Series: Shatter Me, Book One
Publisher: HarperCollins
Format: Paperback
Published: 2nd October 2012
Number of Pages: 338
Book: Bought
Genre: Dystopia, Paranormal, Post-Apocalyptic, Thriller Suspense, Science-Fiction, Romance, Action-Adventure, YA
Recommended
Age: 13+
Contains: Violence, Death, Swearing
No Alcohol, Drug References
Author's
Blog: Tahereh Mafi
I HAVE A GIFT.
I’M MORE THAN HUMAN.
MY TOUCH IS POWER.
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.
In
this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a riveting dystopian world, a
thrilling superhero story, and an unforgettable heroine.
Review:
'"You
can't touch me..."
'Things
happen when people touch me. Strange things. Bad things.
'Dead
things.'
Juliette has been locked up for
two-hundred-and-sixty-four days. 264 days of isolation – of nothingness.
Of loneliness. 264 days without contact with another human being.
All because of this curse gift.
This power she has no control over. This power that made her
parents treat her like a monster and got
her locked up here. Wherever here
is. All alone.
And then Adam is put in her cell.
Adam, the boy she knows but who does not know her. Adam, the boy
who betrays her. Adam, the only boy who's made her feel hope.
But there is no hope in this world.
Not now Warner, the soldier, has decided to use her and her power to win
a war. Not now he's gotten it into his head that she could be able to put
together the pieces and win it for them.
But after she gets this taste of freedom,
after being locked away and falling for seventeen years, she cannot get enough.
For the first time, Juliette wants to fight. She wants to be free – truly free. She wants to
have the choice to choose and she wants the chance to be with the only boy
she's ever loved.
She wants to fight back against this wreck
of a world and she wants to win.
She doesn't want to be in a thousand pieces
anymore, clinging to the edge of the world and waiting for someone to help her
back up...
I bought Shatter Me and got super excited about it. But before I could
read it, I got caught up in Obsidian...
Sigh... But the moment I'd finished that, I picked this one back
up. I started reading and for the second time in as many books, I was
completely entranced. My God, this writing style. I might just be
in love. And Juliette... man, break my heart! I think I'm on a bit
of a roll when it comes to finding new faves this week. I mean, boy, two
new books I absolutely heart from one Amazon shopping basket? Score!
And there's still like four more books for me to sink my teeth into!
I can't wait! But onto the review...
Juliette – oh God! She'd had such a
horrid life and she was just so, so broken. And yet at the same time, she
was as strong as anyone could be. And she was just the best person ever.
She was so caring and loving and desperate to be accepted, loved.
She just broke broke broke my heart into pieces over and over and over
again because I just loved her so much.
And Adam was the hottest, kindest,
loveliest and most amazing thing ever. I fell in love with him like
instantly. He's so... perfect. I just fell instantly and hard hard
hard because, my God, could he be any
more amazing? He was just… there are no words. I loved him – I
loved loved loved him!
As for Warner, he was, to quote Juliette,
totally "possessive".
He was also cruel, manipulative, and cold. And yet, there was this
other side of him – this really vulnerable, damaged side that we didn't get to
see all that much. That extra chapter – a snippet from Destroy Me, written from Warner's POV –
let me see more into the mind of Warner and... I think that I might be able to
like him if he was all that side. He was vulnerable and sweet and real...
I want to see more of this Warner – don't know if I will, but I can't wait to
see more of him anyway.
If you hadn’t gathered, Mafi’s characters
were just incredible. So, so incredible. They were all just so, so
real to me – insanely real and jump-off-the-page. I WAS Juliette, I LOVED
Adam, I HATED/pitied/FELT Warner. And all the other characters – don't get me
started on little James and Kenji. Or on Juliette's parents and everyone
else in her life – I never met them but I LOATHED
them all. I mean, HOW HOW HOW
could they DO that to a little girl
who was even more afraid – much much much
more afraid – and better than they
were?! God, I hate ignorant
people – especially the cruel and
ignorant...
You see? You see how strongly I felt
about them all?! That's what Mafi made me do – love or hate with a crazy
strong passion. Ohh, I love it.
This writing style. I mentioned it
earlier, but I simply have to gush about it more. It is, quite frankly,
captivating. It's so raw and beautiful and lyrical and shocking and
incredible. I absolutely loved loved loved it! It just sucked me
right in and let me really, truly be Juliette.
I felt every single thing she did, saw everything, was everything.
It was stunning – one of a kind writing. Breath-taking.
Amazing. Stunning. Ironically, I don't even have the words. And you know a book's good when you're hooked
from page one. And Shatter Me
just got more exciting and addictive and action-packed and suspenseful the
further through I got. The plot like – it was just incredible. I
loved learning about the world, the war, the romance, the mystery – both of
what Warner wanted and what Juliette and Adam's past was like. I just
loved all of it and I couldn't stop reading til I'd gobbled the book up in one
go.
The world – man, I love it. It was
just, well, stunning! It's very much a devastated place – plants and
animals are dying, birds no longer fly, everywhere is poisoned. An
environmentalist's nightmare, so full of famine and violence and loneliness.
A dystopian nightmare.
But there is this whole other side of the world. There's hope and
life and human emotions and girls with kickass
Some books... Some books you just
know are magic. From the very first page, the book is unique and amazing
and stunningly refreshingly irresistibly different and new and just, well,
amazing! I can barely find the words to tell you how much I absolutely
adored Shatter Me. How
absolutely stark raving DESPERATE I
am for the next in the series. I know I'm insanely behind in my discovery
of Shatter Me, but it is now one of
my favourite books of 2013. It is just so amazing it's beyond description.
So please. If you haven't read this yet, please please please do. I
want everyone to experience the pure, for lack of a better word, ecstasy that
is Shatter Me. So pick it up.
Please. For me? You so won't regret it.
Star Rating:
5 Out of 5
5 Out of 5
Read this
book if you liked:
Dust Lands by Moira Young
Matched by Ally Condie
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
Challenges
It's Taking Part In:
Happy Reading
Megan
