Category: Book Reviews

I had not originally planned on reading this book, but when I came across it a local sale for only one dollar, I couldn’t help myself. I decided to give this series a chance, regardless of the fact I was going into it with low expectations. I don’t know if that fact played a factor in the end, but I was surprised to find myself enjoying this book enough to have interest in the rest of the series. 

I have nothing against the YA dystopian subgenre but will admit to generally not being impressed by it. It’s a genre over-saturated with subpar books riding on the back of the success of series such as The Hunger Games and Divergent. I picked up this book, expecting it to be readable, but as enjoyable as it ended up being. 

The writing of this book is unique, to the point where when I first opened it, I thought the previous owner had taken it upon themselves to cross-out various lines. It took me a minute to realize that no, this was something entirely intentional. It’s an odd technique, that while I’m not particularly fond of it, it does the job it’s intended to. It helps set the tone of the story, that is further perpetuated by Mafi’s unique and beautiful writing style. It’s almost poetic in how it illustrates the shattered state of mind the protagonist Juliette is in throughout the book. As the book progresses and she feels more comfortable in her reality we see some of these techniques either stop being used entirely or reduced significantly, while others continued to be used just as much if not more. At the end of the day, the writing in this book is really what elevated the reading experience for me, though I understand how it could have done the exact opposite for others. 

The only thing that rubbed me the wrong away about this book is the romance. It’s easy to say I didn’t care for it, and the little bit of exposure I’ve had to the fandom had me thoroughly confused (though I understand further reading may clear that up.) I’m not as bothered by love triangles as some are, but I struggled with this one in particular because I either don’t trust or don’t like either of the love interest. And… Warner? Am I supposed to like him? Cause no. And while I realise this negative is entirely subjective, for me, it detracted enough from the story to pull me out of it. I imagine for readers who don’t like love-triangles the effect would have been but quicker and more intense. 
Coming up with a rating for this book, even with the help of a rubric, was a struggle for me. It’s not quite a four-star read for me, but not as low as a three. That said, a 3.5 doesn’t quite seem right either. I imagine my final subjective rating being somewhere between 3.5 and four.

Final Rating