Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Ignite Me Review

Hello. Just yesterday, I finished the last book in the Shatter Me trilogy, Ignite Me, by Tahereh Mafi. I was really excited about reading Ignite Me, especially how the Shatter Me trilogy was one of my favorite YA dystopian series. Unfortunately, there were some elements that directed me towards a 4 out of 5 stars.




The book starts off with Juliette, the main character, waking up in a room, finding herself healed from a gunshot wound she received by Anderson (Warner's father). She does not know if anyone from Omega Point, especially Adam and Kenji, made it out alive from The Reestablishment's bombing of the area. She is determine to fight against The Reestablishment with the help of a man who she thought she hates, Warner. The synopsis sounded amazing, but there were definitely cons in the novel, which I will proceed to name and later explain.

Cons
- The balance of action and character development were unequal; about 90% of the book was purely building and fixing relationships
- lots and lots of "lovey dovey" scenes
- The last fifty pages were the only action in Ignite Me
- The ending felt rushed 
- Not enough character development of many characters; too much emphasis on others
- Slow middle

 *Get ready for spoilers now*

There was too much development of the relationships between Juliette and Warner, Juliette and Adam, and even Juliette and Kenji. I absolutely adore Warner, but the "lovey dovey" scenes made me close the book several times to contain myself from reading it. I wasn't necessarily cringing, I just couldn't read the scene with a straight face. Adam became flat out rude compared to his sweet self in  Shatter Me. Although I do appreciate how the relationships were evolving, the majority of this book was all about that I think for a proper YA dystopian book, and especially the last one of a series, there should be equal parts of action and equal parts of character development. With that being said, the ending was rushed (due to the improper balance that I just mentioned). The death of Anderson was too easy and too fast. Finding Sara and Sonya was coincidental: first Juliette wonders where they were, but then she finds them right after. I can't help but wonder how Warner just flat out agreed to let Juliette become the leader of Sector. I know he loves and supports her, but there should be a little bit of conflict there. But no, he easily agrees for her to replace Anderson. I was really gutted when there was no character development with the other survivors of Omega Point: Castle, Ian, Brendon, Winston, Alia, and Lily. It would have been awesome if Castle had a part in the story line; I always thought Castle was similar Professor X from X-Men, but they are not. I disliked how these characters were pushed to the sidelines because they could have been an awesome addition to everything that is happening to the story, but unfortunately, they're characters were "unimportant."

Despite the negatives, there were some things that I liked about Ignite Me. I love how Warner and Juliette's relationship blossomed, showing Warner's actual, kind self. He's a bit of a softee ^_^ And a romantic man. I was swooned by his gentleman quality and charm. I liked how we see a vulnerable side of him and how he is caring towards his mother (which we find about in this book). Kenji and Juliette are both considered to be best friends and Kenji's humor really brightens up the mood in Ignite Me. I liked the pop culture nods that referenced Power Rangers and Bruce Lee. A lot of readers had problems with Juliette and her poetic and extraneous ways, but Juliette doesn't have as many poetic and "annoying" (as some people mention) writing in Ignite Me as the other books. This wasn't a bad book, it was a good one. It's definitely worth reading if you started the Shatter Me trilogy, but I thought Ignite Me was going to be a fantastic end to the series. Sadly, it wasn't.

The ending was kind-of a cliff hanger, but a satisfying one. An example I can think of with a similar ending is The Dark Knight Rises film. The ending of The Dark Knight Rises is open enough for any expansion of the story line, but it is an uplifting end, making the audience fulfilled with the end of the Dark Knight trilogy. The situation is the same for Ignite Me. The ending is hopeful, but could be expanded upon even further.

Ignite Me is not like Allegiant, which has a surprising end, or Mockingjay in which many characters died. This one is its own book and is one that is a gratifying completion to the Shatter Me series.

4 out of 5 stars