Okay, I take back what I said about how I pretty much loved anything dystopian fiction all those posts ago. Shatter Me was not what I expected. At all.
I had heard of Shatter Me, and heard it was really great. When I found it in my school library, I was thrilled. My expectation rose at the cover. A simple eye staring at the reader was intriguing indeed. And that was not even mentioning the stuff around the eye! It was very creative, the way the cover captures the reader.
Now onto to the book. As I'm sure you can guess, I did not like it. Did I hate it? No, I don't hate books. Whether or not my personal taste, the author worked hard on the book, so I respect them for it. But I must admit the book failed to meet my expectations. I gathered this book to be roughly a A, but this book only gets to a rough C+. There are some reasons why.
1. Juliette
The hero can save everyone in the book, but if they can also spoil the book itself. And while I wouldn't say the Juliette wrecked the story, she did, admittedly, kind of dip in the unlikeable area for me. I think this is an issue that a lot of people had with Mockingjay, where many said Katniss didn't do anything except wind up in hospitals and get knocked out. I refuted this argument in my review, but I admit it applies here. Everything Juliette does is because a) She has no choice b) Because Adam says so. I'll get to that later. SHE NEVER DOES ANYTHING OF HER OWN WILL. Okay, that is kind of the point, but still. YOU HAVE A DEADLY TOUCH GIRL. USE IT. PLEASE. If anyone like Katniss or June or Tris had this gift, they would have run with it. Literally. But Juliette had to go, "Oh, I don't want to kill people, oh, I'm cursed, oh—" GAHHH. Okay, that was actually more contemptuous than I meant it to be. Even though, I couldn't help but screaming at the girl to JUST START RUNNING. TO RUN AND NEVER LOOK BACK. OR MAYBE FIGHT BACK LIKE IT SAID ON THE COVER?! Maybe I shouldn't have read Throne of Glass and reread Legend before reading this, maybe, but still.
I swore I would come back to Adam and Juliette. To be honest, Adam and Juliette's relationship kind of got tiring after a while. "Oh, I would do everything for her, I would do everything for him WHEN YOU'VE MET FOR LIKE, A WEEK?! I know, Adam noticed her before, but it was brief and it was when they were young. Also, I want to point out that ADAM was the one that brought her to Warner. Warner whom she tried to kill later? Um, please? I like my girls sassy and badass, thank you. Not boo-hoo run-to-their-boyfriend-girls. Please.
2. Adam
Adam was. . . okay. Okay as in the middle of good and bad but kind of leaning towards the bad side. I was fine with Adam in the beginning, but with the end with Kenji, well, I should probably start with why I like Kenji.
3.Kenji
This guy is my favorite character, tops. He's kind of an asshole in the beginning, but I really liked the way he interacted with Juliette. Kenji reminds me of Jack Harkness (I watch Doctor Who, not Torchwood, sorry), with his flirty nature and almost always able to snap back into captain mode like a rubber band. He is also the only character who does things for the greater good and not love, having a sense of responsibility and yet always able to make readers laugh. He also means well, no matter what he does.
Back to Adam. Adam was kind of an ass to Kenji in the end. I understand why he did it, it's just, well, Adam was rather harsh. He is very stubborn and puts James and Juliette first, everyone else second. But that does not mean you get to be a bitch to everchyone second. And he was a very, very, very big bitch.
4. James
Speaking of James, I LOVE THIS KID. Him and Castle are neck-to-neck in terms of second-favorite character. James is like Primrose from The Hunger Games, except more innocent and more childlike. I don't know if the situation in THG is worse than the one in Shatter Me so maybe that's why Prim is more adult-like than James, but I really don't mind James. I normally LOATHE characters who are stupid, even a little bit, heck, I used to hate the Percy Jackson and the Olympians because of that. But I really miss innocent, sweet, loving young characters in dystopia so I'm fine with it.
5. Castle
Well, considering that everyone except James and Kenji I didn't like, it's so surprise that Castle is one character I really enjoyed. He's calm, collected, mature, not an asshole to anyone throughout the story, which is all I need for adult males to be likeable for me. (Fighting's a bonus but it's better if you have them. If he loves books as well, high chance I'll LOVE reading about him)
6. Warner
The only person I haven't talked about is Warner, which is strange, because he is one of the main characters. Warner is, well, I don't know what to think. He's creepy, what with his 'oh you'll fall in love with me I promise' reminds me of Sebastian from The Mortal Instruments. Egh. If someone makes an incest joke about this I am going to flip. He's also passionate about the things he does (killing, torture, etc.) and I'm willing to bet he was some sort of broken past that made him that way, (you know, cliche abusive parents, etc.). By now I'm sure you think that I think he's nothing but a bundle of cliches, and, to be honest, he is BUT IN A GOOD WAY. Everyone talks negatively about cliches but Tahereh Mafi manages to mix all that, and make it into some unique. And I have never read anyone like Warner, let me tell you. Creepypasta/erratic love maniac/robotic order follower is like having nut bread and regular butter and blueberry jam as a sandwich. (No idea if this combination is actually good or not, just a metaphor)
Also, I bet one of these characters die in the future. Probably not Warner or Adam or Juliette, though the other three are highly likely. in my experience with dystopian fiction, that happens. People die. A lot.
Well, that's it for today. I'll probably move on to getting the rest of the series. I hope you come back for more reviews!
-Sooyoung Jo-
No comments:
Post a Comment