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herlenebwriter · 7 months ago

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[ARC REVIEW] “DANCE OF THE STARLIT SEA”

AUTHOR: Kiana Krystle

GENRE: YA, Romance, Fantasy

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𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ★★★☆☆ - 3/5 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀

Warning: some mild spoilers ahead.

Thanks to Netgalley and PeachTree Teen for providing this free ARC digital copy in exchange of an honest review!

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱‧₊˚

Dance of the Starlit Sea is a vibrant fantasy romance debut novel, which deals with themes of girlhood, beauty and acceptance. It is specifically targeted to girls who feel very close to their femininity and appreciate the coquette/cottagecore/pastel aesthetic.

I picked up this book based on vibes alone. I happened to come across a self-promo post of the author on twitter, one of those posts with little arrows that point at a book and connect it to a few engaging characteristics.

But while someone may pick up a book based on its vibes only, the reason why said book sticks to the reader should be its story. I can read paragraphs, even pages of vivid and detailed descriptions, if it helps me achieve a full immersion into the story. In Dance of the Starlit Sea, I found this aspect kind of lacking.

But let's start with what I liked (and what you might like) first!

1. Prose!

The prose is purple (a pastel purple, since pastel is the color code of this book), flowery and flowing like water. I could compare it to a neatly organized shelf with ornaments and a porcelain vase of lush flowers in the middle. A sight for the eyes.

The writing is very descriptive, in a colorful and vivid way that made me feel completely immersed in the world of Luna Island. It was overall very visual and sometimes it felt cinematic.

The sea as a metaphor of duality between beauty and danger was on point.

2. Deep Thoughts!

Reflections on the concepts of girlhood, anger, self acceptance, friendship, competition, beauty and innocence were very nuanced and it was evident the author deeply felt what she was writing. As the reader, perfectly part of the target audience, I felt a little understood.

3. Character Development

The main character, Lila Rose Li, blooms into a girl who's conscious of her worth and has accepted her flaws and good qualities as equal parts of herself at the end of the book.

4. A Few Other Things!

Plot twists were kind of predictable but they worked fine I guess.

And of course, being a romance and all, it has a HEA.

Overall, this book reads like a beautiful impressionist painting with a decorated frame. If you look at it from afar, you'll see its otherworldly beauty, its vibrant colors and the soothing sensations it evokes in you. But when you step forward to take a closer look, you'll actually notice how utterly vague it is; shapes blend into each other, messy and disorganized, the brushstrokes are chaotic and overlap each other.

That's pretty much it. Aside from aesthetics, this novel doesn't have much to offer.

Things that didn't convince me:

1. Lore? What Lore?

When I pick up a book marketed as fantasy, I expect its lore to be structurally sound and well thought out. But this book's lore is all over the place! Some elements are vaguely introduced and then never mentioned again. I've spotted a few striking contradictions, but most of all its magic system is inconsistent and it's never really clear how it works; not to mention the worldbuilding doesn't have any particular significance other than providing an aesthetic.

A group of fallen angels chose a humble fisherman's island in the middle of the Atlantic as their new abode after having lost their home in the sky, and that's why the island became... beautiful, like straight out of a fairytale? But they've been saved by the angel Lucifer who's now stuck under the sea and became the devil? Also, they started a cult of beauty and every seven years they announce a pageant to choose the most beautiful and graceful girl, who shall become the high priestess of their cult to appease the goddess of the moon and then... disappear?? No questions asked. And we're in a contemporary setting, mind you.

An awfully beauty centered competition. Might as well have comped this to The Selection... it makes even more sense, when you reach the end and understand what the "pageant" really is about.

(Nobody is even using a phone!! Lila's mom has to send letters to contact her... in 2024. Are we for real right now?)

2. Do It For The Drama!

An awful lot of the events in this story happen... just because. No apparent real reasoning or logic behind them. It felt like they only existed to generate more drama and conflict, or to drag the story out for a few more pages.

Has Lila never questioned why, while all the other girls in that competition do just fine, all the craziest things only happen to her?

The last 12% of the story is also excessively chaotic & feverish and I couldn't grasp much about what happened. Only there were many pages of author cosiderations on girlhood and forgiveness spoke through Lila's stream of consciousness, and Lila became Over Powered for Reasons.

3. Insert Relatable Female Main Character Here

Our main character, Lila Rose Li, is a third generation Chinese ballerina whose dreams were shattered by a bad fall on stage. And the fact she choked her mother in a fit of rage, which got her sent on a weird island to an aunt she barely knows, instead of therapy.

This act of wrath is the source of most of her psychological turmoil, imposter syndrome and guiltiness. Too bad it's not properly resolved nor used in a satisfying way.

Despite growing as a character, for a good 80% of the book she was pretty much insufferable. I mainly remember her for self deprecating at any given moment, being obsessed with beauty and perfection, running and screaming at any minor inconvenience, constantly interrupting narration with her stream of consciousness that probably aimed at making her struggles sound relatable, and her stiletto nails. Which for some reason hold a position of importance to her character.

She gives chosen one, but for all the strangest reasons. She randomly wields the magic of a goddess because she was born on a very "special" day or something. Heck she even destroys the whole island in a fit of rage at some point!

Might as well call you Achilles because girl, you sure are wrathful!

Oh right! I also remember her for being distrusting towards any other girl. Seeing them as competition and always judging and allat. It was justified as an internalized habit from the ballet industry or whatever.

So much for girlhood and sisterhood, I guess. Maybe girlhood is only cool when it's about baking biscuits, sipping tea and doing each other's makeover?

Fortunately it doesn't last forever, she heals from this during the last 20% of the book. A good 12% of which is a total fever dream.

4. Help I Accidentally Forgot To Fill My Characters With Purpose Now They Taste Bland!

When I said Lila, the main character, bloomed beautifully at the end of the book. I meant ONLY Lila.

Aside from her, all the other characters can be separated in two categories: those who support Lila and those who don't. Yeah, they're that simple. Those in the former category (which includes all the major side characters by the way!) find their main purpose in helping, praising, validating and enabling her; they never once contradict her or reprimand her, mostly putting up with her outbursts and wondering where the hell she ran off to this time. The latter, on the other hand, have the important task of showing how much better the protagonist is than them by antagonizing her with either cheap tricks or straight up psychological warfare. But she's a bad bitch! Go girl, show em! Kick their ass with kindness! And similar.

One creepy thing I've noticed is that two specific characters, Roisin and Lila's aunt Laina, quite literally stop existing the moment Lila is not in the picture.

Get this. Lila runs off to cope with her emotions; she stays away for a while, and when she comes back, until the moment these two characters see her, I kid you not, they're COMPLETELY UTTERLY STILL. Either sitting on the sofa or on the bench swing, they don't move nor talk until the main character is there.

I hope I wasn't the only one who noticed.

In short, every other characters revolves around the protagonist to actually have an importance. They don't feel real.

Needless to say, similarly to the MC in Shatter me, she's the only one who goes through a little change from beginning to end. She definitely whines less, I'll give her that.

5. Cardboard Cutout Love Interest

In a romance, there should be two main characters. In this case, we should've had a FMC and a MMC.

But this MMC... man... uh...

Who is he again??

His name is Damien, he's an angel (why is an angel named after the antichrist...?), his response to any minor inconvenience is running away (something he has in common with the FMC) and he has daddy issues. That's kinda it.

He and Lila have an insta love dynamic. (god help me)

He saves her from drowning, they dance, they fall for each other. The End. Oh right, he drugs her to make her forget. And lies to her about a life and death matter which did, in fact, concern her.

He felt more like a side character than the MMC. Only appeared when it was convenient and was always there to support her, and I mean like ONLY to support her. Conflict and banter were forced and arose from miscommunication, or lack thereof.

No discernible personality. Their relationship happens just because, and he's never really present. It all read very random and there is no actual chemistry between the two.

It never feels real.

This guy can go join Adam Kent!

If you really wanna know, Lila definitely had better chemistry with

6. Her Best Friend!

Roisin Kelly was the only side character who somehow stood out, because she had a purpose other than living for Lila! Shocker! Basically she lost her girlfriend to the pageant and now participates again to know what actually happened to her. That was pretty cool, considering she's the only sapphic character in sight.

But I'm not kidding when I tell you Lila had better chemistry with this girl than with her legit love interest. Because they actually do something together and Roisin has an actual presence! They have an adorable girl night when Lila feels down and Roisin often succeeds at encouraging her and helping her regulate her emotions. They're both very attached to each other for right, concrete reasons. Did I mention Lila reminds Roisin of her lost girlfriend? The heartbreak! The comfort! It was all there and never used! What a WASTE!!

Lila even says the CHEESIEST stuff about her and you wanna tell me she's in love with Cardboard Angel Guy??

"I don't want them to know how much she means to me. They can take anything else, just not her."

HELLO???

They would have definitely made a better, more interesting couple. At least they'd have a REAL dynamic!

7. Lila's Stiletto Nails

I feel like I should mention them because for some reason they always pop up in the descriptions about Lila, even at the wrongest times, and they survive a literal natural disaster. At this point, they've become a character of their own. A round of applause, please!

Conclusions: I am not as harsh with debut novels as I am with other books, and I didn't hate this one. I'm a snarky lil brat, but definitely not a hater, and one-starring a debut novel can be the ruin of a career before it even starts.

The only real problem, to sum it all up, is that it feels like the author prioritized vibe over plot & character. It reads juvenile and immature, other than plain random, difficult to follow and even self-insertish at times. There was an imbalance between narrative sequences, dialogues, descriptions and thoughts. I get it, 1st person limited can be tough. I should also mention repetitions in the prose. But these are all things that can happen in a debut novel, and I'm sure there is plenty of room for improvement!

One more small thing: the comp titles are all wrong. There is not much of the myth of Persephone (other than something at the end), and even less of the Phantom of the Opera. It's misleading.

As always, excuse me for any weirdness in my writing! English is not my first language 😭

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herlenebwriter · 8 months ago

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[REVIEW] SHATTER ME (BOOK #1)

AUTHOR: Tahereh Mafi

GENRE: YA, Dystopian, Romance, Thriller

𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ★✰☆☆☆ - 1.75 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀

───※ ·𓁹· ※───

𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪

I tend to not have great expectations for very hyped, very popular books, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I had little to none for this one.

But what I surely didn't expect was having to sit through several chapters of:

•fifty shades of purple prose,

•barely followable internal monologue,

•ridiculous metaphors,

•numbers written in digits,

•interesting non-use of punctuation,

•exhausting recurring repetitions

•and an overwhelming amount of crossed out sentences.

The first 20-something chapters at least were quite literally packed with the aforementioned things. Going through it was almost draining – and I don't mind purple prose. I was rather under the impression that the author was trying so hard to write in a unique way and... well, they tried too hard.

⚠️Now, before anyone comes at me, I know this was the author's stylistic choice aimed to portray a mentally unstable, scared, mistreated, neglected and isolated main character in a 1st person POV. Trust me, I know, and I respect it. Actually, I think it was a great idea! But not quite as greatly executed. Probably just wasn't my cup of tea.

The plot is overall enjoyable, but it's kinda all over the place. The point is lost among the pretentious writing style and romantic sequences. More than 50% of this book bored me to death or caused a crippling "wtf" moment in my brain. The last dozen of chapters was good though. Saved the book from a cold one-star rating.

Characters are as deep as cardboard. No offense to cardboard.

I felt like none of them except the FMC made any progress at all. Not even the love interest that accompanies her throughout the entire book. The antagonist gives me the chills, and not in a positive, intriguing way. He's just insufferable, delusional and a creep.

Other characters are either narrative devices or foil. No mind of their own, let alone characterization. I felt absolutely nothing.

The dystopian worldbuilding is scattered and crushed under the overdose of romance and making out, not to mention it's shamelessly ripped off by dystopians classics.

I didn't dislike this book entirely.

But it's sad that whenever I think about it, all that comes to mind is what it could have been.

Not gonna lie, DNF-ing this book looked tempting for a while. But I still pushed through. I think I deserve a little medal for practicing my commitment.

I'm confident enough I'm going to pick up the next in the series. Maybe to answer some of my questions (hopefully!) or in the hope it'll be better than this one.

If you're still here, hi!! My name is Herlene, I'm a writer working on a fantasy series called "Chronia Chronicles" with my friend @callme-ayu, but I like reading a lot! Consider accompanying me in my first reviewing journey(!!) on this platform that scares me shitless I'm so excited about!!!

Warning: Themes of SA mentioned in the STORY section.

𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬 - ★★★☆☆ 3/5 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀

The story at its core revolves around our female protagonist, Juliette Ferrars, a girl whose touch can kill, in her journey from self loathing to self acceptance. Just that, and it would've been amazing. In fact, if you ask me, that should've been the main focus of the book. Mind you, should've.

Tl;dr: Almost the entirety of the story bored me or I just disliked. The last chapters were good. I feel like the author missed the point of the book with all the romance overload.

↓↓↓

According to the synopsis, the book I was about to read on the blissful day I picked it up should have been a YA dystopian novel about a teenage girl finding her true strenght in a world on the brink of collapse. I said, "Perfect! Introducing teens to the dystopian genre with a self growth plot is absolutely hip!"

Boy I was wrong.

The booktok/bookstagram discussions that made this book popular tended to focus on the romance, but I brushed it off as book girlies obsessiong over attractive characters and making a big deal out of a romance subplot.

They were right.

This is not a dystopia with a touch of romance, this is a romance with a touch of dystopia.

Here lies my only short-lived expectation.

But let's move on. A good 92% of the plot cringed me in ways I didn't believe possible, but also somehow managed to keep me hooked and slightly curious of what might happen. It wasn't good, but neither all bad.

Juliette Ferrars is on the brink of going completely bananas because of touch starvation and lack of human interaction, when they assign her a new, suspiciously-male-presenting, attractive cellmate: Adam Kent.

The insta love + childhood friends to lovers combo between Juliette and Adam is just not it. Insta love with a lot of denial due to unfit circumstances? Could do, but this kind of desperate love at first sight is plain annoying. We spend a ridicolous chunk of chapters witnessing Juliette being weirdly obsessed with his eyes.

“His eyes are 2 buckets of rainwater: deep, fresh, clear.”

And... a bird?

“There will be a bird today. It will be white with streaks of gold like a crown atop its head. It will fly.”

You have no idea how many times she goes on about this bird. In my wildest hopes it would've signified something like freedom, something like the mockingjay in the Hunger Games which symbolized defiance against oppression.

Well, this recurring imagery is never thoroughly addressed or explained any further for the entire duration of the book, aside from revealing Adam has it tattoed on his macho-man muscles, so I'll probably never know.

The two instant-noodle lovers leave the asylum "thanks" to Warner, the antagonist, head of sector 45, attractive, barely an adult, and a mythic, insufferable bitch.

He's obsessed with Juliette and her murderous ability, so he wants to possess her. He brings her to his headquarters (basically a prison with commodities) and puts her through cruel tribulations for another big chunk of the story. For kind of no reason other than... being eViL??

He has clear mother and anger issues, enjoys inflicting pain to others and assert his dominance, with a pinch of delusional and psychotic tendencies. But he's completely smitten with her, so it's okay...? Apparently??

Yes, he's the only real other possibility of romance for Juliette other than Cardboard Guy and I feel like throwing up whenever she admits finding him hot. And obsessing over his eyes, too.

The only chance of conflict between J and A (where she feels betrayed because he's a Big Bad Re-establishment soldier and whines internally) is resolved in a matter of paragraphs and she obsesses over his eyes and muscles all over again.

Oh yeah, turns out he can touch her! And of course we'll never know why!!

What's important is that they can smooch under the shower (after she was put through reliving her traumatic experience by Warner) and plan their escape at whatever chance possible. When Warner isn't being a psycho bitch who shoots people at a whim and tortures/ogles a poor mentally unstable 17-year-old girl, to be clear.

Fast forward to their escape, they beat Warner way too easily, he whines to Juliette not to leave, like a pathetic delusional idiot, and grabs her ankle. He doesn't die.

Good grief. We're never gonna get rid of him.

Adam and Juliette smooch while running from loaded guns and lose their tracks by entering a nuclear field, which conveniently reacts by neutralizing the tracking serum in Adam's body, find a conveniently placed shed with a conveniently stolen tank inside. They smooch some more, Juliette broods about the way Warner desperately called her name and wonders why he's able to touch her, and then they depart.

Whenever they make out, which is awfully frequent, Adam and Juliette have the power to warp the flow of time and slow the pacing of the story down to absolute boredom. UGHHH.

They take shelter in an apartment where Adam's brother James lives.

It's overall a much appreciated, short lived semblance of a normal cozy little life, but it abruptly comes to an end when Kenji, one of Adam's comrades, appears at their door wounded. They let him in and he starts being utterly irritating for at least two chapters, in a forcibly comic-relief kind of way.

It basically cycles this way: Kenji flirts with Juliette, Juliette dismisses him, Adam wants to kill him. All over again. In the most annoying way.

Fortunately Warner's soldiers find them and put an end to this unbearable charade. They run for their lives.

But THIS is where it finally gets better!! This is what saved the book from a one-star rating!! The part that finally managed to keep me on the edge of my seat!!

It happens around chapter 38-40 out of 50. This means over 50% of this book I found lame as hell, but kept reading. Don't I deserve a medal or something for committing til the end?!? /hj

During this part we finally witness Juliette showing her claws and shooting Warner, who by the way literally ASSAULTS HER (this is something I can never forgive like I noticed many others do). This scene was gut wrenching and really made me feel on edge. I was a little put off by Juliette having a positive reaction to his kisses, but I decided to interpret it as having involuntary physical reactions to SA, though aware it's still assault, as may happen to assault victims. To save what's left of my sanity.

Anyway, she girlbosses all the remaining time, punching through steel (literally! it was so cool but I wish it was explained better), saving Adam Cardboard Kent, stealing and driving a car (with no experience and being so bad she aggravates Adam's injuries, which was fun and adorable in a way).

The Omega Point plot twist was very nice, too. Juliette finally has some character development, starting to see her lethal touch as a power she can use for good and not a curse that completely ruins her life.

I wish her development was more gradual instead of blooming late and all at once. Still, it happened (better late than never!) and was satisfying to read.

Now she's ready to fight with the resistance of Omega Point! Loved this finale!

Things are changing, but this time I’m not afraid. This time I know who I am. This time I’ve made the right choice and I’m fighting for the right team. I feel safe. Confident.

Excited, even.

Because this time?

I’m ready.

Conclusions: I was hit with the realization that this last dozen of chapters represented what I would have liked to see in a YA dystopian novel. A girl always treated as a menace realizing her true potential by finding a place where she's accepted and she can put her powers to good use. The romance with Adam fell flat and flavourless, and the most part of the book revolved around it, with some ripped off worldbuilding scattered around it (I'll get to that). Not to add that it's honestly kind of disheartening that the only other option until now is the twisted guy who re-enacted her traumatic experience.

If this book had been more centered on Juliette's evolution and less on her romances, would its point have stood out better?

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 - ★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀

What can I say? There were a only a few prominent characters and none of them developed over the course of the story.

Unless you're James Joyce and you've decided to write Dubliners, the one principle of modern prose is that a character should reach the end of the story DIFFERENT from they way they were at the start. All of the trials that they face in-between are the reason why they change into something new.

Only one out of these characters reaches the end slightly changed. And that character is

•Juliette Ferrars

Starts out as a scrawny, socially awkward and mentally unstable 17-year-old. Neglected, mistreated and ultimately abandoned throughout all her life because of her lethal ability, it is understandable why she hasn't been able to develop the security we like to see in a female protagonist; on the contrary, she has only ever learned to despise herself as the monster everyone perceived her as. Especially after the traumatic experience of unwillingly killing a child.

She's extremely touch starved and internally conflicted because of the contrasting nature of her power and her needs. Maybe that's the reason why she clings to Adam in an unhealthy way. He's both the only person who can touch her and the only person who ever saw something good in her. For the most part of the story, she's dependent on him and his every little reaction. She needs to be wherever he is, otherwise she feels like dying or panics.

For example, when they reach Omega Point and the healers bring Adam in on a stretcher, she suffers a panic attack because she HAS to know where they're taking him and HAS to be with him at all times.

Only towards the end she shows some guts and self confidence, which was disappointingly fueled by needing to save Adam rather than herself, and only at the very end she finally accepts herself with her power.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” I try to tell him. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” But he’s not listening and I’m wondering when I became a motivational speaker. When I made the switch from hating myself to accepting myself. When it became okay for me to choose my own life.”

But the crucial thing she doesn't grow out of, is her codependency from Adam. If we consider this, she never actually had any real change, and her evolution is only on a superficial level. She changes her mindset about her ability and finds a new born purpose into fighting the Re-establishment, but still depends on Adam to feel like she deserves to live.

Speaking of Juliette, what is her power all about?? From what I could gather: if she touches a person skin to skin, she quickly drains the life force out of them; but if she wears clothes over her body or someone touches her without skin contact, nothing happens. Which begs the question: what was the fuss all about?? She was dangerous, sure, but even her own parents were afraid of her and refused to touch her, while it was THAT easy.

It is hinted that she can use the life she absorbed to augment her strenght (when she smashes through concrete and plexiglass and steel), but since she can't control it, it only happens when she's feeling strongly about something. But when she smashes through steel to save Adam, she hadn't touched anybody in days other than him, who's immune.

She's the only one able to break the bond with her victim, but somehow Kenji manages to break free when she touches him during a panic attack.

Her powes are never explained clearly or even consistently represented, but I hope in the second book my questions will be answered!

•Adam Kent (aka Cardboard Cutout)

Plain at the beginning, plain at the end. Hasn't got the faintest hint of development throughout the whole book. A cardboard cutout would have deeper personality.

There's literally nothing special about him apart from adoring Juliette, praising Juliette, loving Juliette, fussing over Juliette, having blue eyes, tightening his jaw and combing a hand through his hair. Oh yeah, and being tatted and muscular.

He never really had a personality or purpose other than being Juliette's faithful standard partner and I feel like this is the main reason why people, including me, disliked him or never felt connected or anything to him.

But hey! At least he's not a crazy bastard like

•Warner

The most unbearable disgusting motherfucking villain I've ever had the chance to read. Everything about him was either irritating or discomforting.

He's a disgusting mush of red flags slapped on a young attractive face and a mellifluous way of speaking. Wattpad material man.

And the worst thing, the worst thing is that the author herself bends over backwards to support him. He's her damn favorite character and she wants him to end up with Juliette, and IT SHOWS.

Let me just list some of the red flags I remember:

🚩Is obsessed with Juliette

🚩Treats her like his possession

🚩Doesn't care about her opinion

🚩Is delusional

🚩 Everything has to go his way or else, it's giving rich kid mentality

🚩Clads her in skimpy dresses like a damn Barbie

🚩Ogles her every time he has a chance

🚩Made her touch one of his own soldiers and nearly kill him to satisfy his morbid curiosity

🚩Always tried to encourage the worst and most twisted side of her, finding pleasure in convincing her to embrace monstrosity and violence, and all of that to feel less lonely?

🚩Wants her to touch him because he wants to know what it feels like TO DIE?!? This is more like concerning btw. The only thing that makes me mad is that, he didn't know he was immune when asking for that, so he would willingly burden her conscience with another death. That's just twisted. I don't see the love or care in that.

🚩Made her relive the trauma of killing a child by locking her up in a spiky torture chamber and having her try to save a toddler with her bare hands, resulting in nearly killing it three times and traumatizing her all over again!!

🚩Killed a man in cold blood in front of her to show dominance and power

🚩Was on his way to torture the only person she cared about

🚩SA'd her!!! What are we even arguing about?!?

Positive traits:

✅Is handsome

✅Is young

✅Is certainly more interesting than Cardboard Cutout and Random Comic Relief

✅Didn't assault Juliette in her sleep

✅Fed her real food

✅Did something even measly attractive so he's excused of all his shit

I'm not into dark romances and it shows. My standards are too high. Or are everyone's too low?

Anyway, there is nothing in the world that can make me forgive him. I don't know what's worse, him or Adam. I already know the author wants to have him end up with Juliette, it's pretty clear. She even made him conveniently immune to her touch!! And the booktok discussion is all about those two, so...

•James Kent

(literally so unimportant I can't even find arts of him)

Adorable baby who's just here to show there's still hope for this rotten world and give Adam a figment of purpose and personality other than Juliette.

It's not like he has any personality of his own other than being cheeky or adorable and having nightmares. He's cute though and managed to give me some rest among the pitiful worldbuilding situation and Adam and Juliette constantly making out.

•Kenji Kishimoto (aka Random Comic Relief)

Comic relief character. Was painfully irritating upon his introduction, but I started liking him more towards the end.

His dialogues are standard chill guy character, but I wouldn't mind if he avoided saying "bro" 843837 times in a sentence. Or talking about the MC as if she isn't there.

The other characters were foil. Nothing particularly remarkable.

𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 - ★★☆☆☆ 2/5 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀

Pollution, corruption and hyper exploitation of our resources finally took a toll on our world when the cattle gets sick and dies, birds go extinct, crops wither, the clouds change colour and the seasons are all over the place! Starving is all the rage these days on Earth! But do not fret, the Re-establishment is going to take control and make everything all right again!

Except they only took control by leveraging on the fear of people. Basically conquered the entire world and divided it in sectors. Kept the resources to themselves to live an opulent life, while said people either starve or carry out logorating work. Food is chemically made in labs and has zero taste or nutritional values. Anyone not acting like a robot is locked up or killed by the Big Bad Government™.

Standard grey-coloured dystopian worldbuilding based on elevating existing issues of our time to the point of no return, and by that raising some awareness. Good job, author!

Too bad it's barely visible under the romance.

And it's a rip-off of "1984" by George Orwell and "Fahreneit 451" by Ray Bradbury. Making a new, government-friendly, limited English language which has to be spoken all over the world (God forbid linguistic diversity) and burning down books? Yeah. Heard of it.

“They’re destroying everything,” Adam says, and his voice is suddenly a solemn sound in the silence. “All the books, every artifact, every remnant of human history. They’re saying it’s the only way to fix things. They say we need to start fresh. They say we can’t make the same mistakes of previous generations.”

This trivia is recounted by Adam in the cell to horrify Juliette a little. Never brought up again and obviously never shown in the world around them.

Because they never really set foot in the outside world and interact with anyone of the common folk, who might be the only ones influenced by these changes. They're either isolated, or on the privileged military grounds, or in the rebellion headquarters. It never really affects them.

Lore is thrown here and there by Juliette completely changing her internal monologue language register, like the Lorax possessed her or something. Or by indirectly reported speech of other characters. No show, too much tell.

I wish it had a greater role in the story, rather than providing mere background.

𝗪𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 - ★✩✩✩✩ 1/5 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀

Last but not least, the borderline purple prose! The only part of this book I outright disliked and the reason for my almost-DNF.

Tl;dr: purple prose so bad it might as well be baroque poetry

It's packed with metaphors so forced they just look ridiculous. Sometimes they don't even make sense. Baroque poets would like to welcome author into their circle, but thank goodness they're dead!

Allow me to provide some examples:

Forever. “I don’t know.” A mechanical sound creaks/groans/cranks in the distance. My life is 4 walls of missed opportunities poured into concrete molds.

(...huh?)

I only know now that the scientists are wrong.

The world is flat.

(...flat earthers representation?)

(cont'd) I know because I was tossed right off the edge and I’ve been trying to hold on for 17 years. I’ve been trying to climb back up for 17 years but it’s nearly impossible to beat gravity when no one is willing to give you a hand.

(wait until she hears of the pac-man theory)

His lips soften into a smile that cracks apart my spine.

(girl are you okay???)

I blink 1,000 times in the blackness. “You have to take them off.”

(this is not a metaphor but it doesn't make any sense either way)

These words are vomit.

This shaky pen is my esophagus.

This sheet of paper is my porcelain bowl.

WHAT???? THIS IS JUST DISGUSTING I JUST PICTURED IT UGHHH NO. like i get what you're trying to say but THIS IS JUST NOT IT

I always wonder about raindrops.

I wonder about how they’re always falling down, tripping over their own feet, breaking their legs and forgetting their parachutes as they tumble right out of the sky toward an uncertain end. It’s like someone is emptying their pockets over the earth and doesn’t seem to care where the contents fall, doesn’t seem to care that the raindrops burst when they hit the ground, that they shatter when they fall to the floor, that people curse the days the drops dare to tap on their doors.

I am a raindrop.

And here, YES again I get what she's trying to say, but the comparison is ridicolous. Raindrops "tripping over their own feet"? "breaking their legs"?? Two entire paragraphs to say she feels abandoned?

I don't know... it just feels unnecessarily full of these metaphors for literally nothing at times. She uses a different set of metaphors to describe Adam's eyes and later Warner's, or every little thing she sees. Maybe I'd even find it beautiful, if it weren't so frequent and uhh... weird.

The numbers written as numbers are a book pet peeve mine. Dates, big numbers, that's fine. But if you know how to spell the word "four" why would you write "4"? Did anyone even edit this???

In one of these, she uses SLASHES?!?!? THIS IS NOT EVEN STYLISTIC

Punctuation is almost completely absent in the flow of thought sequences, making them even harder to follow than they already are. Also, they mostly happen whenever Juliette receives male attention or panics. Both of which happen frequently throughout the book.

Luckily, these things somehow gradually decreased after the first twenty-ish chapters, when Juliette leaves the asylum. So it was more bearable to read until the end.

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Congratulatuons! You've reached the end of my first lenghty dissection of Shatter Me! This is the first of a series of popular booktok books I want to read for the sake of knowledge. If you liked long, honest reviews with a vein of sarcasm, consider following me on social media!

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I wish you lots of nice reads! ♥︎

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