Saturday, April 11, 2015

Review: Shatter Me



Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



You know when you first read a book and you think it is heaven served in a plate? You know when you re-read a book and you think "what the hell was wrong with me when I first rated this book"? Well, that happened to me.

Two years ago, a friend of mine recommended this book to me because she said that everything was perfect on it, that there was a dystopian society, a slight romance and a paranormal touch. You know, what would make a book really enjoyable (or at least tolerable). The thing is, when I first read it, I thought it was fascinating, I thought it was one of the best books I had read, I thought it was amongst my favorite books, I thought many things I don't think any more about this book.

Shatter Me is about this girl, Juliette, who has this special power, she kills people with her touch, and is considered a monster by everyone, including her. She has been locked in some room for a year or so when she finally gets to see a human being again: A guy. A guy her age. A hot guy. A hot guy that turns out to be the only one who can touch her. Pretty cliched, isn't it?

Then, things get better: The "bad guy" appears. I have to confess something here: I liked the "bad guy", Warner (at least a little). He was obviously handsome, a little maniacal, an asshole, a jerk, a _______________ (place as many adjectives you want). I was surprised I would like him at all, but well, you can't really choose what to love, can you?

[Funny fact: I took that quote from The Isle of Blood by Rick Yancey, the third book in my absolute favorite book series. The quote goes like this: "We cannot choose to love --or I should say, we cannot choose not to love". Heh.]

Anyway, leaving the hot guys aside, let me discuss the plot...

It was interesting the fact that there is a secret society full of people like Juliette. Or well, not exactly like Juliette. What I meant is that there are people who also have "special powers".

We are promised a dystopian book, but what we really get is a paranormal romance. I mean, there was the complicated things about the society (which name I don't remember. I just know it starts with “R”. Was it “The Reestablishment”?), but it gets on the backgroung, as in most YA books *rolls eyes*.

Right from the beginning of the book, we see Juliette (again, I have to cry for that name, because I really like it) alone and in the next page *poof* Adam appears *rolls eyes*. They instantly have a connection and after a few more pages, she discovers he can touch her.

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!!! HE CAN TOUCH HER!!! THAT'S SO ROMANTIC!!

*rolls eyes*

The insta-love is so ridiculous I wanted to break my skull. I don't really know what I hate more: The insta-love, or the love triangles. Hell, this series managed to have all the things I hate in just one book. Sigh.

Main things I didn't like:

Juliette: I like her name, which is a shame, because I hated her. She was stupid. She is supposed to be a strong character, but the thing is, she is not. She is weak, she is foolish and she is annoying. She was always like this:


Ugh.

Adam: I will not elaborate on this one. I'm just going to say that he was annoying and obviously an asshole. He's also cliched as hell, and I hate cliched characters and books.

Also, it had a ridiculously purple prosed writing. It was annoying. I don't call them metaphors, for they're nonsense. For example, look at this:

He leans back against the couch. Runs a free hand over his face. Seasons change. Stars explode. Someone is walking on the moon.


Whaaa...? Do you understand that? I mean, what does the guy have to do with the moon? Then, this one:

Hate looks just like everybody else until it smiles. Until it spins around and lies with lips and teeth carved into the semblance of something too passive to punch.



See what I'm talking about? This is just nonsense. It doens't make any sense. Am I supposed to drool over that line? Is that supposed to be good, beautiful and poetic writing? Hell no.

I hated every word in this book. I wish I could go back in time and tell my 2012-2013 self what was wrong with me. I wish I could tell her how naive she was, and how stupid she was. I wish I could make her reason.

Anyway, the premise still sounded (sounded, there's the key word) interesting enough for me to continue reading the series until the end. It improved a little with the second book, but then it fell like a cascade (Heh, I used a Juliette-metaphor).




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