Destroy Me (Shatter Me, #1.5) (Shatter Me Novella, #1)

by Tahereh Mafi

Juliette escaped from The Reestablishment by seducing Warner—and then putting a bullet in his shoulder. But as she’ll learn in Destroy Me, Warner is not that easy to get rid of...

Back at the base and recovering from his near-fatal wound, Warner must do everything in his power to keep his soldiers in check and suppress any mention of a rebellion in the sector. Still as obsessed with Juliette as ever, his first priority is to find her, bring her back, and dispose of Adam and Kenji, the two traitors who helped her escape. But when Warner’s father, The Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment, arrives to correct his son’s mistakes, it’s clear that he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner simply cannot allow.

Set after Shatter Me and before its forthcoming sequel, Unravel Me, Destroy Me is a novella told from the perspective of Warner, the ruthless leader of Sector 45.

• ISBN10: 0062208195
• ISBN13: 9780062208194
• Publish Date: 2 October 2012
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 111
• Language: English

Reviews

[kalventure]

Well, that was anticlimactic and unnecessary. I skipped this book last time, which was a good call as Warner's narrative voice is... weird and I learned all of this in Unravel Me with way better execution in terms of "redeeming" him as a character.

The only reason this is 3 stars is for the lamp discourse that this comment below provided to me and my friends.

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[verkaskodova]

Poor baby Warner... ._.

[RoXXie]

Time to enter the thoughts and life of Warner.
Mafi made it happen, that the Warner character lost a little of the hate I had for him. To read how he really feels inside, the neglect by his father, the fear for him. Warner gives us a really deep glimpse of what he wants, missed in his childhood and why he feels so close to Juliette. Why he needs to have her, be with her and share everything with her.
Mafi's writing style is again breathtaking and full of emotions.
More! That's what I want. More of this story.

[bestmessever]

I'm glad I now understand why people like Warner.

[liz089]

Even though I already read this series (and loved it), I never read this novella... So sad ! I should have ! Warner 3 It gives a lot of insight on what he does and why he does it. That things are not what they seem like. Interesting !

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: I was all set to skip Destroy Me since it's a novella and just continue with Unravel Me instead. But Chiara convinced me to read Destroy Me first and I'm glad I did. Any trace of doubt that I had about the series after reading Shatter Me dissolved upon reading Destroy Me. The portrayal of Warner added so much depth to this antagonist, there's bound to be a lot of conflict in the later books.

Looking at Juliette through Warner's eyes also added more layers to who Juliette is and why she acts and thinks the way she does. It also puts the idea of mental stability into question, seeing how difficult it can be to measure as an observer who doesn't know the full workings of a subject's mind.

[whisperingchapters]

I need more Warner. Destroy Me was so heart-wrenching. Seeing everything from his point of view was excruciating. I felt for him. I hate his father with a passion. I had my fists clenched while reading.

This is such a great story, there needs to be more of his point of view just so I can suffer with him and fall more for him.

[Kim Deister]

I truly did not want to like Warner, even a little bit, but I can't lie. Destroy Me ruined that for me. I can't help but feel for him now, no matter how much I didn't want to.

He's arrogant, more than a little disturbed, controlling, full of daddy issues, and a whole lot of screwed up. He is also vulnerable and sweet and kind... things he shows to no one. And the more we learn about Warner, the easier it becomes to understand him and the way he is. Yes, he does some reprehensible things and it is often hard to see past those things. But there are things about Warner that just make me want to hug him and love him.

Mafi creates such complex characters and I love that. Juliette hovered on the brink of insanity for too long. In many ways, that time stripped her of a lot of her humanity. Her obsession with numbers and counting was a measure of control in an uncontrollable world for her. To her, Warner was yet another measure of control over her. Adam was everything that was freedom to her. Warner was all of the things that she hated and was terrified of, and yet so much more than that. Adam, too, was more than what he seemed, with a story and issues of his own.

Things to love...

--The rich characters. So complex, so interesting.
--The world. Mafi is amazing at building a world that is equal parts fantastical and disturbingly realistic.

My Recommendation

If you love a fantastically disturbing dystopian story, this is the book (and series) for you! It is so absorbing!

[Berls]

4.5 stars!

My Initial Reaction...

I loved getting to know Warren better - just wish there were more! Destroy Me definitely filled in some details about my favorite guy in the series!

The Good...

One of the best things about Destroy Me is that it let me pat myself on the shoulder a little bit. After reading Shatter Me I said (quote from my review...) "What can I say? Sometimes the bad guys steal the show – and in the Adam vs. Warren scenario, he totally did for me." I saw him as a much more complex character and even did he did some seriously horrible things that I could in no way pretend made him the GOOD GUY, I just liked him better. And now after reading Destroy Me I feel so much more justified in feeling that way. Warren is ONE COMPLEX DUDE and understandably so. I loved getting inside his head!

The Bad...

So in Destroy Me Warren finds Juliette's journal. I LOVED this and thought it was cool to see his reactions to what he read. But then the chapters started beginning with a random excerpt from her journal without his reaction to them. It felt out of place and I didn't like Juliette taking over Warren's book. You have your series, let him have his novella! LOL! Yeah, it's not a big point at all, but I could have done without those (or even better, would have liked them to involve Warren's reactions!)

Concluding Sentiments...

I loved reading Destroy Me and I think it's an absolute must for anyone who's reading the series!

I really enjoyed this book. I like Warner and it was great to see things from his POV.

I would recommend that anybody who loves the Shatter Me series should read this.