Review : Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title : Shatter Me
Author : Tahereh Mafi
Genre : YA dystopia
Publisher : Harper
Release Date : October 16th, 2012

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I have a curse
I have a gift

I am a monster
I'm more than human

My touch is lethal
My touch is power

I am their weapon
I will fight back

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. 

When I bought this book, I'm not sure whether I will like it or not, but I had a feeling I won't since dystopia genre book tends to disappoint me. So this book has been sitting in my bookshelf for around 4 months before I have the courage to read it, and I'm glad I did!

Instead of doing the usual review, I'm going to write down things I like and I didn't like from this book!

Things I Like

1. The Writing

The writing is really unique! At first, I kinda didn't like it because there's so many prose and hyperbole and it makes me didn't understand what the plot is. But when I already used to it, it's beautiful. Mafi's writing style is so different (in a good way, of course) from any other young adult book I've read, and I admire her courage for writing like that (not many author would want to write in a unusual way). Also, another point in uniqueness for the strikethrough thing!

2. The Plot

    For around the first 4 chapter, I didn't understand what it is about. But that made me more curious about this book. The plot is actually isn't really original. It's kind of like X-Men--some people who has some amazing power, but, again, the writing style made it looks original. But beside the whole a-little-unoriginal thing, the plot is pretty interesting and exciting.

3. The Characters

    For the very first time (I think), I absolutely hate no one in a book, even the villain! Sure, it's a bit hard to like Juliette at first because she hates and afraid of herself, but I think I will too if I had a power like that and everyone hates you for years. I just hope that in the second book, her character will be developed. Beside her, there's Adam--Juliette's supposed to be love interest. He is kind and gentle and nice and always protect her. In other word, he's the perfect boyfriend for her. I ship them, yes, but I also ship Juliette with the other man, Warner. Warner is the supposed to be villain. He is intelligent and hot, but also cruel, ruthless, and arrogant. But the way he 'looks' (looks, as in 'looks' in her personality, not 'looks' in love) at her made me ship them. Warner looks at her like she is an equal with him, not like a little girl who needs to be protected. That's why I think they will be perfect together, not to mention they had a similar past (it won't be explained in this book, but in Destroy Me).

Things I Didn't Like

Almost none! But the last few chapters is pretty boring for me, not sure why, though. Maybe because it's basically just like Charles Xavier explain about his school?

Anyway, Shatter Me is a surprisingly good read for me. For you who still haven't read it, you have to! You won't be disappointed.