Shatter Me is the first book in the ten book Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi. Shatter me was published by Harper Collins publishing in 2012, which is most well known for their kids books and recent best sellers such as “They Both Die At The End” by Adam Silvera and “The Song Of Achilles” by Madelline Miller, both I have read and love. This book is 329 pages and a young-adult dystopian fiction novel with tones of romance between the two protagonists. This book revolves around themes of power and isolation, revolving around the experiences of the protagonist and how these themes evolve mentally as the book progresses. To set the scene, this book takes place an unknown amount of years in the future and the world has become dystopian with the military in control and the sky smoggy. Juliette Ferrars is 17 years old and locked in a prison after her parents shunned her at age 14. She has a dangerous ability that caused the death of a child which has made people afraid of her. While in her cell, she gets a cell mate named Adam Kent. She later discovers Adam was undercover for the military in order to bring her back to the main base for the leader, Aaron Warner. Warner has multiple attempts to get Juliet to become fond of him so he can use her as a weapon in the military, but Juliet has eyes for Adam who she remembers is her childhood friend and is immune to her condition. As the book progresses, the two of them team up in order to escape Warner’s chokehold and survive in this dystopian society. In the end, Juliet discovers she is not alone in more ways than one. This book I found interesting because not only does it dive into the mind of the protagonist, we also get perspective from other characters on the situation. It's also a hard book to summarize without spoiling because of how many twists and realizations there are in every chapter that leaves you wanting to read more. I agree with the authors choice to make the two protagonists teenagers because it really emphasizes the struggle of this society even for young people and leaves more room in the future books for development as they get older. This book brings awareness to the manipulation of women, discrimination, and abuse of power which are all issues that need to be looked into more. Having a strong female protagonist really shows the possibilities of women and how they don’t need a man to be strong on their own. Juliet is dating Adam, but she overgoes multiple challenges that she overcomes without the support of Adam. This book does leave out a lot of backstory on how the dystopia happened and the backstories of the protagonists aside from a few passages about Juliet’s parents and school. One author who has a book revolving around a strong female protagonist is Laura Sibson. In her book “The Art Of Breaking Things”, the setting is completely different from Shatter Me, but both revolve around a seventeen year old female protagonist. In an interview by MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults blog, Laura Sibson says that, “I wanted to show a girl who – despite questionable choices and poor coping mechanisms – would find her way toward healing” (MFA). I have never really been a fan of dystopian or science fiction, but this book made it easy to get into. I can’t relate on a personal level to any of the characters which made it nice to see more perspectives and go into the human mind in various situations. In summary, this book is a good easy read for science fiction lovers and those who love a good female protagonist. If you’re a romance fan, dystopia fan, or just a fan of reading, you will likely get a kick out of this book. This book does contain mentions of abuse, blood, occasional swearing, depression driven thoughts, and child neglect. If you’re faint of heart, research some of the trigger warnings before deciding if this is the book for you.
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