When I was looking at some reviews I wrote a while ago and never posted I realized I never posted my review of Ignite Me. I think I forgot about it because at the time I felt like I had a very unpopular opinion on the series ender. Since then I feel like more people felt this way than I originally thought. However, since I had it done I might as well post it. So here you go, my review of Ignite Me which I wrote years ago!
Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi Series: Shatter Me #3
Published by HarperCollins
Published: February 4th 2014
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The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, called “a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love.”
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.
The Shatter Me series is perfect for fans who crave action-packed young adult novels with tantalizing romance like Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Legend by Marie Lu. Tahereh Mafi has created a captivating and original story that combines the best of dystopian and paranormal, and was praised by Publishers Weekly as “a gripping read from an author who’s not afraid to take risks.” Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and satisfying end.
Welcome to the newest edition of unpopular opinion time. Because I seem to have a mostly unpopular opinion for Ignite Me. After reading it for three days and feeling anger, annoyance, and frustration, I finally finished and now I’m just sad and disappointed. I will freely admit that I am team Adam. I never hid my lack of love for Warner in this series. But my lack of like for this series ender has nothing to do with what went on with Warner in this book. It has to do with my feelings of other things that happened that I just couldn’t get past.
Ignite Me is the final book in Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me series, a series about Juliette, a girl that can kill someone with just her touch. When we first met Juliette in Shatter Me she was an emotional mess. But as Juliette started to learn more and more about her powers and made friends and got herself involved in a love triangle with Adam and Warner, Juliette started to become a threat that needed to be stopped. With Warner’s father Anderson after her and wanting her dead Juliette finally decides it is time to take on The Reestablishment. But she going to need help and finds it in a place she ever expected, from a person she thought she knew but apparently didn’t. She needs Warner. And is he ever full of surprises.
And I guess to be honest that was my first problem with this book. STOP READING IF YOU DON’T WANT ANY SPOILERS!!!
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When the book started off I was immediately bombarded with all these ‘truths’ about Warner. But honestly, I didn’t feel like they were truths. I felt like I was duped. Like I was reading a new book completely separate from what I had read in the series. The ‘changes’ in Warner didn’t seem natural. They just didn’t flow right and seemed to be made out of convenience rather than story progression. They didn’t leave me loving Warner any more than I did. Actually, I lost respect for him because now he was a phony rather than a villain. And it didn’t stop with Warner for me. Everyone seemed to have a personality transplant. Adam, Kenji, Warner…it all seemed so forced.
What I did appreciate was the character of Juliette. From start to finish in the series, she was the main focus and her growth was the highlight and the reason I didn’t rate this lower. For me, she was the one character that stayed true to herself. The changes in her were the kind of changes I like to see in a character. She grew up a lot from book to book and was no longer afraid of who she was. At times she got on my nerves because she was strong yet couldn’t say what she was feeling, but who isn’t like that in the real world. By far she was the bright spot for me. Was it farfetched that she could stage a revolution? Definitely. But it’s the kind of farfetched I liked. It was her reactions to Adam that I hated and her reactions to Warner that bugged me.
I know with me being a self-proclaimed Warner hater and Adam lover that it seems like I’m whining based off what goes down in Ignite Me. But truthfully that isn’t what this is about. That part of the story was minor for me. It was the changes that happened that I felt took away from the other books, of the characters and their character. I understand what Mafi was trying to do, but it just didn’t work for me personally. I still love the first two books, but sadly Ignite Me just wasn’t the book for me.
I actually didn’t really like this one either now that I’m remembering it. I, too, didn’t end up writing a review for it and if I did, I deleted it because I don’t have it anymore. I don’t remember all the details about the book anymore but I do remember just being frustrated with how things were going. I’m not a fan of love triangles at all and so I know that part about the series bugged me too. I can’t remember how it ended anymore but I know I didn’t like it. It felt like some parts of the story were rushed and then I also remember some parts dragged on. You’re not the only one who wasn’t thrilled with it!