Customer Reviews

Shatter Me

5 star:		(115)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was among the many who couldn't wait for the day Shatter Me finally released. Then I was lucky enough to score an early copy of this highly anticipated and greatly hyped dystopian novel. Heck yeah! So I started reading and was a little put off by the author's writing style. Yes, I just might be the only person on the face of the earth who didn't find the author's prose beautifully unique. The lack of punctuation (commas are your friend), overuse of metaphors (& the word butter), and the author's apparent addiction to the strike through tool seriously distracted from a novel I could have probably found a way to like a bit more. Some of the metaphors didn't even make sense or fit with the scene. It felt like I was stuck in an insane character's stream of consciousness that just refused to end (when I desperately needed it to). I didn't find the premise unique. I felt like a premise we've seen in books, movies, television, and even comic books was used with the hope readers would find it fresh and new because of the author's disjointed writing style. Maybe for some, but I'm not falling for it.

Did I hate this book? Nope. I just feel like it could have been so much more, but got seriously weighed down by the writing. Metaphors are cool, but I needed less of the pretty and more action and character development. I did really like Adam. He is a perfect male lead. Not quite sure how I feel about Juliette. She seemed to have badass potential, but as the novel progressed she started to become a little codependent (and horny) for my taste. After a life of exclusion, lack of human touch, and then being imprisoned in isolation you'd think she'd maintain her guarded persona (she didn't). She quickly rolled over and put all her faith in a boy (a cute boy, but still). I need a strong protag who keeps her priorities straight, and Juliette just didn't fit the bill.

I also felt like the plot progressed too smoothly. There were several obstacles, but they were all overcome quickly with a solution that was just a little too convenient. I wanted more survival mode, but it seemed all the action and conflict took a backseat to the romantic elements.

Will I read the next in this series? While Shatter Me's conclusion didn't leave me pining for the sequel, curiosity just might persuade me to pick up the next.

P.S I feel calling this a dystopian was kind of stretching it. Yes. It does have dystopian elements, but it felt a little more sci-fi to me. Not that this is bad. I dig sci-fi.

P.P.S Dear Authors and Publishers, Please stop comparing your next big release to the Hunger Games or Harry Potter (or in this case X-Men). There will never be another Katniss or Harry and when I pick up a book that has been compared to one of the greats and find it to be nothing like it at all I get kind of pissed and start questioning your credibility. Let the readers decide.

Cover Thoughts: I thought this was gorgeous when I first saw it online. In person it is pretty horrendous.

Juliette is seventeen years old hasn't spoken to or touched anyone in 264 days. Whenever she touches someone, they suffer and eventually die if she holds on long enough. She was imprisoned for murder by the Re-establishment, an organization who is dedicated to rebuilding the polluted, barren Earth on the surface. Food and animals are scarce, the sky is incredibly polluted, and diseases run rampant. No one knows why Juliette's touch is so harmful, but she is small compared to the larger problems of the world. Everything changes when after months and months of isolation, a boy is put into her cell with her. She has no idea what her jailers' angle is, but she is determined to keep to herself and keep him safe. He isn't what he appears to be and she has to choose whether she will be a weapon for someone else to wield or a self sufficient warrior.

Shatter Me is a mixed bag for me. On one hand, I was engaged by the interesting writing style and the main character, Juliette. The narrative is written in a kind of stream of consciousness style, giving the work the feeling of reading her journal or her innermost thoughts. It's punctuated with occasional strike outs that reveal Juliette's true feelings, usually followed by what she thinks she should feel. At the beginning of the story, she is practically catatonic, having been isolated for the better part of a year in an insane asylum. The strike outs provide glimpses into Juliette's character that she doesn't reveal outwardly. They lessen as the story goes along and as Juliette becomes stronger and more expressive. Juliette is the most compelling character by far and undergoes the most development. Underneath all the abuse she has experienced, she's very strong and her sensitivity is sometimes mistaken for weakness. I thought her power was interesting, even though it was reminiscent of both Jenny Pox and Rogue from X-Men.

On the other hand, Shatter Me had a lot of flaws. The dystopic world isn't fully developed and felt a little hollow for me. There are no real, detailed reasons for practically anything and no questions are answered. The story is closer to a paranormal romance than a sci-fi dystopia. The romance is pretty melodramatic and over the top. I didn't like Adam, the soldier boy love interest, because he was too macho and alpha male for me. Not appealing. Plus all of the characters besides Juliette were flat and I also thought it was awfully convenient that two of the characters vying for her love can touch her without dying. The ending was the aspect I hated most because, like most first installments of teen series, it ended in the middle of a scene without really resolving anything. I really don't know why this keeps happening in teen books, but it's really annoying and I would like to read a complete story. Of course some things should be left open for a second book, but to abruptly, awkwardly end is just unacceptable.

Although it has flaws, Shatter Me kept my attention and introduced some interesting concepts that I hope are continued in the next book. I would recommend it to paranormal romance lovers who also like X-Men and Jenny Pox.

Shatter Me is one of those books that I couldn't wait to read. Not only has it been incredibly hyped online, but it has an incredibly compelling concept and a great blurb that screams "Read me!" Being touted as the Hunger Games meets X-men, Shatter Me boasted some of the most unique marketing I've ever seen for a YA novel, despite its unknown author and not-incredibly-compelling cover. Being the dystopian nerd that I am, I was completely pulled in by the incredible blurb and was beyond exciting for this title.

Juliette has been locked up for a long time. The Reestablishment, a type of government faction that was seizing power, locked Juliette away when they discovered her strange gift, that when she touches people, she kills them. After being locked up for so long, a boy joins Juliette in her cell, though he isn't who he seems.

Shatter Me was strangely difficult for me to get into. First, Juliette spends much of the first half of the novel being completely obedient to the horrible regime that locked her away and seemed completely resigned to her terrible fate. It also doesn't help that she spends far too much time feeling sorry for herself, calling herself a "monster" and dripping with angst. There were times I wanted to tell her to just get over it. Thankfully, throughout the novel Juliette's adventures help to meld her into a stronger, better person who is more confident and empowered.

Then, there's the words that have been crossed out. This seems to be the biggest stylistic feature of Shatter Me and, in my opinion, nothing but a huge gimmick. At first this was a somewhat interesting way to reveal character and get the idea across, but I quickly became annoyed with it and thought that it was a way of talking down to the reader, like the reader couldn't read what exactly what was going on, so the author literally had to tell the reader everything that the character was thinking and feeling. Thankfully, the cross-outs became less frequent as the story went on, and, the more I thought about it, the gradual lack of them helped to show Juliette's development from a weak and obedient character to a stronger, more confident woman.

I've also read some interesting reviews that have discussed how much they loved the writing style in Shatter Me. I'm not sure I like it -in fact, I was torn for much of the book. Most of the writing is done in stream-of-conscious style that really gets into Juliette's head, but left me out of breath by the end of most sentences. It didn't seem that polished or crisp to me. Again, this did get better as the book went on, but I wouldn't rave about the writing style here. However, some sentences here were amazing emotional gems that really were beautiful.

I was also somewhat disappointed in the overall setting and plot. There is a very light dystopian setting, and most of the focus is on the romance with little action. In fact, as the story went on it became more and more obvious that Juliette was essentially Rogue from X-men, and the plot started veering further and further from a dystopian into something else completely -and more reminiscent of comic books and super heroes.

I wouldn't call Shatter Me the best dystopian novel I've read this year, but it's still worth reading. It's certainly something different in the genre with a unique style approach that's unlike anything else I've ever read. Recommended for fans of dystopian romance.

There are some novels that remind you how seemingly normal things in life can be the most beautiful and sacred of things to someone that doesn't know them. Shatter Me takes this idea of the simplicity of touch and weaves it into an additively passionate and eye-opening debut novel stuffed to the last page with gorgeous writing, ardent romance and danger. There are a handful of novels that leave me breathless and even fewer that make me want to be a better writer. Shatter Me cracked both of those categories effortlessly.

Juliette isn't a character you meet everyday. I've met my fair share of broken narrators and as an audience we are being introduced to unreliable narrators more often, but Juliette is so broken, she can't even think in full sentences. She's so broken, she lies to herself. Meeting her in the beginning of the novel is literally like ripping your heart out and handing it to a character. You want to lend her your strength so she can piece back together her world and mend over all the rough stuff. And the best thing about her is that she wants to. At times she refuses to fight, to lift a finger to hurt another soul. At others, she is willing to drop anyone and put everything on the line for what she believes in. To have such an equal balance and for Juliette to feel so right while doing is, is such a tricky line to walk. But Shatter Me succeeds a million times over.

Juliette's male counterpart is every bit as interesting and alluring as she is. They are an equal and strong pairing. From the moment Adam enters the picture, I want to know more about him. I want the author to tell me why I should like him even though by all other counts I shouldn't. Their budding romance is shaped and molded by their own hands like clay. It starts out rough but as they learn to work together and to trust it turns into something beautiful. Of course, this form can't finalize unless it goes through an oven and let me assure you, Adam and Juliette's romance is equally as steamy. There were scene in here that could make a grown woman blush (and they did make this grown woman blush) but it was because of their deep appreciation of each other that I wanted to keep reading (fine, the steamy bits had a little bit to do with tearing through the pages too).

I have a feeling people are going to have some problems with the state of the world of Shatter Me because it isn't really explained in this book. We are told about the state of the world but not really about how it got that way. For me, this isn't really a problem because I saw that that is where the next novel would be going but I wouldn't be surprised if I hear complaints about this. For me, the character relationships forged in this novel were far more important than the state of the world but I do expect that as Juliette learns more about the world she's been trapped away from, answers will surface.

The pacing of Shatter Me was excellent. I don't mention pacing a lot even though it's a tricky thing do. What I loved though was that every time I would question where the story would be going, something big would happen that would change the playing field, thus making the plot move along. The prose style with the missing commas and the crossed out lines and repeated thoughts is an amazing way to show the reader Juliette's broken mind. What I really enjoyed about the book is that as the story went on, more and more of these things started disappearing because Juliette and Adam were working to put her back together. This book was one long line I wanted to memorize. If I could see the world for one day as Mafi must see it every single day, I'd be a lucky girl. Every sentence had something unique and beautiful to offer.

I'm not sure if your getting my intense love for this novel yet. You should feel it wafting in between every sentence of this review. Shatter Me doesn't read like a debut novel because it feels like an author very well advanced in their career. Bubbling over with swoon-worthy romance, gunslinging action, and prose so pretty it'll make your tooth ache, Shatter Me is an intensely beautiful read. It'll leave you breathless and definitely just made it to my top 5 favorite novels this year. Got plans? Drop them for Shatter Me. You'll thank me later!

My Rating: 4.5
Originally posted on my blog: [...]
Breathtakingly written with moments of extraordinary brilliance, Shatter Me, rocked me to my emotional core. The raw vulnerability through Juliette's movements and thoughts were built in such a picturesque way that I couldn't help imagining her every emotion.

The concept behind the idea of not being able to touch another human, was heartbreakingly fascinating. This novel definitely brought to light how we take touch for granted. The worst punishment is knowing you can't hug or kiss the ones you love. It's truly a burden that I wouldn't be able to deal with, so I give Juliette props for being such a strong protagonist.

I was flabbergasted at the roller coaster ride she was put on from beginning to end. I was always on the edge of my seat waiting to see how Juliette was going to get away from enemy grounds. In addition, I became thoroughly engrossed in Adam's demeanor towards Juliette. His charming personality and boyish good looks created a romantic atmosphere I couldn't help but swoon over.

Another character that I couldn't help but hate and enjoy at the same time was Warner, a villainous figure that was trying to take advantage of Juliette's uncommon power. I still don't know how to feel about him. He was one evil son of a beep, but he also had some traits that I found quite appealing, despite his unnatural sense of malevolence.

All in all, as a debut writer, Tahereh's skillful text advances her creative longevity in the Young Adult genre. I look forward to seeing her continuing her intense style and how the story will escalate. I recommend you pick this one up if you're looking for a dystopian book filled with concentrated substance.

Juliette's touch is lethal, a fact she has learned the hard way. In a split second, an attempt to help a fallen child has turned her into an instrument of death. Unable to deal with her, Juliette's parents send her away. Now she is in a prison, where life is even grimmer that it is outside in a totally destroyed world. But when Juliette learns the truth about her imprisonment and meets up with a familiar face from her childhood, life takes on a different perspective.

If this book and I were in a facebook relationship, our status would be "it's complicated". I really liked the concept of the story, as well as the character of Juliette, despite her obvious similarities to Rogue from X-Men. I really saw a lot of potential in this book, but to get to it you really have to wade through a ton of drama. So. much. drama. I felt like I was reading the diary of a 12 year old girl.

The writer's style is most certainly unique, and quite powerful when properly harnessed, but oh my word, the metaphors used are just too much. About 100 pages into the book, I felt like things calmed down a little. Whether this was due to me just getting used to all the dramatics, or whether this is because the writer's power was more appropriately channeled I honestly cannot say. All I know is, the first part of the book was a bit exhausting, but once I got into it, I really liked the story, and the romance of the situation.

The whole concept of dystopian fiction has actually grown on me since reading a few books with dystopian or post apocalyptic themes. And I think this book does dystopia quite well. Once I got to the part of the book where more action took place, I seemed to like it a lot better.

At the end of the day, I still say I liked the book quite well. Do I love it? Not quite, but it was entertaining and provided me with a good night's entertainment. Still, I am not ready to make our relationship committed, and I will still be looking for better dystopian fiction with which I have more in common.

SHATTER ME is an awesome book about magic and love. Juliette thinks she is a monster. She believes she can only do harm to others. But one boy changes her mind forever. She has been avoided and made fun of her whole life. She has been locked in an asylum for three years. She has been told she is a monster and is insane. But her view of a dying world is about to change.

The book takes place in a future world where everything has fallen apart. Everyone is being poisoned by the artificial crops and chemically fed animals. It is as if the whole world is in a Holocaust, Great Depression, Dust Bowl, Civil War. People are killed left and right for no good reason. So, when a new boy is assigned to live with her in her cell, Juliette thinks her life is about to end...but it is only beginning.

Overall, this book was great! The future world is great, the romance is great, but most of all, the writing is great!! There is amazingly beautiful writing through the whole book and it reads almost like a poem at times. This is an awesome read and I'd recommend it to anyone!

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is an absolute must read. This debut novel completely blew me away, and left me dying for more!

The main character in the story is Juliette. When we first meet Juliette, she's been locked away in a room by herself for the last 264 days, without any human contact whatsoever. She's broken and, well, shattered. I have to say, Juliette was definitely not what I expected for this main character. After all that she had been through, I didn't expect her to be quite so... amazing. We get to see so many different sides of her character, and you just have to love her. Once she meets Adam, she really starts to grow into a stronger character. I fell in love with Adam as soon as he was introduced to us. Talk about another interesting character, oh my, he's definitely swoon-worthy. The relationship between Juliette and Adam can be summed up in one word: intense. Or you could say: extremely intense!

The secondary characters were extremely interesting as well. I especially loved Kenji, and some of the other characters we meet towards the end of the book. Without giving a lot away, there is a bad guy in the story, named Warner. He's definitely an ultimate bad guy, but you still have to feel for him. I am looking forward to reading more of this story as the series goes along.

The writing in this book is completely different than anything I read thus far. At first, I didn't know what was going on with the way the sentences were structured and the way words were repeated. This style grew on me very quickly, and I had no problem following along with the story. The way she described things was absolutely brilliant!

We don't get to see a lot of what has become of the world while Juliette was locked away, and that left me more than a little curious. However, we were getting to see things from Juliette's point of view, and with her having to be hidden, she didn't get to see much. I am hoping we will get to see more of the world in the future books.

Overall, this book was amazing. It's been a while since I've enjoyed a book quite so much. You MUST read it! Go ahead; I'll be waiting to see what you think of it!

Happy Reading!

Shatter Me is one of those books that take you on a wild roller coaster ride while making you unaware that you're holding your breath! It's full of danger, questions, action and steamy romance. Definitely not what I was expecting!

Our main character, Juliette is such a strong person for someone who has had so much bad done to her. She doesn't lose sight of the fact that she doesn't want to to hurt people. She's sarcastic, she's witty, she's funny and she stands her ground. I love all those things about her. Adam was completely swoon worthy. It was so obvious, the way he felt about her. And not in that typical cheesy YA way where they fall in love at first sight. You could tell he would not give up until he knew she was safe. While I'm not usually a fan of book villains, I felt a little sorry for Warner. Even if he was a bit on the crazy side (by a bit I mean A WHOLE LOT). And Adam's friend... Kenji (I think that's his name), he was the perfect comic relief to this novel. And I gotta say, he's pretty interesting.

The concept of the book was interesting. The downside to being able to read an early copy of the book? You just have to wait that much longer for the sequel!

If you like steamy sweet romance, action and a villain who might just be misunderstood then I highly suggest that you pick this one up!

(This review was originally posted at GoneWithTheWords.com)

In all honesty, I had not read the synopsis for Shatter Me. The cover really drew me in and it has been receiving tons of praise from blogger friends, so I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. "Not disappointed" turned out to be an understatement.

In Shatter Me, you are inside Juliette's head, which is filled with the kinds of thoughts one might have after being locked up in isolation for 264 days. Juliette's thoughts are desolate and repetitive and unsure. My heart broke for her. As a young girl, before she was locked away, she was an outcast...mistreated and discarded. No one should ever have to live like that, especially not a child. In spite of being treated so dreadfully, Juliette's heart remains pure and kind, which makes it all the more heartbreaking.

Those are all things we learn throughout the book, because right from the start of the book, things change in Juliette's one-room world. She gets a cellmate--a boy--one who treats her like no one's ever treated her before...he's kind to her. Of course, some things aren't always as they seem, and this is put to the test once The Reestablishment gets their hands on her.

The world Tahereh Mafi has created is dismal and bleak, so the fact that Juliette, or any group of people, can still hope for a better tomorrow is admirable. I liked that there was nothing to outrageous in the state of the world though...it was all very plausible.

I'd also like love to point out that this is one steamy book!! Juliette and The Boy seriously burn up the pages!! Although, I will say, I've never read of anyone blushing so. much. Maybe too much for my taste. But that is a completely minor aside, trust me, because everything else is so incredibly sexy. See the following quotes:

"He's a hot bath, a short breath, five days of summer pressed into five fingers writing stories on my body." - pg. 211

"My face is in his hands and my lips are at his lips and he's kissing me and I'm oxygen and he's dying to breathe." - pg. 231

It's no secret that Juliette's power is much (if not just) like Rouge's from X-Men. I think it's a great power to explore, and we've only scratched the surface in discovering what all Juliette can do. And!! She might or might not be alone in having this unique ability...you'll have to read and discover it all on your own. [Insert evil laughter here]

From page one, I was enthralled by this character, and the feeling only intensified as the story progressed. I was glued to this book, which truly is the definition of unputdownable. While the way it's written is different, it is also beautiful, and it all felt like real, streaming thoughts. Strange, I know! Trust me, you'll love it. You're going to so abundantly love this book, TRUST ME!! I am speaking from experience, after all.