Book Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Published November 1st, 2011
Allen & Unwin
338 pages (Paperback)

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) 

From what I had heard, I really wasn't expecting to enjoy this book nearly as much as I did.  Shatter Me offered an interesting, yet simple, take on a dystopian society, and left me craving more.

Shatter Me has a very lyrical/poetic feel to the writing.  A lot of detail when into descriptions of settings, feelings, etc.  Personally, I prefer the writing to be more blunt and to the point.  That being said, I completely understand why the book is written in this manner, and will admit that it suits the book.  This is exactly how Juliette would have narrated a book.

It took a  long time for me to get into the story, but once I did, I was hooked.  I actually didn't want to put it down.  The ending left me very curious to know what would happen next, and what was next for Juliette.

Book two, Unravel Me, is due out February 2013.

Much love, Samantha
P.S. I much prefer the new cover design.