Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Shatter Me

Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: HarperCollins

Publishing Date: November 15th, 2011

Pages: 338
Genre: YA Dystopian

Series:  Shatter Me #1
Source:  Audio

 

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.

This book took me forever to get to. I really didn’t even have it on my TBR for the longest time. For some reason, I really didn’t feel the need to read it. Recently though I saw all these waiting on Wednesdays and reviews posted for the latest installment and decided to give it a try. I really enjoyed the book. I wasn’t really big on the narrator at first but she grew on me. I will continue this series on audible but it may be better as a read. I just have more time for audiobooks. I did like the book. I liked the story. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started to read. I am glad it took the turn it did for dystopian and rebellion and all that good stuff. It was really really good.

Juliette has a strange ability. She can kill with just a touch. She has been in confinement for a very long time because of this ability. She can’t touch, she is alone, she is desperate for love. Everything changes when a boy is put in her prison cell. With this boy, she finds companionship and maybe just way out. She knows what is going on in the world outside. She knows of the government, she knows of the disease, she knows of the lack of food. She knows the world is slowly dying. The boy tells her she can help. She now feels that maybe she can be used for good instead of being seen as a monster. She will do what she can to atone for her past mistakes. To show others she is not a monster. To prove to herself she is not a monster. To maybe possibly find love.

Okay, so this will be somewhat of a short review. I am sure many of you guys out there have read or heard about this series. I am doing my review to share my thoughts and get ready for the next installment. Which I will be reading hopefully soon.

I liked this read. I felt there were some issues with it. Some YA tropes yes. There is insta-love there is a set up for a love triangle… The main characters are drama for sure. There is the “ you are the one to save us” feel to it. The main character Juliette is a little annoying at times and so naïve… not that it is her fault. So there were some things I could complain about that other may find they can’t read this series because of these things. Well, I was able to look past these things because I liked the main character and I liked the story and the world.

Juliette was annoying at times like I said. I almost think for me the narrator made it a bit worse but I was able to get over it. I felt for Juliette. I really wanted her to find a place that not only she belonged and was accepted but a place where she could find some goodness, some forgiveness from herself, and somewhere she could be used for good. She has had a horrible life and it must really suck (there is no other word to use) not to be able to touch a single person without doing any damage. So I understood Juliette and I was rooting for her all the way through the book. Towards the end, she was becoming a strong person and becoming someone she should have always been. She found herself. SO that was good and yay.

The romance I didn’t as much like. I mean it was sweet and all but it was so insta-love and just didn’t make sense in my world. Maybe for the younger crowd, it makes sense but really just because you respect someone for some of their past actions… this does not mean love. You can’t love those you don’t know. You must spend time with a person, speak to a person, to know them. Not just know who they are and how they react to unwanted situations. So yes I did have an issue with the romance and from what I have read… not on purpose… spoilers for me… the romance has issues in this series. But I will continue to read the books because I like the story.

The story is what I liked. I mean I am all over the entire superpower thing. If I had known from the beginning this book was set in a dystopian world with people with superpowers. Yes, I would be all over that. I am all about superheroes and villains. I was surprised I enjoyed the action scenes as much as I did in this book. I normally don’t like or get along with action scenes. Kudos to the writer, they were done well in this book and I loved them. The action and the superpowers were my favorite part of the book and unfortunately, this all happens at the end and if it ended differently this would have only been an okay read for me. So I am rambling. I like the world I like the story very very much. So I will for sure continue with this series and try to read them all before I read too many more spoilers.

Really quite enjoyed this read.

She was born in a small city somewhere in Connecticut and currently resides in Santa Monica, California, where she drinks too much caffeine and finds the weather to be just a little too perfect for her taste.
When unable to find a book, she can be found reading candy wrappers, coupons, and old receipts.