Another recommendation from Goodreads and Instagram, except this one is working out (so far)! I was skeptical because everyone who talks about the series is a die-hard fan of it, so I took the recommendation with a grain of salt. But I’m happy to say that I finished the third book and I’m loving it. The writing is complex but easy to follow and the characters have amazing and well-planned developments.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi follows Juliette Ferrars, a girl whose touch is lethal. The book starts out with her in solitary confinement for 264 days as she builds her mental barriers and fears of her own abilities. On top of that, the world is a wasteland after natural resources were overused and the climate issue continued for the worst. But Juliette hasn’t had any news of the outside world in over two years, and suddenly the corrupt government is interested in using her as a weapon over locking her up. 

In the first book, we are introduced to two POC characters: Kenji and Castle. Kenji is a main character and grows to become Juliette’s best friend. He is a fan favorite because of his humor, wit, intelligence, selflessness, level-headed personality that conveniently always gets them out of trouble. It might be because I’m Asian like Kenji, but I especially enjoy that Mafi created an Asian character that doesn’t conform to the usual Asian character stereotype. I also love that he is an important character who Juliette turns to constantly when she needs reassurance or support. 

Castle is a supporting character and the head of the resistance organization that Juliette joins. He is dark-skinned and wears dreadlocks. Castle is known to be kind-hearted and overly accepting of people with abilities, constantly wanting to be inclusive and trusting even when it could put other people at risk. He has a protectiveness over gifted people after they’ve been ostracized their whole lives, even for gifted people who work for the resistance. Castle’s compassion is the main personality trait that is emphasized throughout the series.

Spoiling the series for myself a bit, I know there are more POC characters coming up in the rest of the series, and based off of the two characters I’ve already met, I’m excited to see what they bring to the table. I applaud Mafi for creating POC characters that don’t fit their demographic molds and instead add more complexity and importance to them. 

Throughout the series, there is the looming threat of the government eliminating books and language to force everyone to learn and strictly use a new language created by the government. The characters are constantly appalled by this and fear the impending loss of culture. I find that this is important because after the devastation everyone has lived through, they still want to fight to retain diversity within their world.

There is some societal commentary on discrimination and genocide as the government has sought out people with special abilities to eradicate them. They were either put into mental facilities and/or prison (like Juliette) or killed. I can more easily accept the lack of acknowledgement for the racial minority experience because Mafi delved into it in another form. 

Shatter Me: 4 stars (as of book 3)

POC Representation: 3 stars