Thursday, December 26, 2013

Review: Fracture Me by Tahereh Mafi

Fracture Me (Shatter Me, #2.5)
Goodreads Summary: In this electrifying sixty-page companion novella to the New York Timesbestselling Shatter Me series, discover the fate of the Omega Point rebels as they go up against The Reestablishment. Set during and soon after the final moments of Unravel MeFracture Me is told from Adam's perspective.
As Omega Point prepares to launch an all-out assault on The Reestablishment soldiers stationed in Sector 45, Adam's focus couldn't be further from the upcoming battle. He's reeling from his breakup with Juliette, scared for his best friend's life, and as concerned as ever for his brother James's safety. And just as Adam begins to wonder if this life is really for him, the alarms sound. It's time for war.
On the battlefield, it seems like the odds are in their favor—but taking down Warner, Adam's newly discovered half brother, won't be that easy. The Reestablishment can't tolerate a rebellion, and they'll do anything to crush the resistance . . . including killing everyone Adam has ever cared about.
Fracture Me sets the stage for Ignite Me, the explosive finale in Tahereh Mafi's epic dystopian series. It's a novella not to be missed by fans who crave action-packed stories with tantalizing romance like Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Legend by Marie Lu.
Genre: Dystopia, romance
Pages: 68
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Bought e-book

Favorite Quote: "She's not his type at all."

Review: 

Ever since Shatter Me first came out in 2011, I have pretty much loved every single second of it. It took me a little while to get used to the unique writing style, but I came to love it. But what I adored even more than the poetic words were the characters (or at least a few of them). The ones that have a place in my heart are in solid favorite positions. I figured there might be another novella since we got Destroy Me last year, but I didn't think it would be from Adam's perspective. Mostly because I think I read somewhere that Mafi said writing the story through his eyes would give away too much to the reader before book three came out. Apparently that's not the case because lo and behold, Adam is narrating. The best thing about the novella itself is the cover, I'm sad to say. I'm actually pretty disappointed by it, but it did feature the first two chapters of Ignite Me, and they were awesome. I love the shade of purple, and even though the feathers are a little out of place here, they're still so pretty. I find it funny that the tagline is I Will Not Lose Her. It should be I'll Probably Lose Her But Oh Well.

I can't honestly say I had high expectations for this despite my love of Tahereh Mafi's books. It's mostly due to the fact that I greatly dislike Adam and I thought sticking around him constantly would be annoying. I've always felt kind of bad for not liking him though, because I knew that he was a pretty good guy and I had no legitimate reason for hating his guts (aside from wanting Warner to end up with Juliette, that is). There are two things Fracture Me convinced me of. The first is that there are good reasons behind my Adam-hate now! I no longer have to feel bad. He comes off so differently to the reader when he's the narrator and we're not seeing him through Juliette's biased eyes.

He's whiny, he's a hypocrite and he's actually a little mean. He constantly complains that no one listens to him, and the way he sees Juliette is awful. He thinks she is a "weak link" (direct quote), and that she always needs to be protected. He doesn't like having her along when they go off to fight The Reestablishment. He doesn't know if he wants to stay with her after she left him for good reason. A part of me couldn't believe what I was reading. He seemed so in love with her in Shatter Me, but here it is revealed that he feels a huge obligation to keep her safe but doesn't seem to harbor much deep feeling for her anymore.

I mean, after she gets kidnapped Kenji actually has to convince him to think about rescuing her. Kenji seemed like the one in love with Juliette, definitely not Adam. Adam is more than a little confusing, too. On one hand, he calls Warner a horrible monster that isn't even human with no remorse or compassion. Yet he's totally willing to let Juliette stay with him because "he won't hurt her". And like two pages later Adam is talking about the slow ways he'd like to torture Warner, and I was wondering who the real psychopath really was. We get next to no new background information on Adam (which was fine by me), and compared to the beautiful way Shatter Me, Unravel Me and Destroy Me are written, Fracture Me seems extremely bland in comparison. Adam is just not that deep of a guy; there's no complexity in his character.

Personally, I don't understand how anyone could still want him to end up with Juliette after this novella. I think I'll be a little offended if they do because this just showed how unhealthy their relationship is. At the very end when Adam is told that Juliette is dead, he seems more upset by the fact that he thinks it's his fault than her actual demise. This just aggravated me to death because of how much Juliette grieved for Adam in the beginning of Ignite Me; clearly, her feelings for him ran deeper than his for her. I think it even kind of hinted at a new love interest for Adam, one named Alia. I wouldn't mind if Mafi took the story in that direction, but I think a whole lot of drama will unfold after Juliette and Adam discover that neither of them are dead. The only thing I actually liked about Adam in Fracture Me was his relationship with his little brother, James. Overall, though I didn't care a whole lot for it, it was still a great eye-opener and I can't stress how important it is to other people to read the novellas for this series.

3 stars 

Books in this series: 

1. Shatter Me
1.5 Destroy Me
2. Unravel Me
2.5 Fracture Me
3. Ignite Me

Other Opinions: 

The Nocturnal Library
Mel 

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