Title: Shatter Me Author: Tahereh Mafi Published on: November 15th 2011 Publisher: HarperCollins Genre: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Dystopia, Romance (YA) Author's Website Part of a series?: Shatter Me #1 Get a copy: Amazon I Barnes & Noble |
(I have a curse)
I have a gift
(I am a monster)
I'm more than human
(My touch is lethal)
My touch is power
(I am their weapon)
I will fight back
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 have a gift
(I am a monster)
I'm more than human
(My touch is lethal)
My touch is power
(I am their weapon)
I will fight back
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.
(Weebly doesn't have an element which allows us to cross out words, so the bracketed sentences are actually crossed out in the Goodreads review.)
It's a good thing I didn't buy a physical copy of Shatter Me. Normally I would've wanted to acquire a copy because of the beautiful new cover change--
...but now? Not so much. Now that I think about it, no. I'm not buying this book at all. I already have it on my iPad and THAT'S ENOUGH. I'm entirely crossing this book off my to-buy list. Too bad, since the new cover would look so good on my bookshelf.
Why, you may ask?
Why, you may ask?
First and foremost, this review is NOT going to be positive. In fact, it is far from a five/four-star review so if you liked or even loved this book for your own reasons, then I suggest you to stay away from this review. You've been warned!
Negative review starts here:
Goddamn, Mafi, why the excessive usage of metaphors and word repetition?!?
There are a lot of complaints about the overusage of metaphors in Shatter Me, but I have a much bigger issue with the word repetition. Almost EVERY line in the book goes something like this:
There are a lot of complaints about the overusage of metaphors in Shatter Me, but I have a much bigger issue with the word repetition. Almost EVERY line in the book goes something like this:
"I've tried so hard to get those blue blue blue eyes out of my head but I know him I know him I know him it's been 3 years since I last saw him."
One or two lines that held semblance to the one above would be perfectly fine. But no, imagine reading similar lines with hundreds of word repetitions throughout the entire book. It made me want to throw the book across across across the room. (However, I was reading on my iPad, so no book throwing. Also, see what I did?) And I hated the crossed out words and sentences. What the heck? They were way too jumbled and will easily annoy a reader, i.e.: me.
The story drew my interest in for a few good chapters. I liked the premise enough and wanted to see where Mafi was going with Juliette's story. However, when I got to the ending and realized that this was just another book that housed characters who turned out to be a bad case of Special People Whom the Government Hates Because They're Going to Overthrow Them, my reaction was-
Because, quite frankly, I was expecting something else altogether. I thought that the storyline was actually going somewhere different from the usual YA plot, but instead, it all just succumbed to a dull plot, weak characterization, and total baloney at the end. I don't want another book that tells a story of unusual or exceptional people who's the only hope the world has. I'm sorry this book came along at the wrong time, but it had so much potential for an interesting story. I'm plenty disappointed that Shatter Me ended this way.
The only character that I -originally- felt potentially interesting was Warner. His villanous attitude at least had some characterization in it, BUT THEN -Mafi entirely blew it all with his too-psychotic remarks. I was reading and along the way, something started to build up in my chest. Eventually I was frowning upon Warner for the rest of the book, because c'mon! That just doesn't make sense! For a guy who's too good at making people bend to his own will at such a young age, he acts in a nonsensical, demented way that induces thoughts like "Wait...this guy is way too crazy to be a villian."
Juliette, oh Juliette. Always whining on and on about how much she doesn't want to see herself in the mirror, how much she hates herself, when obviously, she's really pretty and good to look at, and could've done much more than moping around. Give yourself a good shaking and get a grip, girl! You've been brought out of isolation, now's your chance to do something right about yourself!
Juliette, oh Juliette. Always whining on and on about how much she doesn't want to see herself in the mirror, how much she hates herself, when obviously, she's really pretty and good to look at, and could've done much more than moping around. Give yourself a good shaking and get a grip, girl! You've been brought out of isolation, now's your chance to do something right about yourself!
Overall, I can't say that I'm happy to have spent two days of my life to finish this book when I could've read another book that was worthy of my time instead. (I can't even imagine myself using two days to finish this book.) I will beyond doubt finish the trilogy as I've bought all of the books -the preeeetty covers was what led me on- , but I'll be fairly glad to be done with this trilogy if the writing and plot don't pick up a notch in the two continuing books.
This book was SO not my type but there's always a right reader for the right book, so I might as well go on and tell you--
- Sci-fi lovers
- Readers who'd love a story about characters with special abilities
My rating for Shatter Me:
All in all, Shatter Me started out okay, but then grew progressively weaker. It seemed like all Juliette could only do was hate herself and think of Adam. I get that she's disgusted because of her unusual ability, but the girl has to got to get a grip on herself!
What about you? What are your thoughts of Shatter Me or the trilogy? Let me know what you think in the comments!
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Previous review: Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi