Monday, November 14, 2011

Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Today I am reviewing Tahereh Mafi’s debut novel Shatter Me.  I won a signed advance copy from a giveaway Tahereh was hosting on her blog.

Title: Shatter Me

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Release Date: November 15, 2011

Series: Shatter Me #1

Pages: 342

ISBN: 9780062085481

Description: 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 asThe 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 thoughts:
- The cover: Gorgeous. I love it. Though I have to say when I saw the Swedish cover (pictured to the right) I fell in love with that one more than the US cover because it seems to depict Juliette’s character better than the US one with the white dress.  The US cover is definitely better in person than in pictures though.  It’s shiny, sparkles a bit, and the writing is raised, all put together it’s a great cover.

- The characters: I fell in love with Juliette’s character right away.  And don’t even get me started on Adam.  He’s my new favorite book boy.  I couldn’t peg whether he was bad or good for a while, but then he turned out to be awesome.  The way the characters were written was amazing.  Tahereh has a style of writing that I’ve never encountered before, but I loved it. I love that Juliette knows her touch is lethal, so she never wants to touch anyone, but at the same time, being in isolation for 264 days, she wants nothing more than to feel human contact.  I don’t know how she didn’t go insane without any contact for that long.  

- The story: Mafi has a great way of writing that just drew me into the story.  Juliette is in a constant battle with herself about whether she is good or bad.  Is her power a gift or curse?  Throughout the book I think she proves a few times that her power is both a gift and a curse, depending on the situation.   The use of strike-outs in the writing is great, it brings out Juliette’s battle with herself in the best way possible. 

- Overall:  I am in love.  This book left me speechless for at least three days after reading it.  I still can’t really find the right words to describe how I feel about this book.  I don’t want to get all spoiler-y but I can definitely say that this book is a wonderful addition to my shelf and I am already anxiously awaiting its sequel.
Shatter Me has been optioned by Fox as a movie and I’d be SO excited to see this on the big screen.

Overall Rating:  

Buy the Book:            Amazon            Barnes & Noble          The Book Depository

Meet the Author:       Blog                Twitter                       Website

I’m now reading The Pledge by Kimberly Derting and hope to have it finished by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, keep an eye out for that review soon!

3 comments:

  1. I so want to read shatter me! The summary sounds really awesome, and it's been getting a bunch of awesome reviews! Im not much of a fan of the cover though to be honest, but it still sounds like an awesome read!

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  2. Awesome!! Glad you enjoyed this too. I love the Swedish cover! Wow!!

    Giselle
    Xpresso Reads

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  3. I really identified with Juliette too. Like you, this one left me speechless. I loved the marked out sentences. So great!

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