Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi


Shatter Me is one of my first forays into the futuristic writing world. I have really been trying to avoid picking up a future society book because they really don’t interest me. However, I am very glad I picked this one up on the Vine. Here’s the description from Amazon:

"You can't touch me," I whisper.
I'm lying, is what I don't tell him.
He can touch me, is what I'll never tell him.
But things happen when people touch me.
Strange things.
Bad things.
No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon.
But Juliette has plans of her own.

Wow! This book was amazing. While the description is very vague it really was an incredible read. The book starts out with Juliette being locked away for what her touch has done to another. We see crazed interaction with herself and her cell mate. Then suddenly she is pulled from that life into a political pawn role with the new government. From there the plot thickens as Juliette fights to be true to herself.
Juliette was an amazing character. I loved how passionate and compassionate she was without ever really being able to experience love and affection. I also loved some of the surprises that were thrown our way with her love interest and the villain. I really can’t say much because it will spoil the book but there were several curveballs that were thrown in the plot.

The writing was very fast paced and I truly enjoyed the author’s style. She managed to use small things in her writing to give some clues as to what was going on without the reader being able to figure out where the book was headed. I particularly enjoyed being able to think back to the beginning and follow the “crumbs” to what happened in the end. I am still very curious about how her touch works and it isn’t as clear cut as it seems.

I give this book a 5/5 and highly recommend it to people even if you are skeptical about futuristic books.