Shatter Me – Tehereh Mafi

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.

Review: That is so unfair… this book is incredible. I just finished it, and it has the most amazing finish. The type of finish that isn’t really a finish, but really a segway to a sequel that I need to read right now, but will have to wait another year to read! I want to cry.

I have read a lot of really fantastic books in 2011, but Shatter Me was probably my equal favourite next to Divergent by Veronica Roth. The first chapter pulls you in, and it just builds and builds. It’s such a powerful epic story, with some romance tied in, and I could not get enough.

The first thing that stood out to me is the unique voice of this book. I truly loved the voice of Juliette. From the way she crossed out so many of her sentences, to the way she would repeat, repeat, repeat some of her words, almost as an emphasis.

I love dystopian novels, but honestly, Shatter Me has such a unique quality about it, because it’s pretty much like dystopian vs Xmen (it doesn’t get better for me!).

Juliette’s touch is fatal. She doesn’t know why, but the touch of her skin kills people. She is locked away in a mental asylum until Warner, the head of The Reestablishment takes her away and tries to convince her to use her powers for evil, for torture.

Her only saviour is a soldier by the name of Adam, who looks familiar to her.

I really don’t want to spoil the story and it’s hard not to, because one thing leads to another in a giant chain of events. All I can say is that as my equal favourite book of 2011, I can’t highly enough recommend Shatter Me. Read it!

Rating: 5 out of 5