A review by azileotulp
Fracture Me by Tahereh Mafi

fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

When the LOML, Aaron Warner, said that Adam had the personality of a lamp, he wasn't wrong. I can't express how utterly boring and pointless I found this novella. When I found out it was in Adam's POV, I thought about skipping it, but I didn't want to possibly miss anything. I can now say that, yes, it was completely unnecessary.

I feel like the difference between Aaron's POV in Destroy Me and Adam's POV in this novella really just emphasizes how unlikable Adam truly is. He treats everyone horribly, and the way he thinks of Juliette is very jarring, especially considering how much he thinks he loves her. The way he constantly describes her as being weak, whereas Aaron sees how strong she can be, just makes Adam so annoying to me. You know this girl can kill people by literally just touching them, and you think she's weak? Emotionally? Sure, I guess. But when it comes down to it, we've already seen that Juliette is capable of some serious destruction and isn't this weak little animal that Adam needs to protect.
Also, the way he refused to go after her when she's captured because she's "safe with Warner." I'm sorry, but do you actually love this girl? I get the concern for your brother but... the flat out refusal to try to get her is so icky to me.
I guess it was slightly interesting to see the way he thinks at first, but it got old far too quickly for me. I was over it after the first five pages.

The only reason this gets more than 0 stars is because it wasn't a completely worthless experience. I liked exactly three things. Yes, three (3).

  1. The writing style is much better than the two full novels before it. I think that has to do with the fact that it isn't in Juliette's POV. I suppose this isn't truly a good thing because it's not as if the writing is great or anything. It's just... better.
  2. Kenji is still Kenji, which is always nice. He's truly the only character I actually enjoy other than baby boy, Aaron Warner (<3).
  3. The ending was actually really good. I enjoyed it even more than I enjoyed the ending to any other installment in this series (so far, I've found every other ending to just be... meh).
    I absolutely didn't think that they all believe Juliette is dead, and I do wonder what implications that has for the next book.

Overall, unless you're actually a fan of Adam (somehow), I don't believe you need to read this. Maybe the final chapter just because it seems like it will actually be important, but nothing other than that. I keep wondering why I continue to read this series when I genuinely dislike it so much, and the only answer I have is that a 5'9 blondie compels me to <3.
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