Review: Fracture Me (Shatter Me, #2.5)

Author: Tahereh Mafi
Series: Shatter Me, #2.5
Published: December 17th 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: ebook, 62 pgs
Buy: Amazon

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 Me, Fracture 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.

Weird how things can change in very short periods of time! At the beginning of this series, there were Adam and Juliette, and I couldn’t imagine anything else. Then came Destroy Me, Warner’s novella that showed a whole new side of him, and (to my own surprise) I started thinking he might be a better choice for her after all. But my heart was breaking for poor Adam. I saw him as a nice and honest – if somewhat plain – boy, not strong enough and certainly not insightful enough to fully understand someone as messed up as Juliette.

However, just like the previous novella, Fracture Me made me completely change my mind. In only 62 pages, Adam has managed to convince me that he’s so very wrong for her, and what’s more, that he doesn’t even really love her. Regardless of my past feelings for him, which were lukewarm at best, I didn’t expect to see this level of anger, jealously, and most of all, weakness.

The thing that troubles me most about Adam, his own doubts and reservations aside, is that he sees Juliette as someone in need of protection, someone incapable of defending herself. Their relationship, as good as it might have seemed in the past, would never be a relationship of equals, never a true partnership. With Adam’s attitude, Juliette would never be free to grow to her full potential, she would always be kept back and sheltered. Unlike Warner, who keeps pushing her to be her best, even through nefarious means, Adam would wrap her in cotton and convince her she needs him – a big, strong soldier – to fight her battles.

Tahereh Mafi still does a wondrous job of adapting her writing to her POV character. It’s one of her greatest talents, I think, this ability to use writing as yet another tool for characterization. Adam’s narration is much like Adam himself – plain and a bit dry, with nothing distinctive about it.

Compared to Warner’s novella, Fracture Me is almost painfully short, but it contributes a lot to the series and sheds a very different light on Adam. I’m not sure how many fans he’ll have after this. If he ends up with Juliette after all, I for one am going to be very disappointed.

My three stars in no way reflect Tahereh’s writing and storytelling, which are brilliant. It’s more about the bitter disappointment this novella left me with, and it’s definitely a result of my strong dislike of Adam. I know I’ll be a sobbing mess after Ignite Me, though. Whichever way this goes, it can’t end well for everyone involved. Perhaps we should be smart about it and start a support group while there’s still time?
The clock is ticking, my friends. The heartbreak is almost here.