Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1)
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Pages: 338 pages
Format acquired: Hardcover
Publisher: Harper
Published on: November 15th 2011
Source: Purchased from Fully Booked
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

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.

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads)

Review:

I remember wanting to read Shatter Me because of the spectacular cover. I mean, come on. Doesn't that cover look so badass and pretty at the same time? Exactly. To be honest, I really didn't expect much from Shatter Me. This was Ms. Mafi's debut novel and I'm sure everyone had their own expectations set. I really purposely set my expectations lower on new authors just so I wouldn't get disappointed since it was just their first novel, after all. That having been said, Shatter Me exceeded both my debut-novel expectation and my trusted author expectation. (Why yes, I do classify my thoughts).

Unlike most novels, I felt like the whole book had action or strong emotions in it. Some books only put strong feelings in the middle or worse, in the end with the pretense of the book having a sequel. (I hate it when they do that) Shatter Me kept the buzz from beginning to end. All scenes had feelings, had a very bright and vivid picture that was clear in my head. Every conversation was supplemental to the story. Every plot turn sharp but intact. Every character developed. I loved how it seemed like it was in the very near future, which made it all the more realistic. I also liked that there was an X-Men vibe to the book. Or maybe it's just me because I love those mutants, but either way, the "feel" that Shatter Me gave was a very realistic one. Something that I wouldn't doubt would happen. The only thing that can be considered a fantasy and that some may find it hard to believe is the whole destructive touch thing. But then again, this is a dystopian novel. God knows what chemicals or genetic mutations or explosion to radioactive material may have happened that  led to these kinds of people (SPOILER ALERT: It's not just Juliette with special abilities)

All in all, I look up to Ms. Tahereh Mafi for being able to create such a great debut novel and added a new fresh idea to the dystopian category. Recommended to any YA lover! Cheers to you, Ms. Mafi!

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