Introduction
Ignite Me, written by Tahereh Mafi, was published on February 4th, 2013, by HarperCollins Publishers. This book is the third in the Shatter Me series, and it was released almost a year to the day after its predecessor, Unravel Me. I was assured by my friend who recommended these books to me that this one was the best in the series, and so far, she’s right, especially from a romance perspective. I really enjoyed this book, and I can tell that it will be very anticipated when I eventually reread the series. As with my previous reviews of the books in this series, I wrote this review long after finishing the series, but I have done so including only the events of the first three books. The Thoughts section will contain spoilers for them, but nothing will be reviewed past the events of Ignite Me.
If you want to learn more about Tahereh Mafi and her future work, you can follow this link to her website: https://taherehmafi.com/, and follow her on social media @tahereh.
Plot
Taking place immediately after the events of Unravel Me, Ignite Me follows Juliette and the surviving members of Omega Point as they create a tentative alliance with Aaron Warner to take over the North American branch of The Reestablishment.
Thoughts
Keeping with the theme of analyzing the tone of Juliete’s internal dialogue as the series progresses, this book remains angry, but now it seems directional. She’s more confident, determined, and focused than she’s ever been, and that gives the anger somewhere to go, which is a refreshing change from the previous book. Watching her continue to grow and mature made me start to believe that she would be a fit leader should she succeed, and she did. Her lack of hesitation when it came to killing Anderson was amazing, but I do think killing him off so quickly robs Aaron and Adam of either closure, or the chance to kill him themselves. I would have liked to see Adam be able to confront Anderson, but I do look forward to seeing him and Aaron interact as the books continue.
Speaking of Adam and Aaron, this book (so far) is the best in terms of the romantic plotlines. We get to have a conversation between Juliette and Aaron where he explains his actions in the first book. While his intention may not have been to frighten or torture her, her time there was certainly hellish, and having him explain that her actions - to him at the time - seemed childish shines a very different light on the events of the first book that add several shades of grey to Aaron’s character. He gets even more complex when his motivations are revealed to be for the sake of his long-suffering mother. He obviously loves Juliette - aside from the fact that he tells her this outright, he wouldn’t have done and risked so much for the sake of keeping her safe if he didn’t - and I think she loves him too. His ability would allow him to already know this, in turn making her denial more tragic for both of them. The enemies to lovers aspect is a win for me because it’s done well. As for Adam, he and Juliette may have worked in the beginning, but they don’t anymore, and Adam’s response to all of this is just immature in the midst of everything going on around them. They were too reliant on one another, and he coddled her too much, whereas Aaron and Kenji are not afraid of putting Juliette in her place.
Kenji just seems to get better and better in every book. He is absolutely Juliette’s best and closest friend. His heart is always in the right place, but he keeps it real with her. He isn’t there to tell her whatever it is she wants to hear, he is going to tell her how it is, and I absolutely love their dynamic. I was so glad to see him open up more in this book, and while it had already been hinted at, we finally got a closer look at who Kenji really is outside of the jokester of Omega Point.
James is, of course, another very important character in the series because his presence drives a lot of Adam’s actions, such as accepting Warner’s help and hospitality. Adam is prideful enough that he may not have gone on his own, but he did for James. Despite how close James and Adam are though, James doesn't parrot back Adam’s words and actions. He has his own opinions, and he is very curious about those around him, especially Aaron. This is made even more interesting when it is finally revealed to Aaron that Adam and James are his half brothers. Side note, I understand Aaron being upset with Juliette for not telling him, but I understand her hesitation as it wasn’t necessarily her place to tell him that. Luckily, that argument didn’t last too long.
The plot is a bit slower paced from an action standpoint, and it involves a lot of training for Aaron and the remaining members of Omega Point. Luckily, the conversations and character development fills the otherwise empty space, and the plot doesn’t feel like it’s dragging.
With the fantastic character development and the shockingly inviting plot that included both action and strategy-based plotlines alongside romantic ones, this book feels like it’s going to be a turning point. Especially with the cliffhanger ending it has involving Juliette putting herself in a position of power as the Supreme Commander of North America. Considering all of this, Ignite Me ranks a solid 9.8/10 for me.
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