I finally got around to reading the third and final book in Tahereh Mafi's "Shatter Me" series, Ignite Me. When I first read Shatter Me, I felt it had one of the most unique voices in dystopian YA fiction that I've read in recent years. The same is true for the final installment in the series. In fact, I would suggest that Ignite Me is somewhat of a return to Juliette's more distinctive voice from the first book, because her unique-ness became a little lost in the action in the second book.
Ignite Me was not exactly what I was expecting for the end of the trilogy in terms of plotting. After the big battle and action at the end of Shatter Me, I was expecting Ignite Me to be a very action-packed political book, focusing on battle tactics for the resistance to regroup. Instead, it was more of a character drama with heroine Juliette attempting to figure out who she really is, and with which of her potential beaus (Warner or Adam) she truly belongs. Because of this focus, the book gets a little soapy at times, and one of my favorite characters (Kenji) who has a very big role in this book, even remarks on the soap-like drama of Juliette's life in the middle of all the political turmoil. The book is around 400 pages overall. At least least 200 pages, if not closer to 300 pages, is devoted to relationship issues. While these issues parallel the political issues, they also distract from them to some extent. So readers have to come to the book prepared for this focus. It does mean that the actual action sequences are relegated to a pretty fast-paced ending. This is not necessarily a criticism, just not what I was expecting.
I did feel that some of the characters got short shrift here, particularly Adam and Castle. I would have liked to have seen more development in their respective characters. We see a lot more growth and introspection from Warner, Juliette and Kenji (and some of the other allies) than we do with Adam and Castle, who were two of my faves from previous books.
The ending is also intriguing. I won't give away any spoilers here, but it does leave some really big questions open, including what we might see in Juliette's future and who she's going to become in the future. I'll say no more for fear of spoiling the end for those who haven't read it yet.
Mafi's writing is as engaging and intriguing as ever. It's easy to fly through this book in one or two sittings. And even though there's plenty of relationship turmoil, there's nothing too graphic on the page for teen readers.
Ignite Me was not exactly what I was expecting for the end of the trilogy in terms of plotting. After the big battle and action at the end of Shatter Me, I was expecting Ignite Me to be a very action-packed political book, focusing on battle tactics for the resistance to regroup. Instead, it was more of a character drama with heroine Juliette attempting to figure out who she really is, and with which of her potential beaus (Warner or Adam) she truly belongs. Because of this focus, the book gets a little soapy at times, and one of my favorite characters (Kenji) who has a very big role in this book, even remarks on the soap-like drama of Juliette's life in the middle of all the political turmoil. The book is around 400 pages overall. At least least 200 pages, if not closer to 300 pages, is devoted to relationship issues. While these issues parallel the political issues, they also distract from them to some extent. So readers have to come to the book prepared for this focus. It does mean that the actual action sequences are relegated to a pretty fast-paced ending. This is not necessarily a criticism, just not what I was expecting.
I did feel that some of the characters got short shrift here, particularly Adam and Castle. I would have liked to have seen more development in their respective characters. We see a lot more growth and introspection from Warner, Juliette and Kenji (and some of the other allies) than we do with Adam and Castle, who were two of my faves from previous books.
The ending is also intriguing. I won't give away any spoilers here, but it does leave some really big questions open, including what we might see in Juliette's future and who she's going to become in the future. I'll say no more for fear of spoiling the end for those who haven't read it yet.
Mafi's writing is as engaging and intriguing as ever. It's easy to fly through this book in one or two sittings. And even though there's plenty of relationship turmoil, there's nothing too graphic on the page for teen readers.
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