Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Published:  November 15, 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 338
Series: Shatter Me #1
My Rating: 2 of 5 stars

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.

My Review: Oh this book. People seem to either love it or hate it. Unfortunately I thought that Shatter Me was ok at best mostly because of a few key things that can not be overlooked.

The writing
First the author would write something and then it would be crossed out. At first I thought it was fine but then it got extremely annoying when I was trying to figure out what Juliette really meant because most of the time the crossed out sentence or word was the opposite of what wasn't crossed out.

The other part that bothered me was that Juliette would repeat words three to five times in one sentence. I got it the first time and the repetition didn't really add anything to the story for me it was just there.
Oh and some parts of the book would not make sense. AT ALL.

"I touch the material. Decide I should probably say something. "It's very ... comfortable."
"Sexy."
I look up.
He's shaking his head. "It's sexy as hell."
He steps forward. Slips me into his arms.
"I look like a gymnast," I mumble.
"No," he whispers, hot hot hot against my lips. "You look like a superhero."

This is a joke right? Must be.

"My jaw is dangling from my shoelace."

When I read that I get this image of Juliette hanging from the ceiling by a shoelace. Not the prettiest image.

"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 they 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.
I am a raindrop.
My parents emptied their pockets of me and left me to evaporate on a concrete slab."

She wonders about raindrops...Why couldn't it just say It was raining?

"He leaves less than a foot of space between us and I'm 10 inches away from spontaneous combustion."

I'm not sure why I find this funny but maybe it's the fact that Juliette is describe herself ten inches away from spontaneous combustion. Those words are in no way romantic. I also find the fact that actual numbers are used instead of the actual words kind of annoying.

Predictable
I found this book so predictable. Juliette can kill someone just by touching them and then when she meets Adam she finds out that she can touch him after she falls in love with him. Wow I never saw that coming. Then she finds out that Warner can touch her too. Shocker.

Romance
I never felt anything for Adam and I never felt anything between Adam and Juliette and if Warner becomes part of this terrible love and makes it a love triangle I will throw the book across the room. I think that's all that needs to be said about the romance.

What I liked
When I first saw this book I wanted to read it. The words at the top of the cover MY TOUCH IS LETHAL MY TOUCH IS POWER caught my attention right away. Even the idea of someone who can kill just by touching something and without meaning to was different. But if the book isn't good then it can only get so many points for the idea. Oh and Kenji because he was the best character out of that book.