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A review by amelia_m3llark
Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
2.0
This book was WAY more well-written than its predecessors. However, that isn’t saying much. Since I rated Ignite Me 2 stars, you’d better believe reading this pissed me off in multiple ways. Spoilers ahead, so scroll past this review if you don’t want major plot points ruined for yourself.
Admittedly, and much to my surprise, I actually did ship Warnette by the end of this book. At least they have chemistry. But I don’t appreciate the way Warner was calling Juliette stupid when she was confronting him about important stuff. For example, Juliette really did think Warner forced her to torture that toddler in the simulation chamber, no matter how obviously fake it seemed to Warner. That is genuine trauma right there, and instead of comforting her, Warner made sure to make Juliette feel as ridiculous as possible that she ever believed that. Also, I felt kind of gaslighted in that first section of the book, what with all these “revelations” Juliette was forced to have about Warner as a person. What if Tahereh Mafi actually had Warner go through a real redemption arc, instead of him actually just “being a good guy all along”? Feels more like emotional manipulation than an actual change in Warner’s personality.
Another thing I hated was the action scene at the end. The final battle was WAY too easy for Juliette. You’re telling me that 75 of the country’s best soldiers, chosen to guard the boat their Supreme Commander was on in the midst of a war, all just stood there and shot at Juliette after her very clear demonstration just a few minutes earlier that she was LITERALLY BULLETPROOF? It’s too ridiculous to believe. This battle was not well-thought-out whatsoever.
And finally, although I suppose Juliette and Warner’s relationship is mildly wholesome, it’s also really cringe. Warner’s super smart, and Juliette’s super dumb, and some of the conversations they have highlight this in a way that just makes me wonder how Warner can put up with Juliette’s stupidity without even batting an eye. If she didn’t have superpowers, I really don’t think Warner would like her all that much. She really would just be a pretty face who can’t throw a punch to save her life, and there’s not much unrecognized potential he can unlock out of that.
I know I said that was my last grievance about Ignite Me, but I can’t pass up the opportunity to accuse this book of just being boring. I can confidently say I don’t care about anyone in the Omega Point crew except for Kenji. So it gets really tiresome when the only “plot” that is happening for the first 350 pages are just a huge soap opera playing out between all of these people, which mainly consists of shouting matches between Adam and Juliette while everyone else is quite obviously listening to every word. It’s basically what was happening at Omega Point all over again, except now in Adam’s house. These kind of repetitive storylines make it so painfully clear that the author is just dragging out the book as long as she possibly can.
But there’s Ignite Me for you. If someone were to ask me to describe it to them, I’d tell them it’s mid. Not just any kind of mid, though; it’s the kind of mid where the book is borderline terrible, but just barely squeaked into that category. Not much of an accomplishment for Juliette Ferrars, but she gets a disgusting amount of hype on BookTok without my opinion, anyway.
Admittedly, and much to my surprise, I actually did ship Warnette by the end of this book. At least they have chemistry. But I don’t appreciate the way Warner was calling Juliette stupid when she was confronting him about important stuff. For example, Juliette really did think Warner forced her to torture that toddler in the simulation chamber, no matter how obviously fake it seemed to Warner. That is genuine trauma right there, and instead of comforting her, Warner made sure to make Juliette feel as ridiculous as possible that she ever believed that. Also, I felt kind of gaslighted in that first section of the book, what with all these “revelations” Juliette was forced to have about Warner as a person. What if Tahereh Mafi actually had Warner go through a real redemption arc, instead of him actually just “being a good guy all along”? Feels more like emotional manipulation than an actual change in Warner’s personality.
Another thing I hated was the action scene at the end. The final battle was WAY too easy for Juliette. You’re telling me that 75 of the country’s best soldiers, chosen to guard the boat their Supreme Commander was on in the midst of a war, all just stood there and shot at Juliette after her very clear demonstration just a few minutes earlier that she was LITERALLY BULLETPROOF? It’s too ridiculous to believe. This battle was not well-thought-out whatsoever.
And finally, although I suppose Juliette and Warner’s relationship is mildly wholesome, it’s also really cringe. Warner’s super smart, and Juliette’s super dumb, and some of the conversations they have highlight this in a way that just makes me wonder how Warner can put up with Juliette’s stupidity without even batting an eye. If she didn’t have superpowers, I really don’t think Warner would like her all that much. She really would just be a pretty face who can’t throw a punch to save her life, and there’s not much unrecognized potential he can unlock out of that.
I know I said that was my last grievance about Ignite Me, but I can’t pass up the opportunity to accuse this book of just being boring. I can confidently say I don’t care about anyone in the Omega Point crew except for Kenji. So it gets really tiresome when the only “plot” that is happening for the first 350 pages are just a huge soap opera playing out between all of these people, which mainly consists of shouting matches between Adam and Juliette while everyone else is quite obviously listening to every word. It’s basically what was happening at Omega Point all over again, except now in Adam’s house. These kind of repetitive storylines make it so painfully clear that the author is just dragging out the book as long as she possibly can.
But there’s Ignite Me for you. If someone were to ask me to describe it to them, I’d tell them it’s mid. Not just any kind of mid, though; it’s the kind of mid where the book is borderline terrible, but just barely squeaked into that category. Not much of an accomplishment for Juliette Ferrars, but she gets a disgusting amount of hype on BookTok without my opinion, anyway.