Shatter Me

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One window; four walls; sixteen square feet of space. For exactly 264 days, Juliette has been imprisoned in a small room because she touched someone and that person died. Outside, plague and famine have reduced the world to a ruined, violent place ruled by the despotic Reestablishment. Then, after those 264 days, those 6,336 hours of enforced solitude, the cursed 17-year-old has been selected to kill dissidents. Only time will tell if she and her gorgeous young male companion will survive—or die trying. Will they be weapons or warriors? A dystopian novel with a romantic hook.

Publishers Weekly

Mafi combines a psychological opener with an action-adventure denouement in her YA debut, and the result is a page-turner with a slightly split personality. Juliette Ferrars is 17 and cannot remember a loving touch; indeed, after 264 days in solitary confinement, she can barely remember human contact. Then a boy is shoved into her cell, and her world changes. Just as she begins to trust Adam, guards burst in and march them off to the commandant. Juliette discovers Adam is really a soldier of the Reestablishment, a totalitarian regime that wants to use Juliette because her touch can kill. Juliette wants to get far away from anyone she can hurt or who can hurt her—though she can’t help hoping that, somehow, Adam might not fall in either of those categories. Mafi doesn’t escape some rookie pitfalls; descriptions like “fifteen thousand feelings of disbelief hole-punched in my heart” strain after lyricism, and proof that the divided plot can be brought to a satisfying conclusion must await later installments. Nevertheless, this is a gripping read from an author who’s not afraid to take risks. Ages 14–up. (Nov.)

Booklist

"Rip-roaring adventure and steamy romance scenes, with a relationship teens will root for as much as they did for Bella and Edward. Inventive touches propel the story, such as strikeouts that reveal Juliette’s inner thoughts. The final chapters leave Juliette, Adam, and Warner well poised for round two."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Fans of Cashore’s Fire, Oliver’s Delirium, and, yes, Twilight will find this addictive."

VOYA

Juliette has a touch that can kill. After seventeen years of being ostracized by her parents, classmates, and community, she is locked away in a cell where she has little to no contact with the outside world. She cannot control the hurt her body causes others and so believes she is a monster, until the one person who knows she is not arrives to help her escape. Adam Kent is a soldier pretending to be on the side of the Reestablishment, an organization that seeks power and control of a world that is being rapidly destroyed by war and environmental hazards. Adam takes this position in the army to save Juliette from being used by military general Warner for her superhuman powers to help the Reestablishment gain more control. Shatter Me fits well into the popular dystopian genre, adding in elements of the paranormal, romance, and suspense. The first half of the book focuses primarily on Juliette reuniting with childhood friend and soon-to-be romantic interest, Adam. The action does not really pick up until the second half of the novel, when Juliette comes into her own, stands up to Warner, and recognizes that her powers can be used for good. At times, the author's descriptions and metaphors seem repetitive and distracting from the action of the story, but the premise and action make up for the overly stylized writing, ultimately making the novel a worthwhile read and leaving the reader eagerly anticipating a sequel. Reviewer: Lindsay Grattan

Kirkus Reviews

A dystopic thriller joins the crowded shelves but doesn't distinguish itself. Juliette was torn from her home and thrown into an asylum by The Reestablishment, a militaristic regime in control since an environmental catastrophe left society in ruins. Juliette's journal holds her tortured thoughts in an attempt to repress memories of the horrific act that landed her in a cell. Mysteriously, Juliette's touch kills. After months of isolation, her captors suddenly give her a cellmate--Adam, a drop-dead gorgeous guy. Adam, it turns out, is immune to her deadly touch. Unfortunately, he's a soldier under orders from Warner, a power-hungry 19-year-old. But Adam belongs to a resistance movement; he helps Juliette escape to their stronghold, where she finds that she's not the only one with superhuman abilities. The ending falls flat as the plot devolves into comic-book territory. Fast-paced action scenes convey imminent danger vividly, but there's little sense of a broader world here. Overreliance on metaphor to express Juliette's jaw-dropping surprise wears thin: "My mouth is sitting on my kneecaps. My eyebrows are dangling from the ceiling." For all of her independence and superpowers, Juliette never moves beyond her role as a pawn in someone else's schemes. Part cautionary tale, part juicy love story, this will appeal to action and adventure fans who aren't yet sick of the genre. (Science fiction. 12 & up)

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Fans of Cashore’s Fire, Oliver’s Delirium, and, yes, Twilight will find this addictive.”

The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books

“Fans of Cashore’s Fire, Oliver’s Delirium, and, yes, Twilight will find this addictive.”

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—Juliette knows that she is a monster; her touch is fatal. She has been living in a cell in a mental institution for 264 days, all alone. When a boy is brought in as her cell mate, his arrival sparks an explosion of events that changes her life as well as the world. Shatter Me takes place in a future time in which a lack of resources has so frightened the citizens that they have handed over all of their basic rights to a totalitarian government. The regime has plans for Juliette, but she finds the strength to resist the powers that be and joins in a rebel movement, becoming the central figure that everyone is fighting to possess. Mafi sets the scene with the horrendous consequences of ecological greediness and the end result of continuing to demand that the government fix everything and protect everyone. Then she shines a light of hope through the idea that evolution always finds a way to adapt. A romantic angle adds to the suspense as Juliette struggles to trust and to love even though the consequences are death if she misjudges. She narrates the story and shares portions of her journal, which adds to the connection readers have with her. Character development is solid and realistic. The book ends with room for a sequel but not in a cliff-hanger, so teens will feel satisfied yet wait impatiently for more.—Saleena L. Davidson, South Brunswick Public Library, Monmouth Junction, NJ