Touching Juliette trilogy by Tahereh Mafi

Touching Juliette trilogy by Tahereh Mafi

Book 1: Shatter Me

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Published by Harper Collins on October 15th 2011

Genres: YA dystopian, (science fiction, romance)

Pages: 338

Goodreads

Shatter me is a YA dystopian novel written by Tahereh Mafi. It's the first book in the Touching Juliette trilogy. It follows a seventeen year old girl named Juliette who cannot touch anyone. Her touch is lethal, which means she can kill someone just by touching them. But all will change once her new roommate arrives...

I have a curse

I have a gift

I am a monster

I'm more than human

My touch is lethal

My touch is power

I am their weapon

I will fight back

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

Plot:

I was not expecting this plot at all. I mean, I just thought it would be revolving around a girl who can't touch anyone and her journey on finding a cure or something like that. It is somewhat like that, minus the cure, but wow! Also, the ending! It just makes you want to read/continue the other books. At least it did for me.

So Juliette Ferrars has been locked up in an asylum for 3 years. She hasn't touched anyone in almost a year, but when a boy named Adam comes stumbling into the asylum, everything will change for her.

First of all, she knew Adam from before her lockdown. And second of all, she's been brought to Sector 45, which Warner leads. From that point on, Juliette discovers more and more about herself. However Adam and Juliette escaped Sector 45 in the end.

What I loved about this book was how the feelings of Juliette were portrayed. How she was thinking one thing and said another. Many people are like that, but Juliette kind of, sort of had a 'mental illness'? I don't really know, but she was unstable in the beginning.

It was hard getting used to the writing style, but I did eventually. 

My friend recommended Shatter Me to me and she was raving about it! I was hesitant at first, but decided to pick it up after a couple of months. I regret not reading it earlier because HOLY CRAP. This was amazing! It exceeded my expectations and I loved it so much.
The only problem I had with the book was the writing style, as stated above. I didn't get into it until the second book hence the 4.5. 

Rating: 4.5/5

[SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE FIRST BOOK, THERE WILL MOST LIKELY BE SPOILERS SO BEWARE.]

Book 2: Unravel Me

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Published by Harper Collins on February 5th 2013

Genres: YA dystopian, (romance)

Pages: 461

Goodreads

Unravel Me is the sequel to Shatter Me written by Tahereh Mafi.

tick
tick
tick
tick
tick

it's almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

Plot:

Unlike many other trilogies where the first book is always the best, I found the sequel better than the first.

I began to like Juliette more and more and Adam began to annoy me more and more.

Although the first days/weeks, she was hardly communicating with the people at Omega Point, towards the end she began to talk to them more often. She made a couple of friends/acquaintances: Brendan, Winston, Lily, the girl whose name I forgot but started with an A (Alia?), Castle,... . She was closed off and only seemed to want to talk to Adam, which was not often seeing that they weren't allowed in each other's rooms etc. . And suddenly, Warner appears too.

Juliette learned a whole lot more about her powers in Omega Point. She felt more at ease once she knew there were more people like her.
Juliette and the rest also prepare for the biggest war of her life, but nothing goes as it is planned…
 

In 'Unravel Me' you learn a whole lot more about the characters. More specific Warner, Adam, Juliette and Kenji; the main characters. You also discover something very shocking, which I'm not going to reveal.

Rating: 5/5

[SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOK, THERE WILL MOST LIKELY BE SPOILERS SO BEWARE.]

Book 3: Ignite Me

Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Published by Harper Collins on February 4th 2014

Genres: YA dystopian, (romance)

Pages: 421

Goodreads

Ignite me is the third and final instalment of the Touching Juliette trilogy.

When Juliette awoke after being shot by Anderson, her mission was to take down Anderson for once and for good. What she didn't know yet was that Omega Point has been destroyed. And who knows her friends too? Determined to destroy Anderson and the Reestablishment, Juliette is preparing herself for the fight.

With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn’t know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won’t keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that’s not all he wants with her.

I read this in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down. It was 12AM when I actually finished it and I was fangirling (internally) so hard that I felt like I could burst out of happiness any moment. Seriously, I could have, and probably would've if I didn't have to be so quiet, cried of happiness because of the ending. My heart is fluttering just by thinking of it.

Ignite me is by far my favorite of the trilogy. It’s one of my all-time favorites, in fact. IT IS SO GOOD.

Plot:

Juliette awoke after Anderson shot her. Thanks to Warner and the twins she's still alive. When she heard the news that Omega Point has been destroyed, she had to know if her friends were still alive. And luckily they were.

They trained and trained and trained to prepare themselves to fight against Anderson, his army and the Reestablishment.
Juliette learned to control her powers. She can touch people now, without them dying.

With the help of her team and the men of Sector 45, she is planning on getting revenge against Anderson.  

I loved Juliette in Ignite Me. She was headstrong and was getting what she desired the most, revenge on Anderson. And at the same time she was also worried about her friends being alive or not. So much is going through her head and you wonder how she can still manage to stay calm.

Rating: 5/5 (all the stars)

Characters:

Juliette:

In the beginning I found Juliette's behavior kind of immature, yet I can understand why she reacted the way she did. I mean, after being locked up for so many years, you would probably react the same way as she did. Other than that I found her a great character! I'd say she's my second or third favorite character in this series. As the story progressed, Juliette began to be more mature and headstrong. At first, Juliette needed someone very desperately. And when she could touch someone without the other person suffering she was beyond ecstatic. However, throughout the trilogy, she became more independent and the other person didn't like that. I did though .

 I found her the best in Ignite Me. She was confident, which she always would've been had she not been put into that asylum or had she not been judged by other people (in my opinion), she was passionate. She was out for revenge. And revenge she got.

Warner: 

He's psychotic leader of Sector 45, but to me (and maybe some others :-)) he was the LOVING, psychotic leader of Sector 45.
I get that some people hate him (in the beginning!!!!) because he's doing these 'terrible' things to Juliette. However, when you get to know him you will understand his reasons et cetera. His dad is a monster. His mother is sick and doesn't remember him.
Aaron Warner Anderson is definitely someone who'll be forever imprinted in my mind.

And also: GOD DAMNIT, JULIETTE AND WARNER. Warner and Juliette have officially outranked every OTP that is existent in my brain. Words can't even explain how much I love these two lovebirds. The Juliette and Warner scenes were definitely my favorites.

Kenji: 

My favorite character! I love Kenji (for some unknown reason his name autocorrected to Jennifer)! He brings happiness into the sad lives of everyone. Without him it would be so depressing. His and Juliette's friendship is so valuable. He's so witty yet funny at the same time and that is something I appreciate a lot. He was serious when he needed to be.

Adam: 

I do NOT know why, but from the start on, I absolutely did not like Adam. He was so annoying to me? I suppose that is partly Sara's fault for telling me Adam's annoying, hehe. I even thought he was going to turn against them at some point, but that luckily never happened. He was not my least favorite, but definitely not my favorite. He's somewhere in between. Adam was very attached to past-Juliette, the Juliette who needed someone so desperately. And when Juliette 'changed' (for the better), he was not very happy to say the least. I did find it heartwarming to read about James and him. He's protective about his cute, little brother, which is normal. I also hope that Adam will eventually find happiness. Maybe with Alia? (I FORGOT HER NAME. I KNOW IT STARTS WITH AN A. FORGIVE ME.)

"Books are easily destroyed. But words will live as long as people can remember them."