12 August 2013

Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1)

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is the first book in her Shatter Me series that takes place in the future, after we have destroyed much of the planet and a group called the Reestablishment has taken over as government of the whole world.

Juliette Ferrars has been locked away for much of her life. Her parents locked her in her room and people at school kept their distance. Now she is in a cell and she has not even spoken to anyone in the last 264 days. But that is about to change.

Juliette is getting a roommate. A guy. They will be locked together in a small cell 24 hours a day. What the boy does not know is that her skin can kill him. A simple handshake or hug could overwhelm him with pain until she absorbs his life force. For this reason she has come to believe she is a monster. No one knows why her skin is fatal to others, but it has made for a tough life with no affection.

But the Reestablishment has plans for her. They wish to turn her into a weapon of torture for their cause. They are still fighting rebels in an attempt to eradicate all previous culture and ties to any other form of government. And in order to convince her to work with them, they will use the one person from her past with whom she has an emotional connection.

Mafi has created a great dystopian world. Juliette is a complex and compelling character who readers will root for all the way.

Mafi, Tahereh. (2012). Shatter Me. New York: Harper.

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