Warning: this review will contain spoilers.
This book is quite possibly the worst I've ever read (and I generally like most books that I read). I picked up Shatter Me because I had read mixed reviews and wanted to see what it was like myself. And it absolutely sucked.
I put tabs in the book, color-coded, to mark where I wanted to come back to for this review. And almost every single page is marked. So let's start from the very beginning:
First, the weird strikeouts. It was very hard to read and understand what was being said. For example (and I couldn't get the strikeouts to work, so I'm putting the words that are in strikethrough in parentheses): '"You're getting a (cellmate) roommate,” they said to me. “(We hope you rot to death in this place) For good behavior,” they said to me. “(Another psycho just like you) No more isolation,” they said to me.' (And can we all agree that "they said to me" was used WAY too much here?) I'm pretty sure that the strikeouts were used to show what Juliette was really thinking, but it never said this explicitly in the book, and the strikeouts just kind of went away as the book went on, which was a bit odd.
Next, the author seems to have periods of little to normal description of the setting, and then she does something like this: 'I always wonder about raindrops. I wonder about how they're always falling down, tripping over their own feet, breaking their legs and forgetting their parachutes as they tumble right out of the sky toward an uncertain end. It's like someone is emptying their pockets over the earth and doesn't seem to care where the contents fall, doesn't seem to care that the raindrops burst when the hit the ground, that they shatter when they fall to the floor, that people curse the days the drops dare to tap on their doors.' WHAT IS THIS. This isn't a book of poetry, it's a YA novel that has a plot (well, in theory) and characters. And there are only a few places where the author does things like this, which makes it even weirder.
Then, there's literally an entire page that just says 'I am not insane' in strikeout, and when I saw this I literally almost threw the book across the room because WHY WHY WHY???
The society that they live in seemed really intriguing, and I feel like a lot was said about it in the first few chapters and then nothing, which kind of frustrated me.
My second biggest problem with this book was the love interest and then freaking love triangle. I HATE love triangles. And the two boys in the love triangle weren't even likable characters. Adam seemed to be there just as a plot device and to give Juliette something to fight for because he's just the perfect man that will do anything for Juliette and is so hot and amazing and everyone loves him!! (Yeah, right). Not to mention that he's conveniently the only one who can't touch Juliette! WHAT A COINCIDENCE!!! (Oh, and Warner can touch her too, again, HOW CONVENIENT). And don't even get me started on Warner. Everyone who likes the book seems to love him, and since I haven't read the rest of the series and have no plan to, I could be missing out on some huge character development in later books, but from the way he behaved in the first book, I just don't see why anyone could like him. He's self-centered, power-hungry and egotistical. Like when he gave Juliette that test with the child and her two options were to let the child be skewered on spikes or die from Juliette's touch, and Warner just says, "Absolutely amazing." And Juliette even says, 'Possessive is not a strong enough word for Warner.' And THEN Warner says THIS: "Admit it, we're perfect for each other. You want to power. You love the feel of a weapon in your hand. You're... attracted to me. Don't lie to yourself, Juliette. You're going to come back with me whether you like it or not. But you can choose to want it. You can choose to enjoy it." And then a few paragraphs later, "But I love you." And a few paragraphs after that, "God I'd love to just take a bite out of you." This does not sound like Warner loves Juliette, it sounds like he has an obsession with her and just wants to control her. In no way would this be a healthy relationship and just reading that made me feel disgusted.
That whole part where Juliette is told she has special powers and blah blah blah just felt SO overused. How many times have I read this before in a YA dystopian book? And that brings me to my biggest problem with Shatter Me: it was just so predictable: she's going to fall in love with Adam, they're going to escape, then they're going to find the rebels and Juliette will be used to fight against the Reestablishment but she'll fall in love with Warner and then they'll topple the Reestablishment together. I have no interest in reading the rest of the series, and even if I did I'm pretty sure I know what's going to happen anyway.
All in all, this book was absolutely terrible and I recommend it to no one, unless, of course, you're looking to torture yourself.
This book is quite possibly the worst I've ever read (and I generally like most books that I read). I picked up Shatter Me because I had read mixed reviews and wanted to see what it was like myself. And it absolutely sucked.
I put tabs in the book, color-coded, to mark where I wanted to come back to for this review. And almost every single page is marked. So let's start from the very beginning:
First, the weird strikeouts. It was very hard to read and understand what was being said. For example (and I couldn't get the strikeouts to work, so I'm putting the words that are in strikethrough in parentheses): '"You're getting a (cellmate) roommate,” they said to me. “(We hope you rot to death in this place) For good behavior,” they said to me. “(Another psycho just like you) No more isolation,” they said to me.' (And can we all agree that "they said to me" was used WAY too much here?) I'm pretty sure that the strikeouts were used to show what Juliette was really thinking, but it never said this explicitly in the book, and the strikeouts just kind of went away as the book went on, which was a bit odd.
Next, the author seems to have periods of little to normal description of the setting, and then she does something like this: 'I always wonder about raindrops. I wonder about how they're always falling down, tripping over their own feet, breaking their legs and forgetting their parachutes as they tumble right out of the sky toward an uncertain end. It's like someone is emptying their pockets over the earth and doesn't seem to care where the contents fall, doesn't seem to care that the raindrops burst when the hit the ground, that they shatter when they fall to the floor, that people curse the days the drops dare to tap on their doors.' WHAT IS THIS. This isn't a book of poetry, it's a YA novel that has a plot (well, in theory) and characters. And there are only a few places where the author does things like this, which makes it even weirder.
Then, there's literally an entire page that just says 'I am not insane' in strikeout, and when I saw this I literally almost threw the book across the room because WHY WHY WHY???
The society that they live in seemed really intriguing, and I feel like a lot was said about it in the first few chapters and then nothing, which kind of frustrated me.
My second biggest problem with this book was the love interest and then freaking love triangle. I HATE love triangles. And the two boys in the love triangle weren't even likable characters. Adam seemed to be there just as a plot device and to give Juliette something to fight for because he's just the perfect man that will do anything for Juliette and is so hot and amazing and everyone loves him!! (Yeah, right). Not to mention that he's conveniently the only one who can't touch Juliette! WHAT A COINCIDENCE!!! (Oh, and Warner can touch her too, again, HOW CONVENIENT). And don't even get me started on Warner. Everyone who likes the book seems to love him, and since I haven't read the rest of the series and have no plan to, I could be missing out on some huge character development in later books, but from the way he behaved in the first book, I just don't see why anyone could like him. He's self-centered, power-hungry and egotistical. Like when he gave Juliette that test with the child and her two options were to let the child be skewered on spikes or die from Juliette's touch, and Warner just says, "Absolutely amazing." And Juliette even says, 'Possessive is not a strong enough word for Warner.' And THEN Warner says THIS: "Admit it, we're perfect for each other. You want to power. You love the feel of a weapon in your hand. You're... attracted to me. Don't lie to yourself, Juliette. You're going to come back with me whether you like it or not. But you can choose to want it. You can choose to enjoy it." And then a few paragraphs later, "But I love you." And a few paragraphs after that, "God I'd love to just take a bite out of you." This does not sound like Warner loves Juliette, it sounds like he has an obsession with her and just wants to control her. In no way would this be a healthy relationship and just reading that made me feel disgusted.
That whole part where Juliette is told she has special powers and blah blah blah just felt SO overused. How many times have I read this before in a YA dystopian book? And that brings me to my biggest problem with Shatter Me: it was just so predictable: she's going to fall in love with Adam, they're going to escape, then they're going to find the rebels and Juliette will be used to fight against the Reestablishment but she'll fall in love with Warner and then they'll topple the Reestablishment together. I have no interest in reading the rest of the series, and even if I did I'm pretty sure I know what's going to happen anyway.
All in all, this book was absolutely terrible and I recommend it to no one, unless, of course, you're looking to torture yourself.
