carmeneleee's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
kylieklb's review against another edition
1.0
I really just need to grasp my head around my thoughts on this book.
In theory, I probably should like it. I just finished the first 4 books of ACOTAR, loved them, and I was in the mood for something similar. With the love triangle and things I’ve heard about Shatter Me I thought I would like it. But something was just off.
To be honest, the prose in this novel wasn’t that bad for me. Like I said, ACOTAR was super similar in terms of very flowery prose and the strikethroughs and repetition in this book didn’t bug me.
However, the plot, characters, and worldbuilding in this book were just so subpar.
1) Plot. Juliette is imprisoned, gets taken by the bad guys, realizes one of the “bad guys” is her childhood crush, said childhood crush and her escape, they almost die, meet up with the rebel forces. I honestly feel like this plot is super overdone and hollow and parts of it just felt so unrealistic. Like why would Warner let Juliette sleep with just one guard who lives in the room with no cameras or additional supervision? Why was Juliette never anxious about getting caught with Adam in the room? How does Adam just conveniently know where a nuclear plant is that disables the tracker serum and conveniently have a house no one knows about? And even crazier imo, how does this Rebel force super close by know about Juliette and immediately offer to train her and for her to live there with people like her? It all just happens so fast and it’s way too convenient.
2) Characters. Juliette feels like a typical fantasy/romance protagonist with a ridiculously storng moeal compass and it seems like there’s nothing else in her characterization besides being lowkey crazy. Adam’s character is basically bread and Warner’s so deluded I’m confused how Juliette sees anything to remotely empathize with. None of these characters have any sort of ambiguity in them to me and it all feels super surface level.
3) Lastly, the worldbuilding in this book was basically non-existent. Pseudo-communist regime Reestablishment whose goals we basically know nothing about besides World Domination and an underground resistance. It just feels like it’s been done before and also very superficial.
Anyways, I just had to get this rant in right after I finished the book because I wanted to like it. I expected myself to like it. But it just had too many shortcomings that couldn’t make up for the action that did pull me in. Nothing about the book really had an umph that made me care for it and nothing was endearing enough to make me want to continue the series.
In theory, I probably should like it. I just finished the first 4 books of ACOTAR, loved them, and I was in the mood for something similar. With the love triangle and things I’ve heard about Shatter Me I thought I would like it. But something was just off.
To be honest, the prose in this novel wasn’t that bad for me. Like I said, ACOTAR was super similar in terms of very flowery prose and the strikethroughs and repetition in this book didn’t bug me.
However, the plot, characters, and worldbuilding in this book were just so subpar.
1) Plot. Juliette is imprisoned, gets taken by the bad guys, realizes one of the “bad guys” is her childhood crush, said childhood crush and her escape, they almost die, meet up with the rebel forces. I honestly feel like this plot is super overdone and hollow and parts of it just felt so unrealistic. Like why would Warner let Juliette sleep with just one guard who lives in the room with no cameras or additional supervision? Why was Juliette never anxious about getting caught with Adam in the room? How does Adam just conveniently know where a nuclear plant is that disables the tracker serum and conveniently have a house no one knows about? And even crazier imo, how does this Rebel force super close by know about Juliette and immediately offer to train her and for her to live there with people like her? It all just happens so fast and it’s way too convenient.
2) Characters. Juliette feels like a typical fantasy/romance protagonist with a ridiculously storng moeal compass and it seems like there’s nothing else in her characterization besides being lowkey crazy. Adam’s character is basically bread and Warner’s so deluded I’m confused how Juliette sees anything to remotely empathize with. None of these characters have any sort of ambiguity in them to me and it all feels super surface level.
3) Lastly, the worldbuilding in this book was basically non-existent. Pseudo-communist regime Reestablishment whose goals we basically know nothing about besides World Domination and an underground resistance. It just feels like it’s been done before and also very superficial.
Anyways, I just had to get this rant in right after I finished the book because I wanted to like it. I expected myself to like it. But it just had too many shortcomings that couldn’t make up for the action that did pull me in. Nothing about the book really had an umph that made me care for it and nothing was endearing enough to make me want to continue the series.
gabiiiii's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
zoeminney's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
itsanaali's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
emmsdot's review against another edition
3.0
So Warner was a complete creep.
I don’t trust Adam as far as I could throw him.
And Kenji was the highlight of this book.
This whole book was either kissing or shooting and Juliette was the only girl in the whole book which was odd.
dadoty's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jinxedatmidnight's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
alicimici's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25