Book Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Series: Shatter Me #1
Finished on: January 27, 2013
Released:  November 15th 2011 by Harper
Source: Library E-book
Rating: 3/5

Summary from Goodreads:

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.

Okay, I gave this a rating of 3 out of 5 on January 27 when I finished reading. Looking back, I really don't remember why only 3. If I were to rate it now after letting it set for almost a month it would get at least a 4. It was definitely a memorable story with memorable characters that I know I really enjoyed. There must have been something off for me at the point when I rated, but considering I can't remember whatever the flaw was, shows it wasn't too big of a deal.

Honestly, it was probably the repetitiveness and crossing out of words that brought the rating down. For me, it took away from the flow of the story. Other readers may really enjoy this type of writing style. I will admit it added a touch of a poetic flair.

I found the storyline to be most engaging the middle. It built up, peaked, then declined again. Oh, but I quite enjoyed the last few chapters also which built up to the next book in the series. It was the characters which really made this novel. Each character was developed so beautifully and each came into there own so well. There's few books where I enjoy each character for their own traits so much.

I have to add that I really enjoyed the romance, too. (:

I'll be looking forward to Unravel Me!

“I spent my life folded between the pages of books. In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”