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782 reviews by:
cassianlamb
The beginning is incredibly boring. So boring, in fact, that if I was not assigned this book for a class, I'd have abandoned it.
The writing itself was almost as breathtakingly bad as the Hunger Games. There was over description, extra details no one would normally even notice (even outside the descriptions), and so much repetition of felt like the author knew her audience was losing interest.
Edna, our main character, got a little better as the story goes on. By that, I mean she becomes slightly interesting, instead of the crying woman introduced at the beginning. But that's really it.
Robert started out simply amazing. Yeah, he might be despicable at first for the fact that he's flirting with a married woman, but he was just so much better than Mr. Pontellier that it's easy to forgive him. His ending, though, was really out of character. He did so much, and achieved his wildest dreams, and yet he threw it out the window the second he got scared. That was not the character I liked, and it just felt like such a waste.
Furthermore, that is the final straw in Edna's slide. She was depressed before, due to society, I know, but having THAT placed so soon afterwards? This novel was meant to be feminist; in fact, for the time period, it was so radical even women's rights moves frowned on it. At least, that's the reason we were told in the edition I read. If anything, it might have been the fact that she was finally independent, and then grew DEPRESSED SUPPOSEDLY BECAUSE OF IT, and then committed SUICIDE WHEN HER BOYFRIEND DUMPED HER! Was the caps lock really necessary, you might be asking? YES, because I am still (please forgive my language) pissed as hell with this book.
I do not see a reason it has to progress to suicide. And even if it did, I do not see how this is supposed to be a women's rights book when the main character kills herself at the end once she finally won, or why that also had to hinge on a man.
If you've read any of my other reviews on books, you know they're normally rants about how much I disliked them, so there's another one for the books.
The writing itself was almost as breathtakingly bad as the Hunger Games. There was over description, extra details no one would normally even notice (even outside the descriptions), and so much repetition of felt like the author knew her audience was losing interest.
Edna, our main character, got a little better as the story goes on. By that, I mean she becomes slightly interesting, instead of the crying woman introduced at the beginning. But that's really it.
Robert started out simply amazing. Yeah, he might be despicable at first for the fact that he's flirting with a married woman, but he was just so much better than Mr. Pontellier that it's easy to forgive him. His ending, though, was really out of character. He did so much, and achieved his wildest dreams, and yet he threw it out the window the second he got scared. That was not the character I liked, and it just felt like such a waste.
Furthermore, that is the final straw in Edna's slide. She was depressed before, due to society, I know, but having THAT placed so soon afterwards? This novel was meant to be feminist; in fact, for the time period, it was so radical even women's rights moves frowned on it. At least, that's the reason we were told in the edition I read. If anything, it might have been the fact that she was finally independent, and then grew DEPRESSED SUPPOSEDLY BECAUSE OF IT, and then committed SUICIDE WHEN HER BOYFRIEND DUMPED HER! Was the caps lock really necessary, you might be asking? YES, because I am still (please forgive my language) pissed as hell with this book.
I do not see a reason it has to progress to suicide. And even if it did, I do not see how this is supposed to be a women's rights book when the main character kills herself at the end once she finally won, or why that also had to hinge on a man.
If you've read any of my other reviews on books, you know they're normally rants about how much I disliked them, so there's another one for the books.
This is a very mediocre series overall, and yet I'm still reading for some reason. This reason lies with the fact that the author loves to put cliffhangers right as the book finally starts to get interesting.
Shatter Me: the discovery of others like her
Unravel Me (spoilers, if you didn't figure that out): she's in the middle of an actual war zone
A word about the first ending: that is barely touched upon in the sequel. Yes, there are other powers. No, they will not get much page time. Outside of Kenji, Adam, apparently Aaron, and Castle, they get a collective page time of maybe 1/4, and that's including when they are only mentioned by name. The rest of the book is basically 1/4 Juliette feeling bad for herself, and 1/2 shipping nonsense. Perhaps I should have expected this, but with the whole "my touch is power" thing, I kept having hope.
Let's go to that for a second. Is it just me, or is Juliette incredibly overpowered? I mean, super strength? Deadly touch? Earthquakes?! Seriously, it's like Mafi is trying to make her seem like a little kid's version of a hero (If they learned about Rouge, that is). Yeah, I get her consciousness is supposed to make her deadly touch a weakness, but seriously! The only thing holding her back from a mostly normal life is herself. The suit allows her to be around people, and to have human contact. she can interact like a normal human being, especially after she got her strength under control. Instead, she whines about it all, and despite feeling horrible about it the number of times (yes, times!) she's called out on it, she never does anything to actually change that.
Warner also disappointed me a little this time. He was still much more interesting than the other characters (same with Kenji, but he really speaks for himself) yet he is approaching Flatland. And the whole plot twist with him being related to Adam? The only reason that was there was to add more drama to the love triangle. Even if you love this book, and hate me for dissing it, at least admit that to yourself.
To go completely off topic: what is with that bird? It is mentioned once in this book, maybe twice, and then never again. The author never comments on the fact that Adam and Juliette had the same dream. She never even attempts to explain that. Oh, and basically the entire post-apocalyptic thing was abandoned. Yeah, we know an apocalypse happened, but iTunes seemed unnecessary. They ruled the Energies as coming from it in the last book, but the origin of both is otherwise left unsaid.
Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, Juliette is kind of an ass at the end of the book. Her friends are out in a war zone possibly dying or getting injured, and the hostages are still being held. Civilians are being massacred in the streets, and one was killed right before her eyes. Yet, despite feeling absolutely fine, she just sits there in bed looking at Warner. She thinks about them, sure, but apparently cannot be bothered at that point in time. She's rather Stay with the guy who betrayed her.
What was with that, by the way? Aaron hates his father so much he nearly killed him several times, and yet he goes back to him? Please tell me he was held there against his will, and caught escaping. Or that he was working on a way out from the inside. I was unhappy with him deciding to flee, but this was so much worse. And yet we're expected to forgive him like it was nothing because he reacted like a normal human being when the girl he likes for shot.
These books make absolutely no sense to me. They have potential, so I stay, but they could be so much better. Perhaps the next one. I know, though, that once I'm done with this series, I'm done, and not going back like I normally would with interesting books. I will fully admit I probably would not have even read this one, despite the previous cliffhanger, if not for the cliffhanger.
Shatter Me: the discovery of others like her
Unravel Me (spoilers, if you didn't figure that out): she's in the middle of an actual war zone
A word about the first ending: that is barely touched upon in the sequel. Yes, there are other powers. No, they will not get much page time. Outside of Kenji, Adam, apparently Aaron, and Castle, they get a collective page time of maybe 1/4, and that's including when they are only mentioned by name. The rest of the book is basically 1/4 Juliette feeling bad for herself, and 1/2 shipping nonsense. Perhaps I should have expected this, but with the whole "my touch is power" thing, I kept having hope.
Let's go to that for a second. Is it just me, or is Juliette incredibly overpowered? I mean, super strength? Deadly touch? Earthquakes?! Seriously, it's like Mafi is trying to make her seem like a little kid's version of a hero (If they learned about Rouge, that is). Yeah, I get her consciousness is supposed to make her deadly touch a weakness, but seriously! The only thing holding her back from a mostly normal life is herself. The suit allows her to be around people, and to have human contact. she can interact like a normal human being, especially after she got her strength under control. Instead, she whines about it all, and despite feeling horrible about it the number of times (yes, times!) she's called out on it, she never does anything to actually change that.
Warner also disappointed me a little this time. He was still much more interesting than the other characters (same with Kenji, but he really speaks for himself) yet he is approaching Flatland. And the whole plot twist with him being related to Adam? The only reason that was there was to add more drama to the love triangle. Even if you love this book, and hate me for dissing it, at least admit that to yourself.
To go completely off topic: what is with that bird? It is mentioned once in this book, maybe twice, and then never again. The author never comments on the fact that Adam and Juliette had the same dream. She never even attempts to explain that. Oh, and basically the entire post-apocalyptic thing was abandoned. Yeah, we know an apocalypse happened, but iTunes seemed unnecessary. They ruled the Energies as coming from it in the last book, but the origin of both is otherwise left unsaid.
Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, Juliette is kind of an ass at the end of the book. Her friends are out in a war zone possibly dying or getting injured, and the hostages are still being held. Civilians are being massacred in the streets, and one was killed right before her eyes. Yet, despite feeling absolutely fine, she just sits there in bed looking at Warner. She thinks about them, sure, but apparently cannot be bothered at that point in time. She's rather Stay with the guy who betrayed her.
What was with that, by the way? Aaron hates his father so much he nearly killed him several times, and yet he goes back to him? Please tell me he was held there against his will, and caught escaping. Or that he was working on a way out from the inside. I was unhappy with him deciding to flee, but this was so much worse. And yet we're expected to forgive him like it was nothing because he reacted like a normal human being when the girl he likes for shot.
These books make absolutely no sense to me. They have potential, so I stay, but they could be so much better. Perhaps the next one. I know, though, that once I'm done with this series, I'm done, and not going back like I normally would with interesting books. I will fully admit I probably would not have even read this one, despite the previous cliffhanger, if not for the cliffhanger.
I don't know about other copies, but the one I read was ridiculously short, and I'm talking less than 200 pages. I haven't read a regular fiction book that short since elementary school. Is the length a bad thing? I would say in a different situation, no. In this one, though, the plot was rushed, and everything I cared about was basically shrunk to a few lines here and there. I am still not happy about that.
Also, Knox and Kitty finally got together. I shipped them due to Benjy's total lack of personality in Captive (which did not change here) but it honestly felt so forced in this edition. I am happy Benjy and Kitty broke up, but Kitty realizing she likes Knox was basically just a conversation with her half brother and her going "I guess our constant fights are a good thing" which they are not. I know this is more like a language they alone speak, but still. At least TRY to make it believable.
One last thing: why the HELL is Kitty still Lila in the end?! She is going to have to pretend for the rest of her life now, and that WILL mess with her sanity. She will likely face anxiety, depression, and a whole bunch of other things simply because she cannot be herself anymore now that she has announced herself as Lila and announced Kitty Whatever-She-Is-Now dead. I know for a fact that neither the author, not the character, thought this through. Absolutely horrible planning right there. Really, that's what this entire book was: horrible planning.
Also, Knox and Kitty finally got together. I shipped them due to Benjy's total lack of personality in Captive (which did not change here) but it honestly felt so forced in this edition. I am happy Benjy and Kitty broke up, but Kitty realizing she likes Knox was basically just a conversation with her half brother and her going "I guess our constant fights are a good thing" which they are not. I know this is more like a language they alone speak, but still. At least TRY to make it believable.
One last thing: why the HELL is Kitty still Lila in the end?! She is going to have to pretend for the rest of her life now, and that WILL mess with her sanity. She will likely face anxiety, depression, and a whole bunch of other things simply because she cannot be herself anymore now that she has announced herself as Lila and announced Kitty Whatever-She-Is-Now dead. I know for a fact that neither the author, not the character, thought this through. Absolutely horrible planning right there. Really, that's what this entire book was: horrible planning.
I'd say it was good until the last two chapters. I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending (and *possible spoilers * I'm still not entirely sure what happened with Cath's two year long work *end of possible spoilers*).
