mj_reads's Reviews (415)

I hope it makes sense when I say that this book does an amazing job portraying the message it wants to send, and yet it was still a story that took me by surprise.

This book is addicting. Its fast paced, the formatting is fun, and it leaves just enough mystery to keep readers on their toes/unable to guess what specifically will happen next. It's that branch of science fiction that is just realistic enough that when I put the book down it took me a minute to come back to reality. It's a story that has readers questioning their basic understanding of science, politics and humanity.

This story is told in interview format, which annoyed me a bit at first, but I think that as I adjusted to it, it helped keep it flowing. The parts I found boring were quickly wrapped up as we jumped to a different interview and the parts I didn't understand as well (some of the science parts) were explained so that the other person in the conversation could understand them-I think this was a huge benefit to readers.

The characters are amazing. They are all so passionate about their work, reading about them making discoveries and their relationships with one another was so pleasant. Unfortunately as more and more characters were introduced into the story there were times I had to check back at the beginning of the chapter to see who it was about (and sometimes then I was still a bit lost). I'm about to contradict myself when I say that despite that it was easy to follow, readers just have to pay attention to details. A majority of the interviews are from the same people, but some chapters appear to be about people who appear to be insignificant...and they are, but what they talk about relates to the main characters. This is definitely a book where content plays a heavier roll than characters. *shrugs*
The content here is incredible. Technology is found on the Earth that is way beyond current advancements, and no one can explain what it is or how it got there. It leaves the characters and the readers questioning (basically) everything. Characters are trying to find answers as to what it is that they discovered, how it works, who put it there, how and WHY. The story suggests that there is so much more in the universe than we have previously believed, its very humbling.

Despite the awesome characters and awesome content there were a few things I found to be a bit problematic. Nothing that makes me want to stop here, but I think that this book reads very clearly as a part of a series. There was a lot of information dumped beyond the halfway point (including mythological and political components) that felt a bit out of place. They were completely necessary for the book, and definitely important for what is next to come, but I just felt like they were kinda sprung up on me out of nowhere? I think if the author wanted to introduce these aspects it would have been better to just wait until book 2, rather than put so much new info in the second half of the book before he was even guaranteed a sequel. (Although I suppose now there is no way for me to not pick up the second book, so at least there's that).
There is also a lot of mentioning in this book that the things they are finding could be from aliens, and yet this book doesn't suggest that this is actually the case. A lot of the focus is on the political repercussions of finding what they did - which is fair, but it just left me wanting more. Hoping to see some more development on this in book 2, and maybe step away from the political aspects. But I definitely believe that is more of a personal preference!

Overall I found this book enjoyable, and would recommend it to anyone who is into science fiction. I'm definitely looking forward to see what is next for this series.

"As long as something was a mystery, there was still the potential for amazement. Maybe that's where I went wrong before. Some riddles weren't meant to be solved."

This book is really something else, and I don't think I mean that as a compliment. The story has a lot of potential to go in so many different directions and ultimately I found myself underwhelmed and disappointed that there wasn't a more to this. This book also tried to deal with really serious content, but I can't help but feel that it was handled very poorly.

This book gives up all the vibes of being some thrilling tale about a missing girl, Lizzie, and instead it's about some self-centered girl, Hawthorne, who is obsessed with the Lizzie for reasons that are never really explained to the reader.

Spoiler

Even when it is later revealed that Lizzie committed suicide the story focuses on Hawthorne who had no real connection to Lizzie at all. It just made no sense to me that even with that realization that the story still talks about Hawthorne? It felt like the author used a messy plot to have some big dramatic moment where she could talk about even the happiest people can be depressed. Or like she just wanted to end the """"investigation""" and tossed Lizzie's death in here to keep the plot moving. Either way it was handled very sloppily, and did not fit in with the tone of the rest of the story.

This should be a story about Lizzie who is missing but ends up being all about Hawthorne who is rude, ridiculous, and so self absorbed that it was actually frustrating.

I keep trying to explain my issues with this book but end up going off on rants that take me back to the idea that this book had a lot of potential and focused on all of the wrong things. Basically it was a huge disappointment. The only redeeming qualities were Vernon, Sundog and Conner (who absolutely deserved better).

Finished my reread today!!! I'm now even more ready (and also not at all ready) for book 3. BRING IT ON SJM.

~ mild spoilers throughout this in terms of charter growth/relationships/hopes for book 3 ~
THIS BOOK. WOW. It is really difficult to articulate how much I loved this, even the second time around. This book just makes you FEEL things.
I think the main reason I love this book so much is because of how much I LOVE FEYRE. Honestly? She is amazing. This girl just gives everything to the people that she cares about, she is ready to repeatedly risk it all time and time again, and finally in this book we see her start to put herself first. She is completely selfless, she feels guilty in the moments where she considers putting herself first, until she finally just doesn't. Readers get to watch Feyre love, hurt, heal, and grow. And if you're reading experience is anything like mine, you'll feel all of these things right along with her.
A lot of people focus on the relationship aspects of this book/series. And I understand why that makes people feel some type of way, but for me this book is all about my home girl (and the rest is just a really REALLY nice bonus).
Which brings us tooooooooooooooo....RHYSAND *heart eyes* He is quite honestly the MVP of this book. Something about this reread, had me thinking about that saying "love is patient, love is kind" saying pretty much all the time. Rhys is honestly TOO GOOD for the shit he deals with. All he does is LOVE people (especially Feyre), but he doesn't let his love consume him or change the way he treats her!! All he does is try to help her become better, even if that means losing her!!! What a fucking team player!!! He is flirty but respectful of her feelings and boundaries, he doesn't push her or give any indication of how serious his feelings are, he just lets her do what she has to do so that she can feel better, and then he gives her space to figure out her feelings for him!!! BECAUSE LOVE (RHYS) IS PATIENT AND KIND.

I'd like to take a quick moment and go back to my comment about feelings things in this book. Feyre and Rhysand quite literally make me feel warm inside. Yes okay, thats all.

Okay right so, we also get to see the Night Court, which is so beautiful (the actual court/location and the people). I want a lot more of it in book 3. I want a lot more of the characters...I want more info on Mor, I need to know how Cassian and Azriel are doing after the end of book 3, and I WANNA KNOW WHAT THE DEAL IS WITH AMREN (who I love tbh). I need updates and backstories and more of them RIGHT NOW.
I'm interested to see what is next for Tamlin. He fucked up, although I have to say I think it was all within reason. He acted out of desperation, and I'm curious as to see if/how he plans on redeeming himself. Lucien was already acting/feeling guilty about letting things get to that point, so I'm curious as to whats next (also excited to see whats gonna happen with him and you know who).
I'm HYPED to see what sort of role Elaine & Nesta will play in the rest of the series. And I'm really hoping I get to watch Feyre make good on the things she promised to the evil people at the end of this story.

The last half of this was a bit less of a review and moreso me realizing how EXCITED I AM FOR THE NEXT BOOK so I guess that's it for now.

There are not enough ways for me to praise this book, I know this because if I added up every single good thing I have to say about it would still not do this book justice.

I was extremely hesitant to read this book, I was worried that with all of the hype surrounding it that my expectations might be set just a little to high and I’d leave feeling disappointed. I was worried that maybe it wasn’t actually THAT good and people were just over praising it because it is about such a difficult topic. I was afraid of reading it, and thinking yes this was important but feeling like the only person who didn’t think it was worthy of all the hype just for being about an important topic. I am so relieved that this was not the case.

What we have here is a book about such an incredibly important topic and it handles it all head on. There is no dancing around the issues, they are so SO real even in these pages. The characters feel so real. The writing was phenomenal. There were times when I put this book down and could still see everything and everyone from this book so clearly, like I was watching a movie, or a show or the actual news. This book made me cry, it made me anxious, it had me holding my breath and it had me feeling numb. But what I find the most interesting is that this book also had me laughing, smiling, and holding on to hope even in the parts where I felt like there was no positive outcome possible.

The author writes about an important and dark topic in a way that provides understanding, sympathy and hope to the readers. Understanding of what it is like to be in the characters shoes, even with no personal connection to the characters their struggles felt so real to me and pulled on all of my emotions. I could genuinely feel their compassion, fear, love, anger, respect and dislike for one another. Sympathy for the characters who felt stuck, who felt like they had nothing left to give, or for those who were afraid to give any more. And hope because even when everything goes wrong, or nothing makes sense to quote the MC, these characters still keep trying to simply have people understand how they feel. They keep trying to make things better. They keep pushing forward. And honestly that is just the icing on the cake there is so much more to this story and it made me feel so much more than all of these things.

I loved everything about this book. From the way it handled difficult topics, to the characters and their relationships with one another. I loved the family dynamic with Starr's fam. I loved her relationships with her friends, even those who weren't so good to her at times. I loved being in Starr's head and experiencing her guilt, her fear and her anger with her. Everything just felt so raw and realistic.

The only thing I have left to say is that this is a book everyone should read.

This book was a lot of fun, but I don’t know that there is anything extraordinary about it? I’ve been having a difficult time rating/reviewing this because although I enjoyed the story something just fell a bit flat IMO. Something is just missing from this story, and even after taking all this time to think about it, I cannot figure out what it is. It might be just me. I just felt like the events leading up to and including the conclusion were really anticlimactic, and overall this story just wasn’t exactly satisfying. I had fun reading it, but it left me a bit disappointed…I wanted more.

I preferred most of the secondary characters to the MC, or I guess I should say that the secondary characters totally upstaged Yalena. This story is all about her, and yet I didn’t feel any emotional attachment to her, even after her back story and character growth. I can appreciate her, but didn’t really care for her. *shrugs* The plot was straight forward enough, there were definitely some twists but nothing that necessarily knocked me off my feet (besides the twist with the Commander that was INCREDIBLE). The story felt pretty familiar to me, and I’m not sure if that is a result of me reading so much YA fantasy or if it was just the writing itself. There was a lot that I enjoyed, but unfortunately it doesn’t make up for the fact that I felt like something was just missing from this book?

I will admit that this was a strong start for the rest of the series, and I absolutely will continue. But my continuation at this point is more for the secondary characters, a genuine interest in where the plot will go next, and a direct result of my heart being really into the small romance subplot this book provided (like really, really into it), and not at all for Yalena (but I’m hoping that changes). I’m also hoping that the rest of the series gives me what I thought was missing from this.

SO CUTE.

A quick read that reminded me why I love Rainbow Rowell. The characters are incredibly realistic, even for a short story. The plot was fun and easy to follow. I finished this with a big smile on my face.

Part of me almost wishes I got some more of these characters, they were really refreshing and easy to relate too. The other part of me is glad that this was simple and sweet, we avoided unnecessary drama or a drawn out getting to know you phase.

This left me equal parts content, and also wishing for more. It was exactly what I wanted from this :)

The first like quarter of this book pained me, i thought it was annoying and cheesy i was so sure even when it finally picked up that i would finish it and be like “well that was fun but it wasn’t for me” and then all of the sudden i was so in love? This was SO MUCH FUN and it WAS for me!!!!

This was really impressive but it left me wanting more and i can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing at this point.

Okay so let me preface this review by commenting on the fact that if I read this book back when it first came out and dystopian/love triangle YA was still the hot thing, this would have been a five star read for me. But unfortunately I've read this type of story so many times that some of the wow factor as well as some of the swoon factor, was lost on me. Either way I was still incredibly entertained and pleasantly surprised by this book!

The writing is so beautiful. Tahereh Mafi uses a lot of repetition and poetic comparisons that paint a really beautiful picture while reading her work. I was honestly so mesmerized by the writing style, I highlighted SO many quotes on my kindle while reading this!!
The plot was super fast paced, the beginning was a bit slow while we were learning about Juliette, but I think it was handled in a way that kept me interested rather than feeling bored. I prefer a slow start over an info dump literally any day, and when that slow start leads into a fast moving plot I'm pretty much in book heaven!!
Juliette as a character has SO MUCH potential!!!! In this book she was really hyper focused on the whole touching thing and super obsessed with Adam, but like I can't hold it against her? Girlfriend has gone through so much with feeling unwanted, like yes girl please embrace the cute boy just please hopefully as the series progresses realize that you don't need a cute boy to make you feel human. I think my feelings on this will be very much impacted on how her character development goes as the series continues...I might one day come back to this. (idk if that was confusing but my point there was I get why she focused so much on a boy in this book I just hope she grows and focuses on other things as well)
Umm Kenji was the gem of this book for me. I'm bummed we didn't see much of him but I'm hoping we see more as the story continues! I thought he was hilarious and can't wait to see what he brings to the table.
Warner. Ughhh. I appreciate his character SO MUCH. He is so complex and the complete opposite of Juliette. Both feel alone/unwanted (or so he says) and while she uses those feelings to be selfless and hopes to one day find approval, he is past the point of hope. Its so interesting to see the other side of it, and because of the similarities in the two its so hard to hate him? Idk at least it was for me. I didn't like him because he was kinda bossy and creepy and controlling and it made me uncomfortable but like also...idk I feel bad for him.
Adam was boring and lame AF. I am 100% convinced he is up to something SHADY AS HELL. But I do like that he is helping Juliette feel more comfortable, and giving her something to look up too. *shrugs* I just don't like him.
At this point I don't ship Juliette with anyone. Some of the moments in the book with

Spoiler

Juliette & Adam

made me go awwwww but nothing really hooked me on anyone.

In summary: Loved the plot, can't wait to see what happens next. The only reason I couldn't give this 5 stars is because Warner and Adam are both so clingy and weird, I don't understand the obsession with either of them. HOPEFULLY I will, but not yet, and that kind of took away from some of my enjoyment of the book.

Let me just start this by pointing out that Shatter Me (as a series) is the best YA dystopian series I've read so far. It manages to follow the standard dystopian trilogy layout, but does so in a way that I haven't exactly seen before? Something about the pacing of this series has had me anticipating quite a lot of the events and still has had me completely shocked at the same exact time. Everything happens in a way that lets the events feel natural/get explained properly/leave me in emotional PAIN.
I'm literally just so HYPED UP in anticipation for the next book because I have a general idea of how it will end but there is SO MUCH TIME for shit to go down? A lot of what typically happens in the third book of a dystopian novel happened in this one SO LIKE WHAT IS LEFT? I DONT THINK IM READY?

Yes okay so generic dystopian plot that is so much MORE than a generic dystopian plot, I hope you're following me and I hope you're as excited as I am over that. Now onto the next best thing. THESE CHARACTERS.
Lets start with the underdog of this book, the man who made me smile more than anyone else in this book...KENJI. I need this series to become a show or movie just so that I can get reaction gifs of Kenji, specifically from this book. He is just so amazing? He keeps it real, tells people everything the need but don't want to hear, and still manages to be the fan favorite? I just love everything about his character from his humor, to his dedication and his fearlessness.
Juliette, girl has some issue but shes working through them. I think having the story be from her POV is what keeps her so lovable, we get to see her struggle from the inside rather than just watch her be emotional. Her character still has a lot of room to grow but she isn't the scared little girl from the beginning of the series anymore and it makes me so happy.
Adam....Honestly I'm not the biggest fan...sure he seems relatively swoon worthy but also my mind just kinda goes NOPE everytime I read about anything he is doing. It's difficult to explain without getting all spoilery so I'll just leave it at that.
Warner. I love him. He deserves better. Again I can't get into it because spoilers but this guy broke me in this book. He is my child. Would die for him tbh.
Secondary characters are all pretty A+ as well. Lots of wildcards in this book and I'm excited to see what they will have to offer in book 3!!

As with book 1, the writing is beautiful. Some people comment on it being to flowery but that isn't usually something that bothers me. Lots of incredible quotes, lots of beautiful imagery, and lots of conversations and interactions that had me physically feeling something.

Ok so thats all I feel comfortable mentioning because I get really bad at tagging spoilers when I'm excited (and this book gets me SO FIRED UP)!!! But this was super exciting, it kept me on my toes and also I'm so in love with it and the characters. If you liked Shatter Me, I honestly think you'll like this one even more!