Friday, February 7, 2014

Series Recap: Shatter Me trilogy by Tahereh Mafi

Reading order: (sort by release day)

Shatter Me (Book 1, Published on November 15, 2011)
Destroy Me (Book 1.5, Published on October 2, 2012)
Unravel Me (Book 2, Published on February 5, 2013)
Fracture Me (Book 2.5, Published on December 17, 2013)
Ignite Me (Book 3, Published on February 4, 2014)

Click the titles to check out my reviews.

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Synopsis Recap:

Juliette's journey starts with Shatter Me. She has an unimaginable power/curse. She can kill with a touch. And she's locked in an asylum for 264. When Adam, the boy from her past, brings her to Warner, the leader of Sector 45, her life is about to take big twists. She fear Warner's inhumane methods. And she has to escape. With Adam and Kenji's help, they're about to find a rumored place called Omega Point, an organization trying to overthrow the Reestablishment.

Destroy Me is told in Warner's point of view. After Juliette's escape, he has to heal from his wounds. He's still obsessed with Juliette and he's determined to find her and bring her back. But along with this problem, he faces others as well. When the Supreme Commander, who happens to be his father, come to the base, Warner simply can't follow his demands.

Unravel Me is a turning point of the story. Juliette, Adam and Kenji is in Omega Point. But things aren't as good as she imagined. She has problems with just about almost everyone and everything there, including Adam. She needs to control her abilities before she can safely touch others and go to battle. But the bigger problem emerges. One that they can hardly stop from happening. And it will change everything.

Fracture Me is told in Adam's point of view. After the devastating events in Unravel Me, their goal, their only goal, is to stay alive. With all the things come crashing on him, he's in a mess. The odds of the Reestablishment killing everyone Adam cares about, is high. And he has no idea how to solve this big problem.

Juliette is ready to battle in Ignite Me. But she has to rely on a person she never thought she could trust: Warner. Things have changed a lot. The Omega Point, Sector 45, Warner, Adam and even herself, are not the same anymore. Together, they must find ways to overcome all the prejudice and hatred before they can take down the Reestablishment. It will be anything but easy.

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Thoughts Recap:

Three words to describe the series: Intense yet frustrating

Shatter Me is a unique book. Mainly because of the strikethroughs. And how Juliette's mind works. I have mixed feelings about this book. While I think the plot is nice enough, Juliette pisses me off a little with her utter vulnerability. In her eyes everything is black and white, and so the book is a little like that. Black and white with no grays. It might not be the nicest start of a series, but it's nice enough for me to continue.

Destroy Me is one of the better books in the series. It's nice to know what Warner, the supposedly villain, truly is. It's very intense and endearing. There's no way you can hate him for being a villain after reading Destroy Me. This is a main reason why I keep reading the series.

Unravel Me... well, again I have mixed feelings about this book. The plot is nicer than Shatter Me, that's true. And Juliette is significantly stronger. But she's also more whiny... along with Adam. The countless melodramatic scenes between Adam and Juliette is exhausting in more ways than one. But there are also scenes with Kenji and Warner that salvages almost all of my negative feelings. If I am to be completely honest, this book is better and worse at the same time.

Fracture Me is one of those books that I don't even know if I want to talk about for ever. After reading this book my view towards my previously favorite character changed a lot. While I admire him for caring about his family and his so much, I'm also irritated that he doesn't even think about trying to save his love. I can't deny that this is an important book though, because it kind of helps to understand some things in Ignite Me. And it finally gives me a view of the real Adam.

Ignite Me is pretty epic and a little frustrating at the same time. Frustrating, because of those melodramatic scenes (again!). Epic, because of everything besides the frustrating part. I'd say it's a beautiful conclusion for the series. Though I have to admit that I'm not sure if I will re-read it again. I won't talk about much concerning the plot in the book here. That's up to you to discover it. But Ignite Me is definitely one of the better conclusions I've read about so far.


Overall rating: 8/10
Do I recommend this series?: I think everyone should read it, even though I think not everyone will buy the story.

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