Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Ignite Me
Series: Shatter Me #3
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: February 4, 2014
Pages: 416
Source: Audiobook, Library

Summary from Goodreads:
The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, called “a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love.”

With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn’t know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won’t keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that’s not all he wants with her.

The Shatter Me series is perfect for fans who crave action-packed young adult novels with tantalizing romance like Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Legend by Marie Lu. Tahereh Mafi has created a captivating and original story that combines the best of dystopian and paranormal, and was praised by Publishers Weekly as “a gripping read from an author who’s not afraid to take risks.” Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and satisfying end.

Review

Do not read this if you haven't read Ignite Me. I did not censor myself.

I just need to say my piece.

You cannot reinvent characters in the third and final book of a series.

Juliette went from being this weak, self-pitying girl who spent all of her time with her feelings to this bossy, bigheaded, hardass all in the blink of an eye.

"I’ve had enough.
I came so close to killing Anderson once, and I’ll make sure I have that chance again. But this time, I’ll follow through.
I wasn’t ready last time. I wouldn’t have known what to do even if I’d killed him then. I would’ve handed control over to Castle and I would’ve watched quietly as someone else tried to fix our world again. But I see now that Castle was wrong for this job. He’s too tender. Too anxious to please everyone.
I, on the other hand, am left with no concerns at all.
I will be unapologetic. I will live with no regrets. I will reach into the earth and rip out the injustice and I will crush it in my bare hands. I want Anderson to fear me and I want him to beg for mercy and I want to say no, not for you. Never for you.
And I don’t care if that’s not nice enough."

Who the hell are you and what have you done with Juliette?

The only constant between pre-Ignite Me Juliette and Ignite Me Juliette is that she is still selfish. She had no regard for anyone but herself (and Warner). In fact, she threatened to harm Kenji on multiple occasions for disagreeing with her. Bitch, no.

I think it is normal for you friends to question you a little bit if you become all chummy with the supposed enemy and accept everything he says without question.

And then there is Adam. Pre-Ignite Me Adam was kind, supportive, and level-headed. Ignite Me Adam was a stubborn, jealous hothead. And I don't care what you say, pre-Ignite Me Adam would NEVER have called Juliette stupid once, let alone twice. Never. I don't care the circumstances or how not-Juliette Juliette is being.

Gah. This is just so not ok with me!! Even Kenji didn't feel quite himself at times. It was like I didn't recognize any of the characters. And I can't even say it was for the sake of the plot because HELLO! THERE WAS NO PLOT!

90% of this book was talking and that's probably a generous estimate.

(Not that it would be ok to do for the sake of the plot either).

ZZZZZZZZ.

I'm done. I'M DONE WITH THIS SERIES.

And just for the record, I was Team Warner and I still didn't like this book.

REVIEW #77: Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Unravel Me

Series: Shatter Me #2
Author: Tahereh Mafi

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: February 5, 2013

Pages: 461, Hardcover

Summary from Goodreads:

tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
it's almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

 

So Kenji is going to help me explain my thoughts on Unravel Me, particularly my thoughts on Juliette, because he and I seem to see eye to eye on the situation and he already said it so damn perfectly...

This is how I we felt about Juliette:

"'All you do is sit around and think about your feelings. You've got problems. Boo-freeking-hoo,' he says. 'Your parents hate you and it's so hard but you have to wear gloves for the rest of your life because you kill people when you touch them. Who gives a shit?' He's breathing hard enough for me to hear him. 'As far as I can tell, you've got food in your mouth and clothes on your back and a place to pee in peace whenever you feel like it. Those aren't problems. That's called living like a king. And I'd really appreciate it if you'd grow the hell up and stop walking around like the world crapped on your only roll of toilet paper. Because it's stupid,' he says, barely reining in his temper. 'It's stupid, and it's ungrateful. You don't have a clue what everyone else in the world is going through right now. You don't have a clue, Juliette. And you don't seem to give a damn either.'"

(meanwhile I'm like)

"'Now I am trying,' he says, 'to give you a chance to fix things. I keep giving you opportunities to do things differently. To see past the sad little girl you used to be - the sad little girl you keep clinging to - and stand up for yourself. Stop crying. Stop sitting in the dark counting all out all your individual feelings about how sad and lonely are. Wake up,' he says.

(...)

"'Make a choice and stop wasting everyone's time. Stop wasting your own time. Okay?'"

(YES PLEASE OK)

As I hope you can tell, this book has a lot everything to do with Juliette and her feelings about her oh-so-difficult life. Even though Kenji's speech was given just over 30% into the book, I didn't see a difference in Juliette's behavior until the very end and only meager glimpses of change throughout. I was very frustrated while reading because I went into this book so so excited. There was so much potential here and I saw none of it lived up to. I really felt like 98% of this book was talk and 2% was action. Now, the action (when it did occur) was exciting and awesome and everything I wanted to see in this book, it was just so exceedingly rare to not make much of a difference. 

Now I know with Tehereh's writing you either love it or hate it. I enjoyed her style in Shatter Me - I thought it really helped to emphasize Juliette's delicate state of mind. But in Unravel Me, and with all the talk about feelings, I just felt like it added 200 pages of fluff to the book. I grew tired of her descriptions and began to see much of the same reappear.

The fact is that I just grew very impatient with Unravel Me. It was too much talk and not enough action. I obviously didn't dislike the book - I LOVED Kenji and Warner, and the plot twists and action we do see indicate good things to come - but it didn't live up to my expectations at all. I felt like I spent most of this book waiting, 

waiting, 

waiting. 

(See what I did there?) Ok I think i've made my point.