Hello everyone! How are you? I hope you are all doing well, and I hope that everyone is enjoying their summer. I can’t believe that it is going to be autumn again so soon! Time flies when you’re having fun. I have been reading lots this summer and so I decided to review a book that I have just recently finished. This book is entitled Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. It was published on November 15th, 2011, and has sold over a million copies around the world. The book is actually a part of a fantasy/dystopian trilogy written by Tahereh Mafi however today I will only be reviewing the first book in the series, as it is the only book in the series that I have read. So, with that said, I hope you enjoy this review of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. Have a wonderful day!
Synopsis:
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 touch 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 colour. The Reestablishment said their way was the only way the 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 it’s 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.
Review:
I was given this book by a friend of mine for my birthday. She had read it the previous week before, and she had enjoyed it so much that she decided to buy me my own copy of the book so that I could read it myself. Now, I am all for my friends or family members giving me book recommendations because I love doing the same thing, so I decided to take a leap of faith and read it. Oh boy, was I pleasantly surprised. After the first ten pages I could instantly tell that I would enjoy it. The plot is very innovative, original and interesting. I was immediately drawn by the synopsis and funnily enough the cover art as well. As I began to read more and more of this book I began to realize that it is a work of genius. The book is a mix of the Hunger Games, Lord Of The Rings and the Selection series (which I may or may not do a review on soon.) The writing is descriptive and the story is expertly researched. You can tell that the writer of this book Tahereh Mafi took extensive care in making this book. The very small details crafted throughout the book are entertaining and fun to take note of. One of my favourite parts of this book is the way that the main character Juliette develops throughout the book. When you begin the book you think of Juliette as a timid, emotionally traumatized young woman who has had to deal with extensive trauma and hardship throughout her childhood, you can see that this reflects the way she narrates the story in the beginning of the book. Many of her sentences spoken out loud are repeated (a sign of anxiousness and overwhelming thoughts) as well as the fact that many of the things that she said are crossed out in black (which is not a printing error) this shows how she is not fully confident yet and she is not sure how much information she can give to people. I throughly enjoyed this book and will be awaiting the next book in the series very soon!
The Ellington Review 