Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 342
Read Time: 2 Days
Tag Words: Dystopia, Love Story, super powers, unique writing style, Debut author 2011, Cover Lover
My Summary:
Juliette hasn't touched anyone in 264 days.
The last time she did
Now, The Reestablishment has plans for her.
Does Juliette have the power to save her shattered world?
My Review:
Holy cow, holy cow, holy cow, holy cow. Holy. Cow.
Dude.
What?
Dude.
I want to write an extremely intelligent review here, and yet 'dude,' and 'holy cow,' seems to be all that is coming to mind.
Let's start with this, Shatter Me is for fans of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, Wither by Lauren Destefano, Divergent by Veronica Roth and The X-Men series. It is one of the books that is beginning a new trend that might finally eclipse the paranormal fascination. Super-powers are the new Vampires. Trust me.
Shatter Me seems to be HarperTeen's answer to Hodkin's Mara Dyer. I can't choose between them. I love them both for different reasons. Let's just talk about Shatter Me for now. This romance is soulful, passionate, desperate and intense. I loved every precious moment Adam & Juliette had together. Especially in the shower, but we won't talk about that right now.
The writing style is so individualistic. I can't even fathom how you can write in Mafi's way consistently, but she seems to be as gifted as her super-powered heroine, Juliette, so I say, go girl! ; ) I am looking at my ARC and I see that I dog-eared nearly every other page.
I didn't give this one a full 5-stars on Goodreads, and I need to tell you why. Along with Shatter Me feeding the growing trends of powerful MC's, breathtaking romance and writing that raises the bar in YA, Shatter Me is also jumping on a bandwagon I do not support. The trilogy that does not support a stand alone.
Have y'all been seeing this? Theses books are interesting, energetic, with unforgettable characters, and because of all of that it's easy to get lost and forget that nothing is really happening. No questions are being answered, the plot is at a stand-still and the scenery isn't really changing. Finally there is a chase scene, or a minor battle, best described as a "skirmish" before the reader is allowed one semi-obvious secret to be revealed.
That's exactly what Shatter Me, Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini and The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton have all done, and yes, they pulled it off enough to keep me interested, but had they found a way to let their novels stand alone, I would have been much happier. And they all would have received 5 Stars.
Notes on the Names:
Let's talk about Taherah's name, shall we?
I asked Tahereh about her name on Twitter and she told me that it is her grandmother's name, and that it is Persian! It means pure, chaste & clean.
Thoughts on the Cover:
For all of you who think that this cover is just another pretty girl in a dress, I give thee this article on how it was photographed.
Wow, right? They painted with light! That makes me feel really inadequate as a photographer.
My copy of this book is from BEA, and when I received it there was no cover, so now I must, must get my hands on the finished product! Not only for the pretty, but to re-read it and underline all the dog-eared pages I mentioned.
Parental Book Review *spoilers*
A la Abigaile @ Reading Teen, thanks Abbi!
No comments:
Post a Comment