Ah, Rad Readers, should we even be surprised that the second book in the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi was so good? The first one was incredible, the second was phenomenal, and I already can't wait to read the third!
So, being that this is the second book in the series there really isn't any way to talk about it without spoiling things for you. Everything that happens is kind of a major spoiler, so I will leave you with this: this book is super twisty and exciting and not what you would expect. Juliette is a wayyyyy better character to read about in this one. Far less complain-y, starts taking matters actually into her own hands rather than just letting everyone boss her around, and we get a more in depth explanation of her powers, the other people's powers around her, and the dystopia that this is set in. It is so so so good and I definitely recommend you read it if you liked Shatter Me and even if you didn't like Shatter Me because it was even better!
Okay. Hello spoiler ready people, so let me begin by saying that I was both shocked and not shocked when we found out that Adam wasn't actually immune to Juliette's powers. That he actually had a power himself, that being to turn off other people's powers. Once he got more acquainted to Juliette he stopped subconsciously registering her as a threat, so now when he touched her he could feel the pain that she let off. I was surprised that that was how the author played things out, but I also felt like at the end of Shatter Me she was kind of hinting at the idea that he wasn't totally safe from her. I honestly predicted that a little. I was sad about it though because I liked Adam a lot and this was only the beginning of his downfall :(. When he started going downhill I was devastated to be honest. Him and Julliette had that really really bad fight and I was like... well... we lost a good one ladies and gentlemen. He was such a great character and the way he cared about his brother above all the Juliette/ Castle/ Omega Point stuff was something that other books don't really touch on. Adam has something to lose, his brother. In most books it seems like characters don't have families or they aren't attached to them or they aren't even brought up in the story. It is a cliche, kind of, that is made fun of in the bookish community that main characters just don't have families, but Adam did! He had a little brother that he knew he had to take care of and he knew he couldn't just be reckless like Kenji and Juliette. It is something that doesn't happen in most of these dystopian young adult books so I really liked Adam because of this. Thus, of course, when he started being just so mean and detached to everyone else at Omega Point I was devastated!! However, as much as I hated it, I did love it because it put a spin on things, everything was just so outright confrontational. This was also only the beginning of the twists in the great big twisty pretzel of the book this was going to be for us!
Staying on the same topic of Adam, but a different twist entirely... ADAM AND WARNER ARE BROTHERS!? Excuse me!! What!!-- That right there is a direct quote from my brain when I found this out. Absolutely insane. Where I could predict the previous twist we talked about I could have NEVER predicted that! As for Warner... I don't like him. I don't trust him. There is something fishy going on and mark my words, I have predicted it. There is no way that who he was in Shatter Me was all an act. Like noooo wayyyy at all do I believe that. I honestly think he is still a self serving, egotistical, power hungry, jerk. The way he is described? Nope, don't like it. The way he acts? Nope, don't like it. The way he is so condescending and manipulative towards Juliette's volatile and vulnerable state due to the fact that her entire life has been traumatic? Nope. No no no, cannot say that I am a fan. He was a bad guy before and he definitely still is now and I am not falling for it!! The sheer fact that when we find out that he also has a power and that power is conveniently that he can take away other people's powers and use them himself... COME ON!! This had bad guy written all over it!!!
Although, yes, Juliette has made leaps and bounds in character development by the end of the book, in the beginning I feel like she went right back to the annoying, complain-y, woe is me Juliette that I thought we had surpassed once she got to Omega Point in the first book, but then we open up Unravel Me and right again she is just sad and isolates herself and, you guessed it, still super crazy. What is annoying that she doesn't get is that she is now surrounded by a bunch of people that have abilities just like her! She isn't in the asylum anymore, it's not like all these people think she is insane, because all these people are just like her... Except, now they think she is insane because she doesn't say anything to them!! She is just sad and weird to them. I get it, she was locked in basically a government basement for two years and doesn't have the best social skills, but hey, there is this thing called effort... It goes a long way in post apocalyptic scenarios such as these. She is too codependent to Adam and Kenji in the beginning, but then we get a sliver of hope after we find out that Adam isn't immune to her. I wish that after Juliette and Adam broke up that she would just be... I don't know... independent and just figure things out without a boyfriend but I guess that is too much to ask for right now... ugh. I feel like I'm quoting everyone else's reviews, but it is true that it is extremely frustrating reading about a character that has the potential to be strong and independent, act so helpless and weak. Adding to that point I don't like how everything Juliette does to, ya know, save the world and such she feels like it's a betrayal to Adam or Warner. No girl, you are trying to save the world and take down the supreme dictator of the freaking universe, you don't need to think about your relationship drama right now. She wasn't all annoying though. She really showed Anderson what was up when she shot him in the legs, and it was really dope of her to go up and face him just like it was nothing to get the hostages back. I liked how towards the end she wasn't so stuck in a phase of just acceptance. She was starting to realize that she could have a say in where she takes her life, that she doesn't have to do what other people want her to do or tell her to do.
So, as you can see there was a wholeeee lot to be said about specific events that went on in this book. It was a super cool, super quick read, and I gave it 5/5 stars on GoodReads because it was so entertaining and I think I read this book in a day or two because I just couldn't put it down. Cannot wait to read Ignite Me!!
Read on dudes! Read on!
- C8 ;)
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