Revew: Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi

Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Publication date: February 1st, 2013
Number of pages: 480
Format: Paperback
Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

Our lips touch and I know I'm going to split at the seams. He kisses me softly then strongly like he's lost me and he's found me and I'm slipping away and he's never going to let me go.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. 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.

Haunted by her past, terrified of her future, Juliette knows that in her present, she will have to make some life-changing choices.
Choices that may include choosing between her heart - and Adam's life

It has been two weeks since Adam, Juliette and Kenji arrived at santuary. A place that does not agree with the re-establishment. Juliette soon begins training to make herself stronger, and while Adam is there, she doesn't get to spend much time with him since he is off doing things and keeping his own secrets. Those secrets are too heartbreaking with such consequences attached to them once the truth becomes revealed.

I fell in love with this story in Shatter Me, and the relationship between Adam and Juliette. This book does make my stance on Team Adam even stronger, but the things they have to deal with and overcome that has caused a rift between them.
There is one major point in this book that I was disappointed with. Warner. I really detested that Tahereh made him become a kind of potential love interest. I just do not think that was needed at all. I was perfectly fine with him being a villian, or a love to hate character. But even in this book, I feel he is just someone coming in between the main otp: Adam and Juliette. He is still too obsessive for my liking, and I just don't like that in guys. I may understand him a little more, but doesn't make me like him at all.
This does not need to be a triangle, okay, Tahereh? mmktnks

One of the things I did love about this was Kenji. While we didn't see a lot of him in Shatter Me, things changed and he is such a breath of fresh hair. Not only is he funny, but his friendship with Adam and Juliette is such a fun thing to see. He is flirty, but he currently isn't the settling down sort right now. I do wish he would find someone to love, but maybe he was hurt in the past?
I also adore Adam's little brother.

Things get revealed in this book that were speculated by fans before the release, and while it made me sense.. I wasn't sure if it would happen at all. There is much character progression during the course of this book. And I liked that Juliette became someone so strong and powerful that anyone that gets in her way should watch out. She is protective toward those she loves and cares about. She will also do anything to those that harm her, and she is sick of pretending that her ability is evil.

I really liked how the fight against the re-establishment started in this book, and I expect that to progress into the final book, coming out next year.

I have some hopes for the last book, which I hope come true... but you just never know with some unknown authors if you have no prior knowledge of any of their other work, and since this is Tahereh's first book series.. I can be a little worried at times. 

4.5 / 5

Review: Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi

Destroy Me (Shatter Me #1.5) by Tahereh Mafi
Publication Date: October 2, 2012
Publisher: Harper
Number of Pages: 103
Format: Ebook
Buy: Amazon | Barnes and Noble
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In Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me, Juliette escaped from The Reestablishment by seducing Warner—and then putting a bullet in his shoulder. But as she’ll learn in Destroy Me, Warner is not that easy to get rid of. . .

Back at the base and recovering from his near-fatal wound, Warner must do everything in his power to keep his soldiers in check and suppress any mention of a rebellion in the sector. Still as obsessed with Juliette as ever, his first priority is to find her, bring her back, and dispose of Adam and Kenji, the two traitors who helped her escape. But when Warner’s father, The Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment, arrives to correct his son’s mistakes, it’s clear that he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner simply cannot allow.

Set after Shatter Me and before its forthcoming sequel, Unravel Me, Destroy Me is a novella told from the perspective of Warner, the ruthless leader of Sector 45.

If I hated Shatter Me so much why did I read this book? Well honestly I was bribed. Not to mention Warner did intrigued me.

For the most part the novella bored me. I found myself skimming the second half. In the short story Warner is injured from where Juliette had shot him in the first book. We realized that Warner isn't really that crazy and psycho. That would be his dad, who has mentally abused Warner all his life. Warner finds Juliette's notebook, and find myself falling even in more in love with her.

I'm kind of torn between how I really feel about this. Warner is a completely different person in this novella than in the first book. I do feel sorry for him, and actually starting to really like him. But there's a part of me that wonders if Mafi decided she didn't want Warner to be this crazy psycho murderer and wrote this to redeem his character. Having a psycho in a love triangle wouldn't work.

The writing style in this is a thousand times better. If the books were in this writing style I wouldn't mind continuing with the series. But there was a peek at book two and I skimmed through it a bit. Definitely not finishing the series. But I'm intrigued enough to get my friends to tell me how it all ends.

Rating: 2/5

 

Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh Mafi
Publication Date: November 15, 2011
Publisher: Harper
Number of Pages: 338
Format: Paperback
Buy: Amazon | Barnes and Noble
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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.

No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon.But Juliette has plans of her own. After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever.

Juliette has been locked in a mental asylum for the past three years.Hasn't even talked to another person in three years. Her touch is deadly, able to kill anyone that touches her skin. Out of nowhere, she is given a cellmate, a boy. I still don't understand why she freaked out so much about the cellmate being male. But could he be the boy from her past? The only person who ever was kind to her?

Adam asks too many questions. But it's not long before the Reestablishment comes for her. And Adam isn't who he seems. But Warner is convinced that Juliette belongs to him, and there's nothing stopping him from claiming her.

Disappointment is not a strong enough word to describe how I feel about this book. Even though this book is in a dystopian setting, I wouldn't even consider it a dystopia book. More of just a romance book. I couldn't even connect with Juliette. I found her very whiny and didn't even have a back bone throughout most of the process. I did like Adam, but when it came to shipping Adam and Juliette? NOPE. We didn't get to see them fall in love. It was just like oh well we're in love and we don't know anything about each other. They had feelings for each other since they were kids? They didn't even talk to each other? I could understand Juliette, he was the only person who was kind to her. But Adam? What did it matter if she had disappeared when she was 14? How can you be in love with someone that you've never talked to? I think Juliette is just too desperate for love she will fall for anyone.

Then we have Warner. Initially I have intrigued by him. Then I realized he was just a sick, crazy, psycho. Still don't understand why Warner was obsessed with Juliette, besides the fact she can be used as an easy weapon. And of course the two love interests in the books are immune to Juliette's touch. The only character I liked in the series was Kenji. Now he was awesome. Why wasn't he in majority of the book?

Now we get to my big issue. Some may say Mafi's writing style is unique, but I saw it's awful. I had to force myself to read the first four chapters. I should of stopped there. The strikeouts are annoying, but I could deal with it mostly. What got me was not writing out the numbers. For example, There were two eyes staring back at me. In the book it would be There were 2 eyes staring back at me. That is a huge no no in writing. You write out the numbers. I don't know why, but that was the hardest part to read the book. Not to mention later in the book there was a number that was half written out and then I did come across a number that was completely written out. No consistency, and I can't stand reading a book without consistency. Then there's the use of double negatives, and the metaphors. There were at least one metaphor per page, sometimes more. You do not need to over use metaphors for a good book. Or how the writing style half the time seemed like it was in a poem style. How did this book even get published?!

I only finished the book because I told a friend I would, plus I hate not finishing a book after starting it, even if I hate it. The first four chapters I had to force myself to read. The rest read better, but I just wanted to throw the book out the door. The plot of the story is actually interesting, but it needs to be done right. The author needs to attend writing classes, even basic writing classes.

Rating: 1.5/5

More Cover Reveals [Destroy Me, Unravel Me, Boundless]

It seems like its cover reveal week, and while I did post some... a few more have come out of the work.

Do NOT have this series to turn into a love triangle between Adam/Juliette/Warner.  Adam and Juliette are made for one another.
End of story. 
But I am looking forward to his story.

My only complaint. The change in style. Does not match my Shatter Me paperback. Which means one thing: I need to give my copy to April and I shall re-buy it in this new style when it comes out.

I do not do well with change.

PRETTY. I am more so looking forward to the Australian cover, as those are my favourite (plus with me being aussie), but this is great!