Joint Review: Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3) by Tahereh Mafi

Summary:

The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, called "a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love"

Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew-about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam-was wrong.

In Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi created a captivating and original story that combined the best of dystopian and paranormal and was praised by Publishers Weekly as "a gripping read from an author who's not afraid to take risks." The sequel, Unravel Me, blew readers away with heart-racing twists and turns, and New York Times bestselling author Kami Garcia said it was "dangerous, sexy, romantic, and intense." Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and climactic end.

 

Release Date: February 4, 2014

Age Group: YA

Source: Purchased

Reviewed By: Kelli, Madi

 

Kelli's Review:
 

Ignite Me was everything I wanted it to be and more.  I read this book in one sitting, staying up until 2 am, and wouldn't have had it any other way!  Ever since the debacle and heartbreak of Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay (not to mention the "DREAMS SHATTERED" ending of the Divergent series), I get nervous with a series conclusion.  I know every series can't have the shiny happily ever after for its characters, but I still hope for it nonetheless.  And no one deserves happiness more than Juliette.  She's been through so much and I just wanted the girl to be happy and feel good about herself!

 

The Shatter Me series is a paranormal story with dystopian elements, and of course, a hot romance.  I thought I knew where the love story was going and I was right!  It was so much more than I'd hoped for, and so perfect for Juliette (and the guy she ends up with). 

 

What I liked so much about Ignite Me was that the story went in a direction I didn't expect.  Mafi's plots are full of surprises and I love that.  Juliette grows so much throughout this series and that growth was fun and uplifting to watch.  I love how the ending isn't necessarily traditional, and not necessarily an ending, but a new beginning. 

 

Above all, the thought I had after finishing Ignite Me was: This.  This is how Mockingjay should have ended.  Here's a girl ON FIRE!  Katniss: take a note from Juliette.  Stop letting your kids play in a graveyard of bones and stand up and fight!  (No hard feelings, Suzanne Collins.  It's been three and a half years but I'm still recovering from Mockingjay). 

Madi's Review:

I’m glad I live in a world where books like this exist. Gosh, I love this book. I read Unravel Me before Christmas so this means I had to wait 2 MONTHS for this book 2 MONTHS!!!! It. Was. Torture. Not to mention, before Ignite Me was released I found some files in the back of Destroy Me. MEDICAL FILES! Medical Files that talked about how Juliette was insane. Hallucinated. Thought she had powers. I WAS FREAKING OUT! I wrote the author and everything! Here I’ll just paste the message…

“In honor of "Ignite Me" coming out in 9 days (AHHHHHHH!!!!!!) I decided to reread "Destroy Me" (Naturally, I AM a Warnette shipper) then I came across this....THING (it won't let me paste the pic but I am referring to HER MEDICAL HISTORY) Now I'll have you know I have adopted the Shatter Me series. I was the first to read it in my school and passed them around. (There is now a Warner Fan Club) The spines are cracking on the books and they've been underlined and highlighted more than a Bible. These books are more than just paper to so many people! This Juliette-is-insane stuff is UNACCEPTABLE! Luckily I caught it before the book was released so if this was the plot twist at the end of "Ignite Me" than it's ok, I forgive you! You can rewrite it and all will be forgotten! We all make mistakes! If you choose to not rewrite the ending then you will feel the wrath of the fangirls! Don't say I didn't warn you! (I personally will not be a part of the riot because I could never harm the person who created Warner) And on a final note, please don't kill Kenjii, let Anderson die instead. Don't hurt little James, he's just a kid. And above all, for the love of all things beautiful, please let Juliette and Warner's Beauty and the Beast story have a happy ending. They deserve it.

Your loyal reader and Warnette-shipper,
Madison Brasher”

 But the wait was worth it! Sooooooooo worth it!!!! The plot, the setting, the character development, THE CHARACTERS! It.was.AMAZING! Let me make a list of all the awesome-est things in the awesome book.

1.       Juliette’s character development. WOW. She went from emotional-hormonal-dejected-teenager to complete-kick-butt-awesome-sauce! (And I do not use that term lightly) All I was thinking was “AWWWW HECK YEAH!!!” (please note my tendency to dislike emotional-hormonal-dejected-teenagers) (I’m really trying hard to not spoil anything so sorry for the vague-ness)

2.       KENJI! Holy Guacamole Kenji is funny. Like really funny. Like Laugh-out-loud-while-sitting-in-a-quiet-classroom funny. (Yeah I got some funny looks. “A book made you laugh???” Seriously. People said that.) In the 1^st and 2^nd books he was more of a third-wheeling-occasional-comic-relief. But not in Ignite Me! No sir-ee!!! I would re-read this book if it was only Kenji talking. And I LOVE how he and Juliette are good friends! He makes me happy J

3.       I’m sorry to all you Jadam-shippers (or Adamette whichever you prefer) but I love Warner. Like LOOOOVE Warner. And I’m not going to say any more because I don’t trust myself to not spoil anything.

4.       THE WRITING!!!!! OH MY GRACIOUS! There are three types of books in this world. There are books, then there is literary awesome, and then there’s word art. This was word art. Let me just prove it with a NON-SPOILING quote:

     “Words, I think, are such unpredictable creatures. No gun, no sword, no army or king will ever be more powerful than a sentence. Swords may cut and kill, but words will stab and stay, burying themselves in our bones to become corpses we carry into the future, all the time digging and failing to rip their skeletons from our flesh.”

      Gosh dang it, that’s good.

 

There’s so much good in this book, I can’t even tell it all apart. If you haven’t read the Shatter Me series then buy it right now. Like RIGHT NOW. Go ahead, open up another tab and BUY IT. It’s worth it.