Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Ignite Me
by Tahereh Mafi
Read: February 4. 2014

Published: February 4, 2014 by HarperCollins

Source: Hardback purchase

Category: YA, dystopian, romance, superpowers
Series: Shatter Me #3
Find: Goodreads | Amazon

NOTE: Ignite Me is the third book in a series. Click the book titles for my reviews of Shatter Me and Unravel Me. I tried to avoid outright spoiling the final book here, but it's pretty obvious if you've followed my thoughts leading up to this finale. Please use discretion about scrolling below if you've yet to read this book. 

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"

Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew-about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam-was wrong.

In Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi created a captivating and original story that combined 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." The sequel, Unravel Me, blew readers away with heart-racing twists and turns, and New York Times bestselling author Kami Garcia said it was "dangerous, sexy, romantic, and intense." Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and climactic end.
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I wasn't sure if I'd even write down my thoughts, or be able to talk about this book in a coherent and constructive manner (i.e. without breaking down into an emotional rant). But I figured I owe it to myself and to those who have asked for my full opinion, to get it out there. I'd also like to find some semblance of closure for a series that I once loved so much. But I am realizing that might be too much to ask, so I must figure out how to move on regardless. 

Here goes. 

I have been a big fan and advocate of the Shatter Me series since it began. I remember being glued to my computer one weekend waiting for chapters to unlock in the first book. The story of a broken girl misunderstood and trapped in a cell. Her chaotic, poetic language and even the strikeouts, completely riveted me. I preordered a copy instead of waiting for it at the library, which was rare for me at the time, and I ate up every minute of my reading experience when it finally arrived. Shatter Me was one of the books that made me fall in love with YA, and I couldn't wait to find more stories that would capture me as firmly as this one did. I read it organically before I started blogging or even reading reviews, and the feeling of going blind into a story and discovering the treasures hidden there was magical. 

Unfortunately all of that magic has been effectively stolen away from me in the wake of the overwhelmingly disappointing series conclusion that was Ignite Me. For me, I think the worst thing about Ignite Me is how much it tries to cheapen and invalidate my experience reading Shatter Me. Everything I once thought was wrong, far beyond what we already discovered in Destroy Me. All my reactions to the characters were incorrect. It sanitizes and simplifies, destroying the complexity of the characters and story in general. I felt like this was an attempt to erase or rewrite the past in a way that felt forced and overdone. To me, Ignite Me was so much less than Shatter Me and its strong sequel Unravel Me - even in the quality and poetry of the writing, and I truly cannot figure out what happened. 

I want to take a break here to tell you what I DID like about Ignite Me. I liked Kenji and James, though I wish the latter had been able to do more than just provide tension breaks.  Although I preferred the Boy Not Chosen, I was fine with who Juliette ended up with and Mafi is very good at writing romance. Everything else in this story was a mess. I truly believe this book could have had the same ultimate result - the same guy chosen, the same amount of growth for Juliette and the same larger accomplishments - and done it respectfully and well.  But that did not happen. 

As for what didn't work for me: First this book has very little plot or forward momentum. Instead, it gets stuck in an endless cd skip of Juliette's relationship drama.  Anything regarding Juliette's feelings or her love life is given an extreme amount of weight. Anything about taking down the Reestablishment or controlling/understanding powers or solving bigger world problems is pretty much glossed over quickly and is fixed too easily. Most secondary characters aren't given much to do. 

I also finally noticed the lack of general world building in these books, or rather, I finally realized that my larger world building questions were never going to be answered. We still know very little about this society and the Reestablishment, as well as the origin and scope of these individual's super powers. This is one of those issues that I was able to overlook at the beginning of the series, but could no longer ignore by the time I got to the third book. 

Regarding the two guys vying for Juliette's attention, it is not an exaggeration to say that everything about their past behavior was overjustified or re-explained in a new way. To the point that the characterization - and some previous story elements - no longer made sense to me. They both went through a Total Transformation, so much so that they were altered beyond recognition. And it wasn't even that they changed. No, we were told that our perspective was wrong about everything. This happened on such a grand scale that the characters lost all their credibility for me. I felt like a lot of this direction was forced and manipulated and way too backended. The series was poorly constructed if this was the direction all along. I don't mean who Juliette chooses in the end, I mean who the characters are by the end of the book. 

Let me reiterate something I've said many times before. In a love triangle*, it matters so much less to me which team ultimately wins than how it happens. How much respect is given to the characters, which I believe is surprisingly lacking in this story: for all involved parties. I'm just going to say it. I did not appreciate the effort to totally whitewash one character and completely debase the other one until he lost all dignity and integrity. It was unnecessary and insulting (I know that sound's harsh, but it's how I feel). The same ultimate end could have been achieved without it. 

So much potential in this book went unrealized in the wake of altering our views on characters. It's impossible to discuss without spoilers but too many plots didn't go anywhere or were forgotten or glossed over in order for Juliette to realize the 'truth' of the men in her life. Everything served that purpose in this story. I just felt this desperation to convince the reader of certain elements. It was unnecessary and overkill, and made me want to push back. It wasn't even that, but the story kept rehashing the same points over and over again to the point it became ridiculous. When this was still going on 300+ pages into the book (of a 408 page story), I wrote in my notes: "We get it! When is the part where we actually take out Anderson?"

As the majority of reviews and chatter I've seen about Ignite Me have been wildly positive, I've had to come to terms with the fact that this just wasn't the book for me. This makes me sad, because I really, really wanted it to be. But clearly I'm the Other Guy in this relationship, and with one last paragraph, I know it's time to bow out. 

I read Shatter Me before I found this amazing bookish community to share in all of my reading experiences, and it was a very personal/solo experience. But I was able to read Ignite Me with a group of friends, who discussed, ranted and analyzed the story all along the way and after with me. That was, by far, the absolute best thing about reading this book. Despite what is, for me, a disappointing conclusion, it is something I'd never want to erase. Thank you for giving me that, ladies.

Love Triangle Factor: Unbearable

Cliffhanger Scale: Series Conclusion 

*You can see my definition of a love triangle in THIS post. But let me reiterate that I believe how the reader perceives a story is sometimes more relevant than whether an author thinks they've written a love triangle. If an author/publisher is pushing their series as having a love triangle with 'teams' that the heroine and, as a result, the readers are encouraged to choose between, the story has entered love triangle territory. From Unravel Me to Ignite Me, this series became a very big love triangle.