Review: Shatter Me
13:17
By Tahereh Mafi
Source: Physical
Page count: 338
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance, Post Apocalyptic, Science Fiction,
Goodreads Synopsis:
I have a gift
I'm more than human
My touch is power
I will fight back
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.
My Review:
I'm going to start off this by saying: loads of people hate this book. How? I thought this was amazing - I was really excited throughout the whole book, and wanted to just keep on reading. The description was great - it was different to other books I've read as it had loads of similes and metaphors, most of them were really original (but some of them really didn't make sense!). The writing was really clever - it made me feel empathy for Juliette by page 23 - this is very unusual for me, as normally I never feel like that at such an early stage in a book!
One thing I really didn't like in this book was the romance. It was too intense - they had only known eachother for a few weeks, and they already had a really passionate relationship. In my eyes, it was too early for them as a couple. Too much insta-love! I also didn't like how the dystopia seemed to be based around the romance, not the other way round. For me, I would have liked more action and less romance.
Another thing I didn't like was the fact that they were on the run, yet wasting valuable time kissing! It was a really dangerous situation - they were running for their lives! I know that if I was Juliette I would be focusing on how to stay alive, not using time to spend gazing into my boyfriend's eyes.
I think the book needed more dystopian aspects, and for it to be less centered around the romance. There wasn't much world building because it was so character-based - I would have prefered to know more about The Reestablishment so we can hate them more. I would have also liked to know more about Juliette before she got locked up - this way we would care more about her, and I the way it is so character-centered would become more effective.
I also hated the British stereotype in the book! I am British, and Mafi made her only British character say things like "blimey" and "bloody confusing". No-one says things like that! British people don't speak much differently to Americans, and aren't at all posh. This annoyed me so much!
From my review, it sounds like I hated this book, but I really didn't. It had me captivated from the beginning and I was hooked until the very end. I need the next book now!
Rating:
I would recommend it if you enjoyed Divergent.
Please note: This month I am extremely busy: I am loaded with exams and homework *cries*, and I am doing NanoWrimo too, so I won't be able to post as much.
Hello! I'm D - a dog-loving feminist from the UK. You'll probably find me with my nose in a book or playing my clarinet
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