Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

To see the spoiler review click here.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

First in the Shatter Me trilogy

3.75 stars

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in 264 days. The last time she did she took someone’s life. She’s been locked up in a mental ward in complete solitary confinement and is alone, until one day Adam is brought in. Adam’s her new roommate. The Reestablishment controls everything and animals are dead and long gone. Diseases run rampant throughout the population, birds don’t fly, and the clouds are the wrong color. The Reestablishment is coming for Juliette. She’s their new weapon and the leader, Warner, will stop at nothing to get her. I’m on the fence about Shatter Me. While I did love it at times it fell flat at others. I had heard numerous things about Mafi’s purple prose, but didn’t think much of it. This book is very purple prose. It screams it, bleeds it, smells it, and sings it. Sometimes the prose worked well and it made the story flow. Other times it made Juliette sound like she was trying way too hard to be smart. No one talks like a poetry book and Juliette sounded like she only knew how to talk in prose. It irritated me way too much sometimes. Mafi was trying way too hard to make her writing seem beautiful. It would’ve worked more in verse, but then again it probably would’ve just gotten all jumbled and would’ve failed. Was it always a bad thing to have it written in this prose? No because when it worked it was beautiful. The characters are also another thing I’m undecided about.


The main character is Juliette. Juliette is deep and thoughtful, but aside from that she has no personality. She spends her time counting down the exact steps, seconds, and numbers for everything. Who does that? I would get confused and if all I did was count I would fall asleep. Juliette is also a hypocrite. Warner speaks the truth to Juliette about herself and who he is while Juliette denies everything. This is going to be a major spoiler so don’t click unless you’ve read it or you’re curiosity has gotten the best of you. (view spoiler) I don’t like Juliette and I don’t hate her. I’m neutral towards, but I dislike her more than like her.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 7

The main male characters are Adam and Warner. Adam sounds sexy as hell, but aside from being sexy he doesn’t offer much. I would love to make out with Adam, but I don’t think he has a purpose to this story has to other than be part of a love triangle. He obviously isn’t an anomaly now that he isn’t (view spoiler)So why is he even here other than to look hot and offer romance scenes? Warner though is amazing. He has depth and I love him.



I want to wrap my arms around Warner and love him forever. Warner is the epitome of bad boy evil and he is so amazing and OMG just *swoons*. I can’t even finish a proper sentence when I think about him. I want more Warner. He’s perfect in every evil way and that kissing scene. *swoons* Juliette doesn’t deserve his attention.


Swoon Worthy Scale: Adam: 7.5 (but if this was on just looks he would be a 10) Warner: 10 *swoons*

The Villain- Warner, I love you. Let’s have fictional babies?
I like the prospect of the Reestablishment, but I want to know more about it. Juliette doesn’t know anything because she was locked up, so she’s not the best narrator when it comes to the downfall of the world.

Villain Scale: 9

Kenji is really funny and he’s such a relief to have around. He’s got secrets. James is a cute kid and it’s one of the few things I like about Adam. He has a good relationship with his brother and they don’t seem like cardboard when they are together.


Character Scale: 8

Shatter Me offers a lot of good things, but there are a lot of just OK things. I do look forward to reading Unravel Me. I probably wouldn’t have read Shatter Me at this time if it wasn’t for the fact that I got an ARC of Unravel Me. So, Mafi I’m ready for more Warner.


Cover Thoughts: I don’t really like this cover. I love the redesigned one.
 
 It’s beautiful. But this one is just so common and I don’t like it. I had thought it was OK at first, but now it’s not that great and it doesn’t look that great in person.