Friday 25 April 2014

Review: Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3) by Tahereh Mafi

Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3) by Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication date: February 4th 2014
My rating: 3.5 stars


With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn’t know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won’t keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that’s not all he wants with her.


Ignite Me had been one of my highly anticipated series finales this year. There was a major love triangle which emerged in the second book Unravel me and although I’m not a fan of these, I desperately wanted to know how things would end. Also I had switched teams in the second book and although I had a clear favourite, I didn’t want to see the other guy heartbroken like I had seen done before in previous books. So I definitely went into this book with my heart in my throat. It didn’t help the least that my order of this book was messed over (my copy didn’t arrive a few days late) by that time everyone was talking about it over on Twitter, Goodreads, and Instragram and I had such a hard time avoiding any spoilers. 

Ignite me kicks off with a lot of things in disarray, with Juliette finding herself injured and having no idea how the others are, it’s a real testing time for her. Also she’s utterly confused about her feelings towards Warner, the more she spends time with him the more she becomes to realise that he really isn’t the monster, she assumed that he was. I was actually delighted with the real Warner that we became to know in Unravel me, he was truly a lonely individual, despite this tough exterior persona he put across, I really did want to give him several hugs over the course of this book. I enjoyed the deeper Mafi went with his character, how we were able to learn all about his deepest fears and desires, honestly it made me love him that much more. However what I didn’t like was how a character I truly admired and appreciated in Shatter Me became this hardened person who didn’t really care about anyone else. This had happened to me before with another series I adored (Queen of Babble) and honestly it just leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. He was acting so out of character, biting people’s heads off, being completely rude and at times putting his friend’s life in danger. At times I really didn’t want to be around this character and his hot headedness, yes his behaviour and reasons for acting at were totally understandable. But what happened to the sweet guy we were introduced to who constantly made me swoon? 

However despite this character's major personality change, Mafi was able to lift my mood with some wonderful characters. Two characters definitely made this book for me; Warner and Kenji. Kenji was brilliant in providing much needed banter and fun during stressful scenes, never have I needed Kenji around more when a certain character was annoying the heck out of me. I also enjoyed his reactions with Juliet and Warner. Warner was truly a delight to get to know, he was utterly dreamy in this book. 

I do think however the see-saw relationship between Juliet and Warner could have been dealt with a bit more better. In Unravel Me Warner was so intent with his feelings with Juliette, and Juliette was the confused one, but this time it was the other way around. Warner had been burred pretty bad so really didn’t want to put his heart on the line again, which I completely understood. But there was this intense will they won’t they vibe forever, I did enjoy the slow teasing and build up because afterwards it was completely worth it, but I wished I didn’t have to wait (highlight to view spoiler) until chapter 55 to get some action  

It might seem like my review so far has been completely ranty, but this is not the case at all. I really did enjoy Ignite Me, some things may have irked me along the way, but the way things ended (but a little rushed) with hope and on the horizon for everyone was really in my eyes the best ending possible.



16 comments:

Keertana said...

I'm glad you enjoyed this conclusion, Jasprit! I know a lot of readers were disappointed with this installment and this trilogy just isn't for me, though I'm curious to read Mafi's future work and get to know her characterizations myself. Wonderful review, dear!

Brandie said...

Great review. I have gone back and forth on whether I should finish this series. I've seen so many mixed reviews. I loved the first book and started the second book a long time ago, but never got into it.

Book Passion for Life said...

Great review hun. I'm still torn over this book even though I rated it 4 stars! I liked how it ended but I'm torn over Adam =(

Unknown said...

I'm glad you ended up enjoying it! Though I didn't care much for that certain character, I can definitely see why you'd dislike what happened to him. He did go through a bit of a personality change and though I felt indifferent about him at first, I ended up really disliking him in Ignite Me. Kenji, though, was awesome. AWESOME. Kenji is just an awesome character. Like, awesome.(I'll stop saying awesome now)

And of course, Warner. Because he's Warner, and he's awesome too. I really loved the character development Mafi put him through!

Great review <33

Maja (The Nocturnal Library) said...

I agree with you about those changes in Adam. They troubled me too, but since I didn't really like him from the start, I didn't lose much sleep over it. Overall, I think this book needed an epilogue quite desperately, and it wasn't nearly as good as the second one, but it was closure, and that's what I needed.
Fantastic review!

Born Bookish said...

I honestly can't even talk about this book without wanting to punch something. I think Mafi could have handled things a lot better than she did to make both sides satisfied. That's all I'm going to say before I start getting too worked up, haha!

Giselle said...

It sounds like this book really brought in some mixed reviews. It's getting me more curious than anything haha. Now I just have to read book 2 O_O Actually no I'd likely have to skim book 1 first bc I have forgotten so much. It's annoying when a character you love changes for the worse though I wonder what angle Mafi was going there. I haven't even read the book and I have heard alot about this haha. Great review, hun!

Unknown said...

I haven't read this series yet but this one seems to have a lot of mixed reviews. Sorry that the ending was rushed, at least you got something out of it.

Joy said...

You are so generous. I hated this book. Hate. hate. hate. Sorry. Every time I see it, I see red. Lol.

I'm glad you're able to find the good in this one, Jas. :)

Unknown said...

So glad you enjoyed Ignite Me. I was never excited about Warner as the love interest. I'm gla you liked it, though. Nice review!

Melliane said...

I'm glad you enjoyed it despite some little points. I saw some little mixed reviews about it and I confess it made me anxious. I havn't tried her but I heard so many great things about the first book that I'm really curious now. I need to try book 1 too!

Tanja - Tanychy said...

If it wasn't for the short story told from Adam's POV I'd feel the same about this book. Somehow after reading it I knew what to expect from this one. I'm so happy you enjoyed Ignite me overall. Great review, Jasprit :)

tthepageturner said...

I so agree with what you said about Adam. I can't say I was surprised though after reading the novella form his POV. To me Warner was interesting as a villain, but I didn't see him as a love interest. I was team Adam, and was completely raged by the way he was portrayed in the novella and the conclusion. So for that reason I wasn't a fan of the conclusion, but I am glad you were able to enjoy it. :)

brandileigh2003 said...

Oh yes, Kenji totally made me laugh so much in this one. And the build up for their romance was def worth it. I can understand where Warner had been burned and a little more reluctant though it made it soo agonizing

Glass said...

Jas, I won't read your review for now because I plan to read this series (along with Laini Taylor) next month, but I hope I'll like it as much as you did.

Lauren @ Love is not a triangle said...

I am still not over how much I dislike this book. The personality changes for both W and A bugged me so much, as did the crazy end where J becomes the ruler of the known world. I've had to try to erase this from my mind. Glad you did like it overall though.

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