Synopsis

The explosive finale to the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Shatter Me series.Juliette Ferrars.

Ella Sommers.

Which is the truth and which is the lie?

Now that Ella knows who Juliette is and what she was created for, things have only become more complicated. As she struggles to understand the past that haunts her and looks to a future more uncertain than ever, the lines between right and wrong—between Ella and Juliette—blur. And with old enemies looming, her destiny may not be her own to control.

The day of reckoning for the Reestablishment is coming. But she may not get to choose what side she fights on.

 

 

Review

 

2 stars

What the hell happened here?????

First of all, I know this review is an “Unpopular Opinion” but this is my own honest opinion, how I experienced that book that was one of my most awaited this year as I love the Shatter Me series.

Feel free to disagree of course and if you loved it, it will make me very happy as I think Tahereh Mafi is a great writer and a fantastic person.

But it just did not work for me and it left me sad and very puzzled!

 

I love Juliette/Ella and Warner/Aaron. They are among my favorite OTP. And Warner is one of my book boyfriends.

So imagine my disappointment when this book had mostly two POV: Juliette/Ella and Kenji!

I like Kenji but my beloved Warner just had a meagre saying in the epilogue.

 

Other things that bugged me enormously here: everything felt disjointed, distorted. I can’t explain precisely why but we jumped from Kenji’s somehow organised chapters to Juliette’s wholy surreal-nightmarish-all over the place chapters.

And yes I get why Julliette’s chapter would be like that, obviously but they rather felt like fillers as they all more or less repeated the same pattern, except when she was changed.

It gave an incoherent feel to the storyline. It probably fits the book perfectly but I hated that feel.

 

What is a “salvation” and where I bow low to Tahereh’s audacity is what she made Juliette do and how she made Juliette “be”. I won’t give spoilers here but let’s say that it was shocking and Tahereh went all in, while others could have sugarcoated some actions or avoided some behaviors, plain and simple, just to spare their readers. It was the hardest part to read, sometimes I wanted to scream in disbelief and puke but it was also something to admire. Tahereh was gutsy here!

 

The ending was rushed  even if, on the other hand, I loved what Warner did in these scenes in the laboratory. It was also one part that I really loved in the story.

My big regret, Juliette’s incoherent and patchy thoughts aside, was the epilogue.

What’s that for an epilogue? I wanted more! I wanted Tahereh to see us through it all till the end!

 

I also think that we’ll maybe have a companion novella from Warner’s POV and I won’t read it! Because I hate companion novellas in series. It always feels like the author is trying to fill in something that should have been in the book, not out of it in a parallel story.

But again, that’s my own personal taste.

 

Will I read Tahereh’s books again? Absolutely as I am a big fan. But this one, the “style” and the storyline choice just did not work for me. And that’s a big disappointment as I had ordered that book months ago, as soon as it was available for preorder.

 

Okay now you can shoot me. Comments are welcome, disagreeing with me is also very welcome but only if you are respectful. After all, this is only a book right?

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Sophie

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17 Comments

  2. Ohhhh god! Ok so I literally just finished the last book like minutes ago and I still cannot believe the rollercoaster my feelings had to go through, because I had started this series last year or early this year but idk why I didn’t continue after maybe the first or second book. So I started reading them again and if I get into a book I go crazy finishing a book in one day and all, and I was bingeing day and night and I can say that I absolutely loved the whole series! From the start to the end! I mean I expected endings for all characters (even the kids of the supreme commanders yk) but I think I do that with every book I read and am almost always disappointed unless it’s some really cliche book so yeah still love it! I hope Tahareh releases some kind of novella or something, just to fill us up because I do like to read novella’s as I like all the diff pov’s.. I’m sorry you didn’t like the last one and I respect your opinion! I read someone’s comment that mostly everyone is disappointed with the series and I got really sad seeing that as I absolutely loved and adored every minute I spent reading the series and that others couldn’t enjoy it like I did and now I just want Aaron/Warner to be my bf in real life!

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  5. Oh my goodness, sorry this one was such a letdown for you. I have fallen far behind with the Shatter Me series. Breaks my heart that there was no Warner POV in this one. 🙁

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  6. Wow you were very defensive in the intro lol I dropped this series three books in some 6 years ago I think. The whole love triangle thing, if I’m not wrong, really annoyed me. It was also one of the last YA novels that I’d read so.. *sighs* Great review tho Sophie. I totally get how disappointing an underwhelming finale can be.

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      1. You know what? I never understand why people feel the need to trash another for stating their opinion. Like dude, I could totally be judging you for your love for twilight, but am I doing that? Actually you know what, I’m totally judging you if you love twilight, but you’d never know! Ugh this hate that fuels fans of a work to go attack its critics gets to me so much its not funny. Sorry it happened to you. If someone ever does that to me, I usually give them a pretty heavy-handed retort

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  9. I’m sad you didn’t enjoy this one like I already told you few days ago. I’m still planning to read it but I think everyone I’ve seen talking about Imagine Me has been disappointed with it. I like Kenji but I’m not as in love with him as I know many other readers are. I feel like there’s no point of half of the book being in his POV when most of the series has focused on Warner and Juliette. I’m one of those few people who don’t think Mafi should’ve stopped with those three books she planned in the beginning since I enjoyed books four and five maybe more than the whole original trilogy, so I really hope this one won’t change my mind about it.

    Also I so agree with you about companion novellas! I never pick those up. I don’t get why I should pay money for short story that isn’t “a full story” when I already paid a lot for the actual book.

    Reply