Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me 

by Tahereh Mafi 

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.
In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

(summary from goodreads.com)

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Dystopian books! I love dystopian books, and this one did not disappoint. I loved this book! So gripping! I was teetering on the edge of sobbing for the whole first half of this book. Sometimes I find the "stream of consciousness" way of writing to be distracting and too narrowly focused, but in this book it worked. I loved the crossed out sentences (and the review on the back! Well played, Lauren Kate, well played!) and seeing right into Juliette's sometimes messed up head. I was sucked into her pain and confusion and cared about her through the whole journey. (A little belief had to be suspended - could we honestly believe she was writing in her notebook the whole time? Even during action scenes? Of course not. But I'm willing to suspend belief for a good cause.)

I loved the relationship history between Juliette and Adam. All too often in YA books two characters meet and within a few days they are all "I will die for you even though I barely know you". I know, jaded adult mentality showing through. But Shatter Me avoided this by giving them a common history - they knew each other! As kids! And that makes it all the more believable. 

I was surprised by the plot switch at the end of the book - obviously I didn't read the goodreads summary before I read the book, because the X-Men motif threw me a little. I look forward to seeing where Taherah Mafi goes with it! Yay for a brand new series! (But seriously, please oh please, don't pull the whole "this is the second book in a series of three so the romantic couple who finally found a bit of peace will now go through some misunderstanding that threatens to pull them apart" thing, okay Taherah? Please?)

Mom Note: As a mother of readers, I also want to make a note to myself (and others if they care) why I would or would not have my children read this book, because honestly, sometimes I forget. What is appropriate for the older reader is sometimes not so appropriate for the younger reader - yes, I'm a mean mom, I have complete double standards when books are concerned. So even though I loved this book, I won't let my kids read it yet. Violence: pretty standard warring dystopian fare - fights and shooting but nothing terribly disturbing or graphic. Profanity: none that I could recall. Sex: Fairly heavy make out scenes but no sex. I would say that this is for the older reader.