Everyone needs to read this series, it's phenomenal! The story starts (in Shatter Me) in one of my favourite settings for a book. A mental asylum. Don't even ask why, but I love the loss of dialogue and how you just see into every detail of the characters' thoughts, without them hiding behind anything or worrying about anything clichéd. The story moves on to when we meet Adam which is great, as when you read about how she is feeling (about suddenly being with a boy after not being with anyone for so long) you can really feel the emotion that Juliette was feeling as Tahereh Mafi wrote it so passionately.
The story really kicks off in Unravel Me (the second book). It's where you fully meet Warner and just all of your emotions get mixed around and blew up. All through Unravel Me, I was just on the edge of my seat. Ignite Me, however, was damn amazing. This book just gets you thinking so much. I was shocked and mind-blown and felt every emotion. I am proud to say that Ignite Me (or the entire Shatter Me series) has the number two place of my favourite books ever!
Juliette is one of the most relatable characters I have ever read. She has different personality perks that almost everyone can relate to. She doesn't fit into her own skin, she is confused, and she doesn't know what to do about relationship problems. She is like a teenage goddess, and I think that when a character is relatable, you can feel their emotion clearer. Adam is a funny character for me, as he started off as such a good character, and everyone was in love with him (especially Juliette), but then near the end of the series I was like *sigh* 'Go away Adam no one cares'. I think this was really good how Tahereh managed to change my opinion of a character so quickly.
I recommended this book to a friend and she said 'I can't believe Tahereh Mafi changed my opinion so fast, without me even knowing. I was in love with a character one minute, and the next I hated them, without me even thinking about it!'
This brings us to Warner/Aaron. I take Drama for a GCSE, and not too long ago I was asked to do a performance based on the statement, 'There is a thin line between love and hate'. This basically sums up Aaron for me. At the beginning he was the 'villain', so everyone hated him as he was annoying and argh, but then 100% of my love was directed towards him at the end. Warner has to be one of my favourite character developments ever.
Kenji is probably one of my favourite characters I have ever read. His comments were fantastic and he got me laughing out loud. I loved his cocky-ness and in all honesty he reminded me slightly of a character called 'William Herondale' who I know we are all familiar with, so that is a massive perk in a character. He was a great best friend, and he was really well thought about. Whenever anyone asks me who my funniest fictional character is, Kenji always comes to mind first, as he was probably the character that made the whole book for me (as well as Warner of course).
The writing was amazing, the way she wrote the book and the chapters was exceptionally well figured out. The worst thing I think you can have in a book is over usage of clichés, and I didn't sense any at all in this book. She has such a unique type of writing, that you can tell it's entirely her own. Some of the language she used in her book I now use in my daily life, which is crazy how the book has stuck with me so well. Tahereh Mafi is exceptional, and my golly her books are phenomenal.
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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