Novel Review: Unite Me (Shatter Me, #1.5, #2.5) by Tahereh Mafi

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Paranormal Dystopian Romance Novellas

Publisher: HarperTeen (HarperCollins)

Release Date: February 4th, 2014

Spoilers?: Some.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Perfect for fans of Tahereh Mafi’s New York Times bestselling Shatter Me trilogy, this book collects her two companion novellas, Fracture Me and Destroy Me, in print for the first time ever. It also features an exclusive look into Juliette’s journal and a preview of Ignite Me, the hotly anticipated final novel of the series.

Destroy Me tells the events between Shatter Me and Unravel Me from Warner’s point of view. Even though Juliette shot him in order to escape, Warner can’t stop thinking about her—and he’ll do anything to get her back. But when the Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment arrives, he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner cannot allow.

Fracture Me is told from Adam’s perspective and bridges the gap between Unravel Me and Ignite Me. As the Omega Point rebels prepare to fight the Sector 45 soldiers, Adam's more focused on the safety of Juliette, Kenji, and his brother. The Reestablishment will do anything to crush the resistance . . . including killing everyone Adam cares about.

The Shatter Me series is perfect for fans who crave action-packed young adult novels with tantalizing romance like Divergent and The Hunger Games. This captivating story, which combines the best of dystopian and paranormal, was praised as “a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love” by Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

The Cover:

The cover on this book is both the covers for the novellas, Destroy Me and Fracture Me, one on the front and one on the back. I love them, honestly. They're gorgeous, much like the others in the series, and I love that the eye is closed instead of open. It's just all-around beautiful.

Quotes:

• "Torture is not torture when there’s any hope of relief.” (Destroy Me, pg. 33)
• "Love is a heartless bastard.” (Destroy Me, pg. 102)
• "I have a heart, says science, but I am monster, says society. […] But sometimes I think—sometimes I wonder—if I were monster—surely, I would feel it by now?” (Juliette’s Journal, pg. 190)

Review:

I’m so glad that publishers seem to be collecting short stories and releasing them in a paper book edition. Not only because I don’t like reading stories on my computer, but also because it’s nice having a complete physical edition. Especially since I got to read Warner (and Adam’s) short story before reading the final book in the series.

Firstly, Mafi’s writing still just impresses me, I love it. She portrayed Warner really well, and she really pulled off Adam, no matter how much I didn’t like him. Then we got to read some of Juliette’s journal, and I just love being in her head. Her voice is so well done.

So, the first short story in this is Destroy Me, Warner’s. I was intrigued by him in the first book, and liking him in the second (and starting to vote for him for Juliette), so reading this was really nice. It gave a really nice insight into his head, seeing his relationship with his father, as well as seeing how he really feels for Juliette. And you really get to see the full extent of his feelings for her here, and it’s honestly really nice. He sees her in such a nice way, falling for her so honestly. It made me like him a lot more, and I liked seeing his actual reasons behind his actions.

Then there was Fracture Me, Adam’s story. I liked Adam in the first book, and still rather liked him in the second (although was starting to catch on to some things…). But now I just think he’s a rather asshole. I’m really surprised by this, but he really looks down on Juliette, and Kenji, thinking that he’s the only useful one around, the smart one, and that he has to take care of everyone. It was a little condescending toward Juliette at times, and that really got on my nerves. Then there’s the fact that, when he’s stressed, he takes it out on the people around him.

Plus, it became really apparent to me how differently the two look at Juliette. Warner believes in her, even if he’s a little misguided at times. He truly sees her, and cares for her. Adam, on the other hand, has some kind of reverse hero-worship for her (meaning that he has to be her hero and save and protect her, like she’s fragile and naive). And then, near the end of the story, he pretty much completely turns his back on her. It really kind of pissed me off. (Kenji, on the other hand, was sweet and responsible the entire time. He’s the best.)

I’m surprise by how much my feelings changed from reading this, and am now really glad that I did read it.

The last was an extra, a short excerpt of Juliette’s journal. I generally just love being inside Juliette’s head, love her way of looking at things, the writing style used for her voice, so I rather loved this. It was nice getting an excerpt of what was going on in her head earlier on during her isolation. Sad, but really nice. 

I am really glad that this was released in paperback, and that I picked it up. It was really, really good. I’m supremely impressed, and now even more excited to read the final book.