Not long ago, I was on a dystopian romance kick, so I decided to do a reread of the Shatter Me series, which is one of my favorites of the genre. I read it for the first time back in 2014 and it took me until 2016 to finally pick up book 2, Unravel Me, but I’m SO glad I did!
Without getting too spoilery, this series has a Hunger Games-meets-X-Men feel, where the world is run by an evil government organization and there’s a small subset of society who have special powers. The main character, Juliette, whose touch can (and did) kill, finds herself falling in with a group of these people, which allows her to finally find a place in the world where she’s welcome. There’s a slight love triangle, but it’s the enjoyable kind where you actually see the MC’s growth.
So why did it take me so long to pick up book 2?
I’m not sure if it was the writing style or the narration that got me, honestly. It’s written in a very stream-of-consciousness style through the eyes of Juliette. She was imprisoned after her touch accidentally killed a person, and due to the lack of human contact both before and during her confinement, her mind has become a bit shattered, so to speak. This made it difficult to really connect to her way of describing the world around her, at least at first. Much of what she says is through metaphors that can be a bit frustrating to navigate, especially if you’re not expecting them.
After I finished the original trilogy, I realized Juliette was much more complex than I’d originally given her credit for. While there are a few “whoa, there” moments, overall, I think her story of growth is wonderful.
There are six books in total, along with five novellas. I’ll be honest–I haven’t read the last three books because I was so happy with the ending of the original trilogy, which seems to be a pretty common mindset. I’ll likely read the rest soon, though, because the characters are just wonderful. Especially Kenji 😍
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, love triangle, chosen-one
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