Skip to main content

BOOK REVIEW - SHATTER ME by TAHEREH MAFI


PUBLICATION YEAR: 2011
GENRE: Dystopian Romance / Thriller
PAGE COUNT: 338
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY ONLINE: amazon



The synopsis at the back cover of this book goes like this-

“ I HAVE A CURSE.
I HAVE A GIFT.
I’M A MONSTER.
I’M MORE THAN HUMAN.
MY TOUCH IS LETHAL.
MY TOUCH IS POWER.
I AM THEIR WEAPON.
I WILL FIGHT BACK.”

The beautiful front cover (see pic)  and the above synopsis drew me towards this book. The story is set  on a dystopian world and follows a girl named Juliette who happens to suffer from a rare lethal disease where her mere touch can kill people. She has been living in an asylum of sorts until the bad guys from “The Reestablishment” try to use her as a weapon of destruction. There she meets the main villain Warner and her childhood crush Adam. She has to decide whether she wants to use her power for good or for evil.
The story is told from Juliette’s perspective. so we get to know about her constant inner struggles and thoughts.

The writing style is the most interesting element of this book. The sentences are poetic and flowery. Sometimes it was so ornamental that it did not even make sense. For instance,
“ He says it with a small smile the size of jupiter”,
 “ the sky is raining bricks right into my skull “ ,
 “ his smile is laced with dynamite”  LOL 😆

 There were metaphors and similes in almost every other sentence. I personally hate such writings where the author tries to be poetic  by using over the top flowery sentences. That was the reason why I could not even finish “The Wrath and The Dawn “ by Renee Ahdieh despite it being one of the most popular acclaimed books of recent times. With this book though, I did not mind the writing as the metaphors were too obvious and easy to understand . In fact, I found them a bit funny at times. 😄

The other interesting aspect of its writing style was that some of the phrases and sentences in the book were struck out. For instance,
“ I want to believe him I dont beleive him.”  
Basically Juliette is trying to self censor her thoughts by striking out those sentences which she feels is not right to say or think . This was pretty cool.

The overall plot was simplistic with the three main characters- Juliette, Warner and Adam playing significant roles. The love story / romance in the book was convincing but sometimes a bit gross and creepy. The heavy use of metaphors while describing the romantic intimate scenes made me cringe a bit.
Also a Trigger Warning for Abuse and Torture. Some of the torture scenes were horrific . They were exaggerated to make it more dramatic.

Overall, I would have hated this book had it not been an extremely fast paced book. I was able to finish it in two sittings. This was good but not good enough for me to go ahead with the series.

RATING- 🌑🌑🌑 ( 3/5 )


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Heart So Fierce & Broken by Brigid Kemmerer | BOOK REVIEW

TITLE: A Heart So Fierce And Broken NAME OF SERIES : Cursebreaker Series AUTHOR: Brigid Kemmerer GENRE: Young Adult Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling PAGE COUNT: 445 PUBLICATION YEAR: 2020 FORMAT: Paperback BUY ONLINE: amazon   I started reading this book as soon as I finished the first book A Curse So Dark And Lonely ( see review here ) . The   lovable characters and that incredible cliffhanger at the end had me excited for the sequel. "  A Curse So Dark And Lonely -     Beauty and the Beast retelling - YA fantasy following two different angles- Rhen and Harper. Rhen is a prince from the emberfall kingdom who is cursed by an enchantress Lilith . As part of this curse, he has to relive his eighteenth year over and over until a girl truly falls for him.   A  girl from Washington,DC named Harper    is accidentally sucked into Rhen’s world by his commander Grey . " SYNOPS...
1 comment
Read more

The Way Of KINGS by Brandon Sanderson | BOOK REVIEW

TITLE: The Way of Kings   (Book 1 of THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE   series) AUTHOR: Brandon Sanderson PUBLICATION YEAR: 2010 GENRE: High Fantasy PAGE COUNT: 1252 FORMAT: Mass Market Paperback AVAILABLE   AT : amazon It took me almost a month to finish this mammoth of a book “ The Way of Kings “ by Brandon Sanderson . It was a huge commitment and   I enjoyed every bit of it. At first glance, you may feel a bit intimidated but I urge you to give it a try. It is totally worth your time. Throughout this whole month , I was so immersed in this story and its characters that I was constantly thinking about it even when I was not reading the book. I might have made atleast a million theories and multiple predictions about the story . Honestly, I have never been so involved in a story to this extent. This post may seem less like a review and more like me singing praises for this book. I a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Book Review - THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins

PUBLICATION YEAR: 2008 GENRE: Dystopian Fiction PAGE COUNT: 374 FORMAT: Paperback AVAILABLE AT : amazon If you happen to search for the top 10 book series to binge read, The Hunger Games trilogy is definitely going to feature in it. It was published way back in 2008 but I think it became popular with the subsequent release of its movies in 2012. Although I had not seen the movies , I knew a thing or two about the story. Luckily there were no major   spoilers   while going into this book. The story is about this girl Katniss who enters into a reality show called “ The Hunger Games” . The format of this game is a bit like “ Survival of the Fittest ” or “ The Last Man Standing ”. Two people – a boy and   a girl from each of the 12 districts of this place called Panem   are selected randomly every year to participate . Contestants are supposed to kill each other in order to win the coveted title. In addition to that, th...
Post a Comment
Read more