Shatter Me by Taherah Mafi

Shatter Me
Taherah Mafi
Shatter Me #1
Published November 15, 2011 by Harper/HarperCollins


Bite-sized Review
I absolutely loved this book. I want more of it, now. The characters, the world, the writing, were just so amazing and brilliant. If you haven't read Shatter Me, you're missing out.

King-sized Review
Shatter Me was one of those books. You know the ones I mean. The books that sweep you up in their spell and make you forget the world exist. I couldn't put it down. When I had to take a break to sleep, I dreamed about it. It was absolutely incredible.

Taherah Mafi does crazy frighteningly well. Juliette isn't precisely insane, of course, but she's not entirely sane either. This is one of those cases where the present tense actually works and serves a specific purpose. That and Mafi's original use of metaphor, strikethroughs, and repetition bring Juliette's character to compelling life. What struck me most about Juliette, though, was how caring she was, despite everything that happened to her, which ordinarily would have made me scoff but was somehow believable here.

I didn't entirely like Juliette and Adam's relationship, but weirdly obsessive fits in quite well with their world and their pasts. I'm hoping that in the next book their relationship will stabilize into something a bit healthier.

The contrast between Warner and Adam was spectacular. They were really mirror images of each other, and seeing their interactions with Juliette and each other was fascinating. Warner was an excellent villain; his motivations and actions were completely understandable, while Adam made a great hero. Normally I don't like love triangles, but this one is a little different – for one thing, Juliette doesn't love Warner, and for another, Adam and Warner balance each other so perfectly that this is just another aspect of their duality.

In addition to all that, Mafi has managed to create a believable dystopian world, where environmental catastrophes led to the ascent of a totalitarian organization. Dystopian settings can be sort of hit-or-miss, but Mafi most definitely scored a bulls-eye here. I can't wait to learn more about where they ended up, as well.

I'm dying to read more of this world and characters. Why is book 2 not out until November???

Quality: Outstanding
Enjoyability: Outstanding

Shatter Me is similar to:
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
If I Stay by Gayle Forman