From the Bookshelf of Read With Sammy…

This is not a drill: Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me has officially blown me away. Not to sound cheesy, but it has. But let's get to the book.

I was hesitant when I started reading this one because it was slow for me until about halfway through. That's about the time I felt like it picked up. The main character, Juliette, I liked from the beginning because she was so different than most people with powers. I liked how, despite being treated like a monster, she fought against the haters (have to quote T

This is not a drill: Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me has officially blown me away. Not to sound cheesy, but it has. But let's get to the book.

I was hesitant when I started reading this one because it was slow for me until about halfway through. That's about the time I felt like it picked up. The main character, Juliette, I liked from the beginning because she was so different than most people with powers. I liked how, despite being treated like a monster, she fought against the haters (have to quote Taylor Swift here: haters gonna hate) and tried so hard to retain herself. She held onto hope and fought back. Adam I was kind of iffy on - I didn't like him but I didn't hate him either. I did love how he took care of his little brother, James. Warner was just freaking creepy. I really have nothing else to say about him. But my favorite character next to Juliette: Kenji. Who doesn't love that (in this case somewhat) best friend who knows who to crack a joke and be funny despite the circumstances? Even though he started as being mentioned once, once we saw more of Kenji I basically fell in love with him.

Another thing I liked was the idea of the community of super-powered people. Hopefully it doesn't turn into one of those cliches where the supposedly good people are actually bad. As if the Reestablishment wasn't bad enough - although I do love how the dystopian world was set up, more on that soon - and then add that? Hopefully that doesn't happen. As I mentioned to my friend Kim, hopefully this is one of those series that uses the named people to expand the story in the next 2 books. I feel like it is.

I give Tahereh Mafi HUGE props for the writing style and world-building. I think the unique voice Juliette has - and how her conscious quite literally "scratches out" things she changes her mind on - only makes this book better. And then add in how things are now and the characters and plot? It started eh but got better as more was uncovered and the pages turned.

Only issue: some questions need to be answered. I won't say them since it might spoiler some things, but hopefully they get answered by the series end. I'll admit I'm a reader who likes not all questions being answered by the first book's end, because then I won't want to read the rest.

Need book 2! Shall suffer withdrawl until then I suppose...