Ignite Me

By Tahereh Mafi

5/5

“With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn’t know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won’t keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that’s not all he wants with her.”

Oh my goodness! This book was incredible and the best conclusion to one of the most wonderful trilogies I’ve ever read. I read this book in a matter of hours because I just could not put it down!

I had a very strong feeling, even when I began Shatter Me, that I was going to like Warner by the end of this series and I was right in my assumption – I am in love. His character has developed so much and I am 100% ‘Team Warner.’ Juliette’s character development was also incredible – we saw glimpses of her strength in the first two novels but she was amazing in this final instalment. She is definitely one of my favourite female characters ever. The rest of the characters also had amazing development; Kenji was his usual charming self but we saw a more honest side to him in this novel which I really liked. Unfortunately, I am no longer a fan of Adam (which I guess was Mafi’s intention so that we all fall in love with Warner instead). Adam was cruel and spiteful but he was overcoming this towards the end of the novel and I would have loved to see how his relationship with Warner develops.

The writing style of this trilogy is so raw and honest and I can’t wait to read more of Mafi’s work. This trilogy is now one of my favourites and I already cannot wait to read it again! I highly recommend it!

Unravel Me + Fracture Me (novella)

By Tahereh Mafi

5/5

“Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is 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.”

I am absolutely loving this trilogy. There was so much character development in this book which I loved and I enjoyed it even more than Shatter Me which I didn’t think was possible.

Juliette is such a wonderful character. I think we saw her at her absolute weakest in this novel but we also saw moments of strength which shows how much her character is developing. Her and Adam’s relationship was so heartbreaking but I can’t wait to see what it means for the final instalment. Warner is still so utterly confusing but his character is developing so nicely that I can see myself falling in love with him. James was adorable and I am glad we got to see more of him and his relationship with Adam and Kenji (who I think may be my favourite character).

This book was intense and fast-paced, the perfect dystopian read. I can’t wait to read the final instalment! I love Mafi’s writing style as I feel you can really get into Juliette’s head but also really embrace the other characters as well.

Fracture Me

“In Fracture Me, Adam, Juliette’s first love, will do anything to get her back.”

I love these little novellas as we get to see inside the head of a character other than Juliette. I adored Warner’s novella because we saw a whole new side to his character but I didn’t feel the same way about Adam’s novella. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a 5/5 novella for writing style, I just no longer feel the same way about Adam’s character that I did in Shatter Me. I think he is weak and dragging Juliette down but I hope we see a different side to him in the final instalment as I loved his character in this first book and would like to love him again.

Shatter Me + Destroy Me (novella)

By Tahereh Mafi

4.5/5

“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 lifetimes 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.”

I have been waiting to read this trilogy for so long and the time has finally arrived. I started Shatter Me and had to force myself to put it down so I could go to sleep but I picked up straight back up again as soon as I woke up the following day. The hype around this series has not disappointed me.

This is so unlike any dystopian series I have read which is good because I often find them to be incredibly predictable. This book was fast-paced from start to finish and I never knew what was going to happen on the next page. The characters were vibrant and alive – I adore Juliette, she is such a strong female lead despite being utterly vulnerable, and I fell in love with Adam as soon as we met him (I really hope he doesn’t disappoint me as the trilogy progresses). Warner was a wonderful villain - I loathed him but was entirely curious about him and I’m looking forward to learning more about him in the following books.

The world created is so realistic which what makes this book so wonderful and frightening. The ‘power’ that Juliette has reminds me a lot of the Mara Dyer trilogy which is one of my favourite trilogies and I’m excited to learn more about this world as I feel I am going to be kept on the edge of my seat throughout reading the next two books.

It is so hard to review this book without spoiling it so I’m just going to highly recommend that you pick up this book if you are a fan of dystopian novels.

Destroy Me

“In Destroy Me, Warner, the ruthless leader of Sector 45, refuses to let her go.”

Destroy Me is the first novella that bridges Shatter Me with its sequel Unite Me. The story is written from Warner’s point of view after Juliette has escaped with Adam.

It was really interesting to read from Warner’s perspective as he was such an interesting character in Shatter Me – I loathed him but at the same time, I was intrigued by him and wanted to learn more about why he is the way he is. This novella was the perfect way to learn more about him though it has left me with more questions than answers, which is not entirely a bad thing.

I can’t wait to read the next novella which is from Adam’s perspective in between the second and final book.

Flawed

By Cecelia Ahern

3/5

I am a big fan of dystopian fiction so I knew I was going to enjoy this book before I even started to read it. I also knew I would enjoy it because I am a big fan of Cecelia Ahern and Where Rainbows End (Love, Rosie) is one of my favourite books. I read this book in one sitting as the suspense made it pretty impossible to put down. The ending also left me highly anticipating the sequel, Perfect, which comes out next year.

Unfortunately, this book had a lot of things I didn’t like. Firstly, it threw you straight into the story with very little backstory and I actually found myself skipping back a few pages because I felt as if I’d missed pages. Despite this very fast-paced introduction, the story itself actually took place over a very small time period and again, I felt as if I must have missed pages. As it took place over such a small time period, there were many chapters about the same day or same moment which I felt was a bit excessive. For example, if I remember correctly, there were three chapters just on the bus and I understand that this was a pivotal moment in the book but the actual event took place in the third of these three chapters and I felt as though the others were a bit unnecessary.

Despite this, I am very much looking forward to the sequel and will be purchasing it shortly after it comes out.

The Maze Runner Trilogy

The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure

By James Dashner

1.5/5

I began reading this series with high expectations (having been naughty and seen the film before reading the book and loving it) but I was quite disappointed. The plot really didn’t excite me and the third person narrative failed to engage me with the characters. Thankfully, all three novels contain very short chapters which led to me reading a chapter, having a quick peak to see how many pages the next chapter was, and then reading on due to only having to read a few pages at a time. If the novels contained quite weighty chapters, I fear I would have given up with the series shortly after starting The Maze Runner. That being said, they weren’t the worst books I’ve ever read and I would definitely recommend this series over The Hunger Games (I hold the unpopular opinion of finding these books predictable and rather boring). They held a few small plot twists that I wasn’t expecting but not enough to encourage me to read the prequel, The Kill Order. Overall, I found this series to be quite an easy read, with enough suspense to keep me reading on but I won’t be in a rush to re-read them.