Shatter Me

Juliette Ferrars — known as Shatter Me — is the protagonist of Tahereh Mafi's young adult dystopian series: a girl whose touch is lethal, who has been imprisoned in isolation to prevent her from harming others, and who becomes central to a revolution against the totalitarian Reestablishment that controls what remains of a destroyed world. Mafi writes with an exceptionally distinctive prose style — fragmented, lyrical, interior — that sets the series apart from conventional YA dystopian fiction.

Mafi's stylistic choices are as important to the Shatter Me experience as its plot: the crossed-out thoughts that reveal Juliette's self-censorship, the dense sensory imagery, the stream-of-consciousness interiority all reflect a character whose inner life has been her only company through years of isolation. The prose is not merely decorative but structurally expressive of Juliette's psychology.

The series began as a trilogy and has expanded with additional novellas and sequel books, developing the world and its characters with considerable emotional depth. The romantic elements are central to the series' appeal and handled with Mafi's characteristic stylistic intensity.

Begin with Shatter Me (2011) and read in order.