Tuesday, February 11, 2014

In Defense of: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi


Ignite Me (Shatter Me, #3)The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, called "a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love"

Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew-about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam-was wrong.

In Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi created a captivating and original story that combined the best of dystopian and paranormal and was praised by Publishers Weekly as "a gripping read from an author who's not afraid to take risks." The sequel, Unravel Me, blew readers away with heart-racing twists and turns, and New York Times bestselling author Kami Garcia said it was "dangerous, sexy, romantic, and intense." Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and climactic end.



Okay so, after going on goodreads after reading this book, I found a lot of the issues people were having were quite common. I loved this book. While these things bothered me as well, they didnt stop me from giving this book 5 stars. This is because I was able to understand (for the most part) why Mafi chose to do this (I could also be 100% wrong but whatever!)

My Thoughts

Let's move on to the 3 main issues I found people seemed to have with this book:

The Writing: Okay, as annoyed as everyone was with Juliettes ridiculous metaphors and cross outs in Shatter Me and Unravel Me, I loved it. She was locked up, broken, and severely lacked social skills. Where did she turn to? Her writing. I also feel that her writing was developed intentionally as Juliette developed. So, I did miss that in Ignite Me, but I completely understood. Juliette was a different person in this book, she was stronger and had more experience with the world, so she was able to form a sentence without finding 4 different metaphors for the rain. 

Adam (minor spoiler maybe?): I have been all for Warner since the beginning, so this Adam stuff did affect me but I wasn't devastated. I also understood. On both sides of the argument. One, I get how this seems like Mafi just wanted to get everyone on Warners side by making Adam a huge douche nozzle. However, with a first person point of view, we cannot trust that Adam was such a sweet guy because Juliette said so. YOU CAN NEVER TRUST A FIRST PERSON POV ON ANOTHER CHARACTER! Have you ever dated someone and after a while they turn into a completely different person? It's called showing your true colors and we saw that with Adam. Big time. Another thing...The man was dumped! On multiple occasions! And, I'm sure (like everyone else), he noticed something more was going on between Juliette and Warner. The Warner who treated his soldiers like crap, who seemed like a sociopath on the outside and who TRIED TO KILL ADAM! I'm sorry but if my special someone were to leave me for someone who tortured and attempted murder on me, I'd have a few choice words myself. So, if you find yourself saying, "That was so out of character for Adam", ask yourself two questions..1:How well did you actually KNOW Adam, not the "OMG I'm so in love so I'm going to be as mushy and lovable as possible" Adam, but the real Adam. People act differently when they're "in love" (usually more annoying) and that's how I feel it was for Adam. Question 2: How would you feel if this all happened to you? Adam was dumped by the girl he loved and saw something going on between her and the guy who tried to kill him. He was then left by all of his friends for these two, when all he wanted to do was keep his little brother safe. I get that you're upset Team Adam chicks, I do, but to me, this was not out of character, this was the real Adam.

The "World-Building": I find myself slightly irritated when someone complains about the world building. We got a decent amount of it, so when I see people who weren't satisfied with it, all I can think of is "you just wanted more so you're blaming it on the book". The world Mafi built I feel was solid. she gave us a bit of history and description of the way the world is during the time the book takes place. Yes, the ending was rushed and there could have absolutely been more, but battles don't always have to last for fifty pages, and sometimes there are more important things, like the characters. This main point is one I have difficulty defending though, because I do wish there was more, but that's just because I love these books and I'd take all I can get!

Finally

I feel that the strengths of this final installment absolutely dwarfed the weaknesses. The characters made this book. Kenji actually made this book; I swear 90% of my marked quoted were from Kenji. Warner was wonderful; I fell for him over and over again. Juliette developed remarkably. James was adorable and brave and I just want to squish him! The writing, though not the same, was still beautiful. This book was also hilarious. Thanks to Kenji of course. This book sent my emotions all over the place, and I am still trying to grasp how much I loved this book and this series overall!


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5 "Ignite Me"s




Happy Reading! :)

4 comments:

  1. LOVE this post! I wrote my spoiler free review of this then went back and did a spoilery discussion review and talked about the same things you did. Funny how the people that are complaining are Team Adam...

    Yes, the writing and strike outs were awesome in books one and two but Juliette changed and she grew stronger. She no longer had to doubt her feelings or words. It's like how Adam had totally missed how much Juliette had changed, so did the people who are complaining about this.

    I was always Team Warner but I always liked Adam too. Not for Juliette though. He was too...he just wasn't right for her. Her wante dto protect her and baby her and when a girl can break through walls, she doesn't need that.

    As far as his character changing, I disagree. He started slowly showing his real side in Unravel Me. I hated how whiny he was and how he would always make their arguments public. Nobody wants to hear your problems! And I totally thought that Adam was pissed and he had a right to be! He said some nasty things but I don't think that changed him. I think he was just hurt. EVERYONE has said something they regret or don't mean when they are angry/hurt.

    I DO NOT want battle scenes to last for freaking ever. I get bored. I was a little bit bored with this one and people are complaining that it was too short.

    Thsi story was about Juliette, not the world she lives in. I could care less about world-building.

    Kenji was AWESOME!

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    1. I completely agree! This book was so clearly about the development of characters, especially Juliette! I am in love with Kenji, I would really like to see more with him!

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  2. I think I am in love with this post! Everything you said about Adam is SPOT ON! You are so right in saying that you cant trust the first person POV! Juliette's view of him was so biased because she loved him and because he was the first person to be able to touch her-- she didnt want to see that bad. That is why we were given Fracture Me so we could get inside Adam's head and honestly that book showed his true colors. He even said - numerous times - that he didnt know if Juliette was worth all the danger so how much did he really love her? okay okay I will stop getting all ranty now but I LOVE THIS POST because you really hit the nail on the head!

    Teresa @ Readers Live A Thousand Lives

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    1. Thank you :) I agree! Shatter Me was the only book where Adam seemed right for Juliette, and that was when she was weak and was finally able to be touched by someone for the first time in her life! Adam needs to find someone that needs to be taken care of all the time, Juliette is not that person

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