Review: Shatter Me

Shatter Me

by Tahereh Mafi

Why did you choose this book? This book has a lot of hype

When did you read this book? April 2012

Who should read this book? fans of young adult dystopian fiction

Source: library

Here is a synopsis of ‘Shatter Me' from Goodreads, where it rates 4.07 stars.

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.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

My Review 

I found an ARC of this book on the ‘sale’ shelf at my local library for 50 cents. The cover is beautiful and with all the hype about the book, I couldn’t pass it up! Juliette is a seventeen year old with a bit of a ‘midas’ touch. Her touch is electric, and has proven fatal. So Juliette has been locked away, isolated so that no one else is at risk. She lives in a dystopian society; we aren’ really sure what happened, but the ‘Reestablishment’ is in charge, with the promise they will rebuild society. One day the leader decides Juliette’s ‘gift’ could be useful to the Reestablishment, AND she is quite attractive. He sends in one of his soldiers, Adam, to learn more about Juliette. It turns out, Adam grew up with and attended the same schools as Juliette, and also finds her quite attractive. 

Though this story gets great reviews, for me, it did not live up to the hype. It was very slow moving (aka boring!) until I got about halfway through, when it suddenly picked up with Juliette’s escape. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before it reverted to boring! Another thing that was distracting for me was the way the author used strike throughs and repetition repetition repetition to convey Juliette’s thoughts thoughts thoughts. The strike throughs did lessen after a bit and got less annoying, but the repetition, which felt like stuttering, did not. At one point I was thinking in stutter, as in  ‘I’m going to the store and then and then and then I’m going to the back’. Not fun! Though the premise was interesting, the execution was not. I can’t image I will be picking up the rest of the series. I just do not care enough to find out what happens! Hopefullly, if you choose to read this book, your experience will be better.

My Rating:  ★★   2 Stars

Counted for these challenges:

Free Reads Challenge

New Author Challenge

Young Adult Challenge

Here is the book trailer for Shatter Me