Review: Shatter Me

2

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

published 15 November 2011

338 pages

Harper/HarperCollins

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. (goodreads)

Review:

When I began reading Shatter Me, there was so much talk about how fabulous it was, so my expectations at the start were extremely high. When I wasn't totally gripped at the beginning, I began to wonder what all the hype was about--I soon found out!

What a ride! Shatter Me begins with Juliette. She has been locked-up for touching someone and fatally harming them. You see, her touch is fatal. She has gone her whole life being ostracized by others to include her parents. As she sits in her cell trying to get through the days. She thinks of the world, how it has changed and been destroyed. How the animals and plants and trees are all gone. How pollution has ruined the earth. Now, the world is in chaos and split into sections basically run by whoever gets enough power and can keep it.

Everything starts to change for Juliette when Adam is thrown into her cell. Never has she had a cellmate, let alone a male! Adam isn't quite sure how to deal with Juliette. She doesn't really talk to him, and she keeps her distance but it isn't long before she helps him survive the long days of confinement. Then everything crashes down around them when their cell is raided and they are taken to Warner. He is a section leader and he wants to use Juliette as a weapon. With Warner's power and Juliette's gift he feels he can gain the upper-hand and expand his reach.

Juliette is such a sad and broken girl. She has spent her whole life thinking she is an abomination. Soon her and Adam discover that they can touch each other without harm to Adam. It literally offers something to Juliette that she has never had, love. To be hugged, to have the feel of another hand in yours, to have your cheek caressed, it is simple, yet so powerful when you have been denied it your whole life. Juliette realizes that Adam is the savior she had dreamed of, the white bird that would one day save her.

The last part of the book it full of suspense and action as Adam and Juliette try to escape Warner and find safety. We are introduced to several new people whom I think will be pivotal to the reamining story. I know this is at least two books and may even become a trilogy. We have a pretty good idea of who Adam and Juliette are and the end sets the story up to really take shape and see what more they can do with the help of their new allies. 4Stars!