Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I have mixed emotions regarding this book. I can definitely understand why so many people's hearts have been won over by this book, yet I can also question certain things within it. It lays out before us an amazingly horrible sounding dystopian world, but then we don't really get to explore it. We are introduced to a main character who we sometimes feel we can relate to, but at other times confuses us completely. We get to experience a sizzling romance, yet when we take a step back we notice superficialities. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a great book, but in some aspects it just failed to convince me to keep reading. Also, I was metaphorically drowning in metaphors and when a writing style becomes overwhelming, it then starts to be off-putting.

***

Juliette's world at the start of the novel intrigued me. I quickly became interested in her back-story and how she ended up in such a terrible place. I found myself rooting for her from early on because of her continued belief in good in the world and wanting to be good. I admired her perseverance and liked her as a character. As the book progressed I did start to question, as Warner did, her continual goodness and would have enjoyed it if she let herself be bad, just once, because I feel it would have made her more realistic; we all have those moments.

At first I imagined Juliette would use her time with The Reestablishment to try and figure out a way to bring them down, as she seemed to want rid of them so much, but instead everything became about her romance with Adam and how they were so lucky to have found each other. When it started to draw away from the storyline, I did get mildly annoyed as I feel the book would have been better without constantly being reminded of their yearning for each other.

Their escape from The Reestablishment led to some very high drama and action moments. It was great to see Juliette come and save the day rather than seeing the male lead save the female lead as it is in so many other novels. I hope we see more of that side of Juliette in future.

The power that Juliette has is perhaps the most intriguing thing about this novel. It is certainly different from any powers that I have read about before and the science-loving side of me can't help but wonder how such powers came about (I assume genetic mutation due to radiation - contamination). I can see why people covet it, why Juliette hates it and why Warner is so interested in it. I really hope that it is explored further in the coming novels.

Overall, I'm quite impressed with 'Shatter Me' and am excited to get my hands on the next book in the series.

(Goodreads parallel)