Shatter Me Review

“He pulls my swaddled figure close to his chest and I shatter”

I have to admit that I had never heard of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi before BEA (Books Expo America) but there was a lot of blogger buzz about it and Tahereh was signing ARCs so I queued up to get one as I trust my fellow book bloggers. I was pleased to meet Tahereh and she was so sweet and tiny but that meeting has much more meaning now I’ve read her debut novel and I wish I could have hugged her and told her how fantastic it is. Yep, the girl done good and I can’t wait for you all to read it. Here’s the synopsis:

“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.”

It’s no secret that I love dystopian books and I have to say that what I love most about Shatter Me is the writing - it is so beautifully lyrical and I’ve not seen a style quite like this before. I thought the opening chapter was amazing and so unexpected. In the beginning, Tahereh has you questioning so many things and I love that kind of mental stimulation.

Juliette is our protagonist and I just wanted to give her a hug (although it would probably kill me!). I felt her loneliness crawl off the pages and I can’t imagine what it would be like never to touch anyone for fear of hurting them. I tell you what though, it’s certainly a sure fire way to get the lustometer scale to go off the charts and DAMN, it certainly did. Adam is a hot, military man (dear God do I love a man in uniform) who has more secrets than a teenage girl’s diary. Seriously. And he has a connection with Juliette, only where do his true motives really lie? Ooooooh....you’ll have to read and find out ;)

I’m going to pause right here and make a confession which involves a short story so bear with me. I went to a Cassandra Clare event recently in London that was hosted by Sarah Rees Brennan. During the event, Sarah admitted to being the captain of Team Sebastian (for those of you who have not read the books, without going into detail, Sebastian is pure evil) and how he just needed some love and this made me question Sarah’s sanity (I love you really, Sarah). However, I now find myself in a position of complete understanding as I declare myself captain of Team Warner. In Shatter Me, Warner is the guy in charge and some might describe him as a bit of a psycho who wants to use Juliette’s power as a weapon but pffft.....I think he is a tortured soul with a complicated past who just needs the love of a good woman to sort him out! I found myself strangely attracted to Warner and this freaked me out for a short time but now I’ve made peace with it. Either I am extremely tolerant or Tahereh is a clever writer ;) I hear on the grapevine that he plays a critical role in the rest of the series and we will learn more about him in upcoming books. WOOT!

I have to admit that I have some slight reservations about where the series will go and if I’m honest; my biggest concern is that it has the potential to turn into X Men. I’m not entirely sure how Tahereh is going to avoid this or where indeed she will take the story but I sure do look forward to finding out. All in all, Shatter Me is a fantastic debut novel full of action and tension and I can't recommend it highly enough. BRING ON BOOK TWO!

Shatter Me is published on 15th November, 2011. There is no news about a UK release but surely, this can’t be far behind after all, the film rights have been sold and I can’t WAIT for this to be up on the big screen!! To find out more about Tahereh and Shatter Me, please click here to access her website. She is also active on Facebook and Twitter. If you don’t know, Tahereh has the BEST Tumblr account ever and you can find that here.