Happy Release Day! Review of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi.

Shatter Me is Tahereh Mafi’s debut novel, the first book in a dystopian trilogy. While a crumbling world factors into the story in a big way, Shatter Me builds on that premise with paranormal elements. It is just such an addition—the combination of those elements—that adds depth and dimension to the story.

Shatter Me is the tale of 17-year-old Juliette. She’s been locked away in a prison of sorts, separated from society, shunned by family—she’s never had any friends—and all because she killed someone by accident. She was just trying to be helpful, but to do that she had to touch someone—and her touch is deadly. When you’ve been locked away in solitary confinement for months, not speaking a word, it’s a shock to get company, especially when it’s a stunning boy—but this boy, Adam, has secrets of his own.

Juliette finds herself an object of desire. It becomes a battle of wits between Adam, her savior, and Warner, her jailor. And they’re not the only ones that want Juliette. The Reestablishment, the new society, wants her as a weapon, as does the opposition. Juliette has been an outcast all her life. Life is about to change in ways she could never have imagined.

This novel sucks you in right away. It doesn’t waste a moment giving you dry backstory, but takes you right to the start of the action: Juliette locked away. The scenario begs for an explanation, but you don’t get that right away and that’s okay because the journey to find that answer is filled with such intricate worldbuilding, the reader remains fully engaged.

The device used to convey Juliette’s inner thoughts is unusual. It consists of strikeouts of the words. This was initially annoying and can pull the reader out of the story, but over time one gets used to it. It becomes a convenient way to grasp the true nature of her feelings and show the volatility of the same.

The author has a fresh grasp of language that was evidenced through her original turns of phrase. It is a pleasure to reread and ruminate over them.

Shatter Me is intriguing. Imbued with mystery, romance, high-stakes action, and paranormal adventure, Shatter Me captures the reader from page one. The conclusion was particularly well done, setting the stage for the next installment in this compelling trilogy.

Toodles!

My Selection for Waiting on Wednesday: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Waiting on Wednesday is back and it snuck up on me so fast, I almost didn't post this! WoW is the meme that lets everyone know what we're looking forward to reading. It was started by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. For those of you who stopped by last Wednesday, you know how crazy I was to read Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. Guess what? I discovered an ARC of the book in my mailbox yesterday! Yay! I couldn't believe it. Can't wait to sink my teeth into it. This week I'm going in another direction. I'm moving away from the scary into dystopian--again. We're seeing a lot of that, aren't we? Is it too much? Let's see what's the deal behind Shatter Me...

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. 

This novel is getting a lot of buzz and I want to know what all the fuss is about. It has a beautiful cover, but my first thought is that it doesn't clue me in as to what the story is about. Based on the description, I wouldn't expect Juliette to wear something like this. It reminds me of a wedding dress. I still really like it though...lol...I want to know how it fits into the story...This could work based on the mystery factor. People may crack that spine for the very reason of trying to understand what the heck is going on with the girl in the pretty dress...

Shatter Me is being pitched as a cross between The Hunger Games and The X-Men. I'm having a hard time reconciling those two visuals, but that's probably just me. I'm really anxious to see if this novel will live up to the hype. Divergent certainly did and I thought that might be the real next Hunger Games. Can Shatter Me do the same? Let's read it and find out, shall we?

Shatter Me will be released by HarperCollins November 15, 2011