Shatter Me

By: Tahereh Mafi

Narrated by: Kate Simses

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

"You can't touch me," I whisper. I'm lying, is what I don't tell him. He can touch me, is what I'll never tell him. But things happen when people touch me. Strange things. Bad things.

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 lifetime 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.

©2011 Tahereh Mafi (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Child like voice and weird scratching noises

Book overall is good. I do not like the childish voice of the reader. Plus there we’re random scratching noises throughout the book that I think was supposed to assist with the performance, however I find it annoying. It’s an audio book and the words alone emphasized the correct way should make the performance, not additional noises like in movies and plays.

Holy dramatics

I am honestly shocked at how overly dramatic this book was, even for a YA. Just about every single line was a metaphor “my throat is cotton” “my heart is a puddle.” I’ve never seen an author overuse them to the point where the story is hardly being told, because the metaphors of her feelings and their surroundings are just taking up the entire book. I also found it odd that the narrator sounds so young. I understand that isn’t something the actual voice actor can control, but I think it was a weird choice to choose someone who sounds 9-10 years old, when there is heavy romance/sexualized scenes. Overall, I think the story got better towards the very very end once the setting changed. I would definitely be interested in the next book just for the storyline alone, but not sure I can handle the writing style as it was hard to get through.

Wouldn’t recommend to my friends

Starts off strong - then just nose dives into a confusing ending. Maybe this is first in a series? Not even interested enough in the characters to find out.

3.5 ⭐

incredible storytelling and voicing of the different characters. i wouldn't have been able to read this book, and i feel like it's a much better story in audio form.

4 stars not the best.

Not the best story but it’s alright . Bottom of my 2022 reads . Don’t waste a credit .

Absolutely Fantastic!!

First the narrarator is AMAZING! The story keeps you intrigued! It is fast paced and yet slow when needed! I LOVE this book!!

Emotionally Engaging!

WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

MY TAKE
The story and the characters are compelling, and I found myself fully engaged emotionally. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator did a fabulous job with the voices. I will definitely read further into the series. In fact, I checked with some friends who have read the series before making that decision. I've been disappointed in the endings of some series, and I didn't want to invest in this one if the ending wasn't satisfactory. I'm assured it is.

riveting

Awesome story I really feel a connection to the character! I do feel like there is maybe a little bit too much romantic, but really beautiful story!

Metaphor heavy

What did you like best about Shatter Me? What did you like least?

I really liked the story a lot but honestly,it was a novel length poem. There were to many over dramatic metaphors for me and after a while found myself rolling my eyes. NO 17 YEAR OLD TALKS LIKE THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What about Kate Simses’s performance did you like?

She was awesome! she performed each of the characters and gave them a voice

Slow start to a fantastic series

This is a dystopian YA book a bit of an x-men feel with romance. The first book seemed a bit immature and Juliette's constant whining and self loathing got on my nerves. The scratch outs I thought would annoy me but I stopped noticing them after awhile and is an interesting audio addition. Mafi has a very interesting writing and word choice, very unique but I liked it. The characters seemed too simple but as the book went on and became more interesting I was ready to go on to the second. Well worth downloading. The second book won't disappoint and was really fantastic. If you're feeling like I did about the first continue on, you will be glad you spent the credit.