Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh Mafi

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: November 15, 2011

Genres: Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Romance, Action

Medium: Hardcover, Bought

Shatter Me was a delicious almost fantasy/sci-fi/dystopian read. It was addicting, edgy, and sexy. A new favorite series for me, since I cannot wait to get my hands on the sequel; Unravel Me!

The plot was undeniably addicting, fresh, and original. I have to admit that I was behind on reading this series (which I usually am) and for no real reason why, I just never did make a move to read this one. Then I saw it as a bargain buy on Books-A-Million, and I thought "heck, why not?" And let me say, what a good buy it was! This novel had a great plot line. Set in the dystopian future, Juliette is girl with an extreme ability to kill people with her touch, and starts out locked up in an asylum, only to become a powerful pawn in a dystopian war-ravaged world named The Reestablishment. I saw another review who described it as "paranormal romance disguised as dystopian." This is a perfect interpretation. It is a killer plot line starting out as paranormal/fantasy/sci-fi romance, all under a dystopian main agenda. I really enjoyed this book, from the action-packed scenes to the super-steamy romance, it was one hard to put down.

Now, so far, it's been a good review. This next paragraph will maybe make you question my overall opinion of this novel. The writing of this novel... Very different, I will say. Original, but odd. First of all, there is a constant rambling of subconscious thoughts from Juliette, mostly in the first half of the novel. In the first few chapters, she also has a thing with numbers. Her thoughts are very weird to read... Kind of creepy. I mean, she's already in an asylum, and these thoughts are just giving more proof as to why she was in there. Mafi's writing also seems to intentionally leave out punctuation and use many unnecessary metaphors. This made it slightly hard to read because there were so many run-on sentences desperately in need of a comma or period break. Even so, the metaphors were over used and simply unneeded. A few could even be deemed as childish metaphors. Juliette's infatuation and overall obsession with Adam was slightly hormone-fueled. Their relationship started out as sweet and emotional, but slowly turned into a completely sex-driven declaration; not love. I know the characters are 17+, yet we are talking about life in a dystopia. 

Furthermore, I will touch on something else very controversial in this novel; the overuse of the cross-out tool. At first, it was sort of neat, getting to read these thoughts she tried to deny. Then it got irritating, especially when one whole page looked like this:

 I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane

I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane

I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane

I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane

I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane

I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane I am not insane

Most of all, this odd writing style of crossing out everything, using no punctuation, and using odd metaphors slowly began to disappear as the novel went on. Halfway through, it was nonexistent (except for the weird metaphors) and was instead replaced my Juliette's incoherent ramblings about how sexy Adam was. I mean, I do not need to read about how sculpted his abs are on every. Single. Page. 

Aside from these few weird tendencies that made it hard for me to read this novel at times, I loved it, and I cannot wait to grab ahold of the sequel. The plot is ferocious and sexy, and although kind of odd at points, it makes for a great read. I am flipping between 3.5 and 4 stars.