Fantasy Books
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #1)
Book Description:
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.
Rating: 4.5
Favorite Quotes:
Truth is a jealous, vicious mistress that never ever sleeps, is what I don’t tell him. I’ll never be okay.
my cheek is pressed against his chest and he smells like strength and courage and the wold is drowning in rain.
I remember you every day forever in every single broken moment of my life.
His hands are shaking so slightly, his eyes brimming with feeling, his heart thrumming with pain and affection and I want to live here, in his arms, in his eyes for the rest of my life.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book when I first picked it up. It was a recommendation from a friend and I thought, what the hell, I’d give it a shot. It was surprisingly good! The writing style took a little getting used to as most of what Juliette thinks is in run on sentences. This makes a little more sense once you figure out that she has been locked up all alone for almost a year and hasn’t spoken to another living soul for that whole time. I think I’d be a little nutty too. Mafi is a very emotionally descriptive writer and because of this it doesn’t take very long for you to be attached to certain characters and to really despise others. I only used four of my favorite lines from this book above but I think I highlighted around 10 or so which is really high for me in any book. I think she’s an amazing writer and once I got used to her writing style, I really liked it.
I’m not sure what year the book is set in but basically we’ve destroyed the planet and there’s not enough food or clean water and The Reestablishment has taken over power of everyone. They’ve decided that in order to correct the problems that society has caused they need to make several changes. Only the strong get to survive, they are getting rid of all the books they can find and trying to create a whole new language. All the unhealthy, weak and old are gotten rid of. It doesn’t specifically say how this happens maybe they are all killed or maybe they are just segregated from the rest of society? Juliette has some sort of weird power where it is dangerous for her to touch anyone. She had an incident in a grocery store and after that she was locked up in what she assumes is an insane asylum. One day she gets a cell mate, Adam Kent, and then things start to change a little for her. Can you imagine not speaking to anyone for a year? Just as she’s starting to get used to the idea of him she’s taken out of her cell and introduced to the sector leader for The Reestablishment, Warner, who informs her that he’d like her to join their cause. He thinks that her “talent” could be really useful to them. Which means, of course, that he would like her to help him kill the rebels. Warner takes her to their base and sets her up with a nice room and nice clothes and good meals and thinks that this is the way to get her to agree to join him. He’s got more on his mind than just how she can help their cause too. Luckily for her, people can’t touch her (at least not most people) so she seems to be relatively safe for the time being.
Adam has been assigned to guard her and as time goes on we learn a little about their past and get to see their relationship develop into something very sweet and intense. Juliette’s got to escape from The Reestablishment, especially from Warner as he’s got some kind of weird obsession with her, and Adam is going to help her to this. When they finally get free, it’s a mad dash to find their allies and get somewhere safe. Then everything gets turned on its head when they do finally find safety. Will this new group be the good guys? Will they want to use Juliette for her “talents” as well? With her suddenly being in a situation of acceptance, how will she handle it and will her and Adam be able to stay together?
*SPOILERS BELOW*
I love the relationship between Adam and Juliette. I wasn’t sure how this would work out in the beginning, since she can’t be touched and was relieved that Adam was the exception to this rule. The fact that they knew each other when they were younger went a long way with me to support the intensity of their feelings for each other. You can’t just meet someone and all of a sudden be in love with them. I liked that they each had formed feelings for the other growing up even though they had never had a conversation before now. Adam is so sweet to her and the fact that he remembered all the small things she did growing up for the same people who treated her so terribly was a nice touch. I’m not sure how this will all play out as Juliette has no experience with relationships of any kind. How will she handle something so intense?
I was disappointed to learn that Adam wasn’t the only one immune to Juliette’s dangerous touch when Warner touched her right before they escaped. I’m not sure exactly how I feel about Warner. I think that he is a product of his upbringing. Even though he can be ruthlessly cold and calculated, I’m not sure that he is a bad person. I think this is all he knows. He seems to have real feelings for Juliette although they way he got to know her was a little stalkerish with reading all about her history and then watching her in the asylum for the past year. He’s obsessive though and he’s not going to just let her go without some sort of fight.
I actually really loved the ending to this book! I totally didn’t see it coming. A whole group of people who all have different abilities. How wonderful for Juliette to finally feel like she belongs somewhere. Adam made a little headway with her self-esteem over the course of the few months they got to spend together but think about how horrible her life would have been. Can you imagine not being touched by anyone for almost your entire life? It’s pretty incredible that she’s still such a good person. The kind of power that she has would have been so dangerous in the wrong hands. The way her parents made her feel like a monster especially pissed me off. As a parent you love your children NO MATTER WHAT and how could you let her feel so alone her whole life? They could have ruined her forever. I’m excited to see what book two brings. I’d like to know what other kind of gifts the people of Omega Point have and how they deal with Warner and the threat he represents.
Next up is Destroy Me, a novella before Unravel Me.
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