Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

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Title: Shatter Me
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Series: Shatter Me #1
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Romance, Fantasy, Post Apocalyptic
Format: Paperback, 338 pages
Source: bought from Powerbooks

Synopsis:

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.



I bought this book last year and it took me a while before I finally picked up this book. I usually buy or wait for the other books in the series to come out first before starting one because I really hate waiting for the book to be released.

The story was confusing and strange to me at the beginning, this was the third sci-fi series I laid my hands on and I am still trying to get used to this genre. It was strange and new to me, but it never stopped me from turning the pages and wanting to know the mystery that lies with Juliette’s character. Her touch was lethal, and because of a murder she never meant to happen she was locked up by The Reestablishment in an asylum. No one to kill touch, no one to scare meet and no one to talk to. The world is a different place now after The Reestablishment promised what they called a better world, that they would fix everything but that was not what happened. They used fear to control everything and now they have plans for Juliette too. Now it’s up to Juliette to decide whether she’ll get back to the people who hurt her or fight this new government whose trying to make her a monster weapon.

“Hope is a pocket of possibility.”

Juliette Ferrars thought she was insane, I even thought she was too. She has been alone for less than a year until she was given a new cellmate, Adam Kent. Adam whose eyes were familiar to Juliette, eyes similar to a boy she met at school. The only boy who never bullied or hurt her. But she’s scared and always guarded, she thinks Adam was sent to her to torture and kill her on her sleep, but she knows she can kill him before he can even touch her. I never thought I’d love Adam in this book because I was very doubtful with all of his actions in the beginning. He posed as a cellmate to Juliette when he was really something else.

“All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart.”

This book had a little bit of everything, from action, romance, supernatural, to suspense. Apart from the repetitive words words words and a lot of strikethroughs, which I think were appropriate to express Juliette’s exact words, I was unable to stop reading the book. I mean just try to put yourself inside Juliette’s shoes, locked up in an asylum and treated like an insane person, crazy right? Yeah I know, brought back memories from my psych ward training days.

I believe the first part of the book consist of the world building and I can’t help but imagine a world similar to Zombieland(yes, the movie). I felt it was a bit lacking and existing post apocalyptic worlds keep on flashing in my head while reading this one. It was never really explained what or why it happened or how.

“Life is a bleak place, sometimes you have to learn how to shoot first.”

In the story there were two men vying for Juliette’s love or maybe power. First was this hot hot hot Adam, who was someone Juliette met in the past and was looking for her after she was taken away from her parents. The other was Warner, the head of the sector keeping Juliette and wants her to help in conquering power and control over the world. Well, you could’ve guess who I was rooting for. BUT, there was something that irks my mind about Warner. I know he’s the bad guy and everything because of his evil intentions, but I can’t help but take a second look at him. I feel like there is more to him than all those cruel  and cold stares he usually gives to Juliette.

I actually had high expectations for this book, but some things just never met my expectations. I can’t deny that Adam did play a big role in my feelings for this book. My heart was breaking for Juliette’s uncertainty of herself, but my heart was beating too fast for Adam. Considering this was Tahereh Mafi’s first book, I can say she did a great job expressing the character’s emotions and features. I liked that she detailed every part especially the eyes. You know the saying “The eyes are the windows to our soul”? I felt that all through out the book and it helped relating with whatever the characters feel. Although there was a lack of details with the world building, which was what made me confused with this book, the story was still fairly good, for me.

Honestly, I am not sure what to feel about this book. I kind of like it but I don't mean hate it just because I was looking for more, and is it wrong if a big part of the reason why I liked this was because of Adam's hotness?(sorry) Some people I know from twitter that it gets better as the series progresses and I am looking forward to that development. So it's really up to the reader if they'll like this one or not.

3 out of 5