Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (2011)

Juliette has been in solitary confinement for the better part of a year.  Before then, she was in different clinics and homes, all to keep her away from the public. Why? Her touch can hurt, her touch can kill. She’s almost glad that she’s been put away, unable to hurt anyone else after she accidently killed a young citizen. Then, for reasons unknown to her, Adam is put in her cell, a boy who doesn’t seem afraid of her but instead curious. It isn’t just a coincidence that Adam’s been put in her cell, of course. Adam is there to ease her into the Reestablishment, the political power that’s taken over not just the country, but the world. One of the leaders, Warren, has plans to use Juliette's power, forcing Juliette into the role of either giving into the darkness or finding the use of her power for good.  

I first read Shatter Me in 2012 at the height of its popularity. I was new to the Young Adult genre and was reading everything I could get my hands on. I was flying through books and wasn’t necessarily reading books critically. Basically, everything I liked in the slightest I gave 5 stars. Now, I’ve been going back and listening to those books in my free time, seeing if my opinions stand through. I especially wanted to go back and refresh my mind on this trilogy because Tahereh Mafi just announced three more books in the series.

Tahereh Mafi (my favorite name, ever) has a very interesting writing style. Her writing reads a lot like poetry with popular use of similes and metaphors. While I thought this was beautiful the first time I read it, it ended up just annoying me this time. There were several occasions where I needed direct detail to understand what was happening and was instead met with metaphors that, while clever, didn’t give me much. The writing also didn’t translate well into an audiobook. In the book, the words are stylized and put in a way to make the writing style make sense which simply couldn’t be put in voice form.

So, Juliette wasn’t my favorite female protagonist ever. Now, this is partly due to the audiobook’s reader, who I thought was extremely annoying. Her voice casted a feeling that Juliette was weak, and she was in a sense. Constantly, I was annoyed with how comfortable Juliette was with the position of the victim. She had an incredible power, but again, fell into the role of being powerless. The only time she ever stands up for herself is if a third party convinces her to. That third party is usually Adam, a character I liked but still had some problems with. First of all, he was a super sweet guy that had a solid heart. With that came his protectiveness of Juliette which was cool to see, but only to an extent. Again, he was the one who convinced Juliette to basically do anything for herself and he ended up being nothing but a plot crutch to move along Juliette’s story.

As predicted, Juliette and Adam fall in love in a very insta-love way. Adam was the first boy Adam Juliette had seen in years and automatically she was willing to risk everything for him. Same goes for Adam. Eventually, their backstory is revealed showing that they did know each other as kids but it felt all too convenient. Juliette never mentioned Adam when she was on her own and then all of a sudden she’s been in love with Adam since she was seven. Combined, there was a love triangle that involved Warner. I haven’t read a love triangle in so long that it actually didn’t bother me. I just felt bad for Warner, but not too bad because Warner was a terrible person. Still, it was easy to see that Warner simply was a guy that was put in a very bad situation and was craving some kind of positive attention wherever he could get it.

The thing that I love about this book, and the reason why I’m jumping to read the sequel, Unravel Me, is because the world is incredibly unique, which is hard to accomplish in a sea full of Young Adult dystopias. This world is addicting. It takes a spin on what is means for a world to be “dystopian”. There’s a original set of politics in the story as well as a society set up, plus the ending makes a major impression that definitely sets up the next book.

I didn’t love Shatter Me as much as 2012 Reanna but overall I was still pleased with the book. I plan to listen to other books that I’ve read in the past and hope that I have pleasant experiences with all of them.

3 Stars