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 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. (From Goodreads)
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. (From Goodreads)
I’ve had Shatter Me sitting on my desk for awhile because I really couldn’t get too excited about it, mostly because the title didn’t offer any clues that it’s dystopian. And I’m a new-found fan of dystopian YA (Divergent and The Hunger Games rock my world!), but when I started reading I was sucked in immediately (I don’t normally like the reading the synopsis until after I read the book...I know, weird).
We meet Juliette in a jail cell and not much is known about the world beyond except that The Reestablishment controls society and the world is barely a shadow of its former self. Mafi not only details the horrible living conditions of the citizenss but also the sorry state of the planet. I haven’t read many dystopian novels that incorporate issues like pollution and animal extinction as part of the misery and chaos. One thing that remains unclear, and part of why I can’t love this book as much as my other favorite dystopian novels, is the organization of society. We only know that soldiers seem to be in control, but control of whom? It seems to be the run-of-the-mill “Our new leaders promised life would be wonderful but they lied” kind of society. However, part of the reason we don’t know much is because we are seeing life through Juliette’s perspective, and she has been isolated from her society. This adds to the fear (or excitement?) of waits outside of her closed cell.
She eventually gets tangled up in an odd love triangle. There’s Adam, a soldier meant to keep an eye on Juliette, but is also an important part of her past. Then there’s Warner, the heartless, psychopathic soldier who you will love to hate and who has an overwhelming obsession with Juliette. Oh, by the way, she can kill people just by touching them. So it’s easy to see why a murderous lunatic like Warner would be a bit interested. What I loved most about these characters is that they have sides to them that are somewhat contradictory. Juliette constantly struggles with what/who she is: a deadly monster or a powerful young woman. In fact, she’s the only female character throughout most of the book. Adam is a stoic soldier when he needs to be but is also a gentle soul who has feelings for Juliette. It’s more than just physical attraction though; they have an involved history even though that haven’t spoken to each other until now. And Warner, well, despite having no noticeable conscience, I really believe he also has true feelings for Juliette but more of the lustful, compulsive kind.
In the end, like the synopsis suggests, Shatter Me takes an X-men turn...I’m not sure how I feel about that. There was a real tangible shift in tone that did not quite fit with the rest of the book, but did offer an unexpected twist. Overall I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to see how Juliette transforms in the sequel!
We meet Juliette in a jail cell and not much is known about the world beyond except that The Reestablishment controls society and the world is barely a shadow of its former self. Mafi not only details the horrible living conditions of the citizenss but also the sorry state of the planet. I haven’t read many dystopian novels that incorporate issues like pollution and animal extinction as part of the misery and chaos. One thing that remains unclear, and part of why I can’t love this book as much as my other favorite dystopian novels, is the organization of society. We only know that soldiers seem to be in control, but control of whom? It seems to be the run-of-the-mill “Our new leaders promised life would be wonderful but they lied” kind of society. However, part of the reason we don’t know much is because we are seeing life through Juliette’s perspective, and she has been isolated from her society. This adds to the fear (or excitement?) of waits outside of her closed cell.
She eventually gets tangled up in an odd love triangle. There’s Adam, a soldier meant to keep an eye on Juliette, but is also an important part of her past. Then there’s Warner, the heartless, psychopathic soldier who you will love to hate and who has an overwhelming obsession with Juliette. Oh, by the way, she can kill people just by touching them. So it’s easy to see why a murderous lunatic like Warner would be a bit interested. What I loved most about these characters is that they have sides to them that are somewhat contradictory. Juliette constantly struggles with what/who she is: a deadly monster or a powerful young woman. In fact, she’s the only female character throughout most of the book. Adam is a stoic soldier when he needs to be but is also a gentle soul who has feelings for Juliette. It’s more than just physical attraction though; they have an involved history even though that haven’t spoken to each other until now. And Warner, well, despite having no noticeable conscience, I really believe he also has true feelings for Juliette but more of the lustful, compulsive kind.
In the end, like the synopsis suggests, Shatter Me takes an X-men turn...I’m not sure how I feel about that. There was a real tangible shift in tone that did not quite fit with the rest of the book, but did offer an unexpected twist. Overall I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to see how Juliette transforms in the sequel!
This review was written by Caralyn (if you remember, she and I wrote a joint review of The Scorpio Races in January). I'm trying to convince Caralyn to write for the blog more, so show her some comment love =)
