There's something uniquely bizarre about reading a beloved series several years after its release. First published in 2011, Shatter Me was out for eight years before I got around to it last year... and because the future ship is talked about everywhere I knew who Juliette would end up with down the road. And that knowledge really makes the events of this book hard to stomach.
Juliette Farrars has an ability that makes her touch lethal and she's been locked away after accidentally murdering someone. And forgotten, left to rot where she can't hurt anyone. Until Warner and the Reestablishment think that she could be an asset to their cause.
The worldbuilding of the dystopian future is - for the most part - largely left to the end of the book, setting up the rest of the series well to dive into the resistance and all the sins of the Reestablishment. Re-reading the book now shows how glaringly absent all of this information is in this first book, and that's... well, it is a choice.
The book is largely focused on the romance between Adam and Juliette, the worldbuilding and general overarching plot of 'fight the authoritarian regime in a dystopian future' mostly relegated to the sidelines. And the romance is a big reason that I didn't enjoy this book more. Their insta-love pairing makes sense: they are both broken people who attached onto the first person to show them kindness. Couple that with the hormones of being seventeen years old, and that's a recipe for an intense romance, although one I was kind of bored by. Adam is a little bland for a love interest, his main characteristic is his obsessive love for Juliette.
When I first read this book in 2019, I was appalled by Warner and the knowledge that he and Juliette would wind up together. How do I know this? Everyone had Juliette and Warner on their top ship lists. That knowledge hung over my head with every word: his obsessive love and desire to possess her, his forcing her to torture a child to test her ability, his ruthlessness in leadership.
While Juliette's relationship with Adam is far from healthy, Warner is abusive and toxic. I hated him in a way I know I wouldn't have had I read the books without the ship spoiler - because after reading the other two books in the original trilogy, Shatter Me lands differently. I am still incredibly conflicted about toxic relationships in YA and still don't think these actions are justified, but at least I am seeing the breadcrumbs of Warner's true self a bit more. Although with his obsessive "I love you" before getting shot, just... yikes all around.
Overall, I'm glad that my friends all decided to read the series and I gave this a second read. I was so conflicted last year because of what I knew about how romances developed, I didn't even feel comfortable landing on a rating. I definitely enjoyed the book more this time, although the romance is less palatable to me than I seem to remember. The writing is absolutely beautiful though, and the audiobook narration really delivers tension and anxiety with her performance.
Content warnings: child abuse, child neglect, torture, violence, war
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