ending just a moment longer? That’s how I felt.

I feel like I’m not being very specific in this review, but that’s only because it was that good. It’s so good that I don’t know how to dig into details. I just don’t know where to begin. Especially because, in my opinion, the best parts were at the end. So naturally I’m trying to avoid spoilers! But one thing I will say is that Adam is the best character ever! He reminds me of my own boyfriend: selfless, determined, funny, sweet, absolutely and incredibly amazing and perfect and way beyond words. And the romance is so.. so.. TAUNTING! You’ll be squealing and begging for more and more and more, and wishing you had someone you could share that with. Well, I was! 😀

I also adored Juliette’s character. She’s constantly moving between a little nervous and insecure (due to being prodded, tested, and locked up in isolation), and powerful – and loving it. I adored the moments when she suddenly has a moment of power. It’s not an evil kind of power, it’s just a really strong “take action” kind of power. I can see her starting to become an awesome kick-ass female character!

I was terrified of this book ending. I wanted to hang onto every last word and just soak up every piece of information and story that Tahereh had to offer. I’m now desperately and impatiently awaiting the sequel, Unravel Me.

The Verdict