Book Review
Title: Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1)
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Genre: YA/Dystopian/Romance
Rating: ****
Review: In the opening of Shatter Me we are introduced to Juliette who has been incarcerated in an insane asylum for the past 264 days and we don’t know why. She then gets a cellmate named Adam and she seems to remember him from her life before, but he doesn’t remember her, Juliette also has a dislike of being touched and freaks out badly whenever Adam touches her and although I know the reason from reading the book before it hasn’t been stated yet. After a while Juliette is taken to a different cell where she is starved and tortured before she discovers that Adam is a solider for the Reestablishment and she is being groomed in order for Warner; his boss to use her gifts in the war they are fighting. When Juliette’s power of giving pain through touch is revealed she is ashamed and devastated at being made to hurt someone, but Warner seems to love the fact he can use her as a weapon.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Juliette is basically Warner’s prisoner until she agrees to torture the rebel that he captures which she refuses several times, but Warner is under the impression that he and Juliette are very similar, and she should be his. However, we soon learn that Adam can touch Juliette without her gift affecting him and he promises to free her from Warner, but Warner isn’t an idiot and I know that he is already onto the pair and plans to have Juliette no matter what. Warner also puts several things into Juliette’s mind and the hardest one is that Adam already knew who she was when he entered her cell and he was playing her the entire time. At this point, Juliette isn’t sure who she can trust but something about Adam draws her in. I will be the first to say I preferred Warner to Adam the second he was introduced despite being a major douche. While Shatter Me is typical trashy YA it is gripping and really pulls you into its world and I can’t deny it is my guilty pleasure read.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Juliette and Adam are reeling from the discovery that he can touch her without her causing him pain which naturally leads them to develop a relationship as Juliette and Adam are so deprived of affection that they try to find that in each other. However, Warner is aware that there is something going on and creates a false alarm to draw Adam away from Juliette, but he returns soon after and the pair make their escape. This comes at a good time as Warner recently made Juliette face her worst memory by trapping her in a room with a little boy and if she doesn’t touch him, he will die but she could also kill him and in doing so she uncovers new abilities like being able to punch through a concrete wall. During their escape, Juliette realises that Warner can also touch her which hints at the reveal later on, but she is unaware if he realises this as well.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Adam and Juliette make it to the home Adam shares with his younger brother James, but their peace doesn’t last long when a battered, bruised and tortured Kenji turns up claiming to know of a secret place where they can hide from Warner, but Adam isn’t sure about trusting him, but Juliette manages to convince him as they don’t have any other options. When James returns home from his makeshift school they pack and prepare to leave on the journey to Kenji’s secret place. Despite everything, Kenji definitely has the title of comic relief, but no one is sure whether or not they can trust him, but they haven’t got much choice but to take a leap of faith.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, the gang are found by Warner and with Kenji injured, Adam decides to leave James with Kenji while he and Juliette try and steal a car, but Adam is shot by Warner and is greatly injured while he captures Juliette. It turns out that Warner did realise he could touch Juliette and tries to reclaim her, but she resists and ends up shooting him although it doesn’t kill him, they manage to escape, grab Kenji and James and run. Kenji gets them to his secret place which we learn is called Omega Point and many of the 200 rebels have abilities like Juliette, even Castle who is the leader of the organisation. After waking Juliette learns they have been tracking her much like Warner, but she feels a lot safer and accepted here and she must now begin training in order to control her gift and fight back against the Reestablishment. As I mentioned earlier, Shatter Me is typically YA trash but it is addictive, and I can’t wait to dive into this series again and red the final two books in the series.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Also see: Shatter me by Tahereh Mafi
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