As Omega Point prepares to launch an all-out assault on The Reestablishment soldiers stationed in Sector 45, Adam's focus couldn't be further from the upcoming battle. He's reeling from his breakup with Juliette, scared for his best friend's life, and as concerned as ever for his brother James's safety. And just as Adam begins to wonder if this life is really for him, the alarms sound. It's time for war.
On the battlefield, it seems like the odds are in their favor—but taking down Warner, Adam's newly discovered half brother, won't be that easy. The Reestablishment can't tolerate a rebellion, and they'll do anything to crush the resistance . . . including killing everyone Adam has ever cared about.
I love fanfiction.
I know that
it’s not a widely accepted part of literature, but I have often read so many
great fanfics that were far superior to some published books, that makes me
wonder why it is that people run from it like the plague, especially when we
consider how some of the greatest works in history have technically been
fanfictions.
My first
acquaintance with them was when I was practicing for my TOEFL exams (An English
sufficiency test), and reading was one of the skills I wanted to improve. That was
when I came across Star Trek fanfiction… without having the slightest idea of
what the hell it was. I had read that fanfictions were stories created by fans,
but hadn’t really understood how it worked until then. My English’s skills were
quite poor at the time, and my vocabulary was especially limited, so I’d read a
paragraph and my head started to ache from sixteen words I did not understand. Every
FF seemed extremely complex and beautiful to me because of this, and I
initially thought they were all masterpieces (I was sixteen, give me a break)
Even though
now I know better, it was thanks to fanfiction that I managed to upgrade my
skills and I’m now able to read full books without a problem and write
seemingly coherent reviews!
But especially,
I love fanfiction because it allows me to see different sides of the things I
love and, let’s face it, who hasn’t had their favourite characters being
mistreated by writers? It’s a hard thing to love a female/POC/LGBTQ in a
discriminate narrative *cough*The Vampire Diaries*Cough*
I have seen
my lovely Caroline Forbes grow into a beautiful character development, only to
be dragged through the mud in the later seasons. My favourite villain,
Katherine, was butchered in her characterization, turning her into a love-sick
puppy she never was and eventually being thrown to hell while the other male
villains are free to cause havoc another day. Bonnie… my sweet baby, when was
the last time she had something to do? Something that wasn’t dying to make
Elena popcorn?
Moreover, I’m
one of those people who roots for the love interest that never gets picked. It’s
not that I hate the other person (sometimes, others I do I’ll admit it) but it
could be that my ship has better chemistry or they are simply, in my opinion,
better suited for each other. Totally my opinion though. So I go off to Fanfic
land and indulge myself with some stories of my favourite couples getting
together. Sometimes it’s hard, especially because I’m really picky when it comes
about how the romance develops, and sometimes I have come across some pretty
ridiculous stuff.
Things like
those two characters yelling at each other with cheesy lines and suddenly
making out, because reasons.
But one of
the most commons, and the one I particularly dislike the most, is when characters
are drastically changed to make things work. Suddenly the bad (and hot) guy
becomes the really nice person who is the only one who understands the MC,
while her previously nice boyfriend is turned into an asshole who just yell at
her for no reason, becomes super jealous whenever she mentions the hot, evil
dude and is basically washed away from anything resembling a personality to
make the girl choose the other guy.
Needless to
say, I’m not enjoying very much the Shatter Me series.
I enjoyed
the first book very much, but I wished things had stayed the same. It’s clear
that the author changed her mind and wanted the story to go into a different
direction, I completely understand that, but she destroyed her characters to
make this work. Warner went from being a perfectly awesome villain, clever and
ruthless to a pretty dumb guy who could not understand why the girl he tortured
wouldn’t like him. Juliette went from this person trying to understand herself
and make peace with who she was to this wishy-washy person who cares more about
her love life that the lives of tens of thousands of people, and Adam went from
a caring person to a dependant asshole who is “oh so clearly” evil and totally
not the right choice for Juliette.
It would have
been amazing to see Juliette struggling with his feelings for Warner had he
still remained the bad guy he was in the first book, instead he’s turned into a
puppy-lover, child saviour, artificially flavoured cinnamon roll, dude. So that
now Juliette can love him guilt free.
In this
novella, Adam’s love for James was thrown in the narrative constantly,
exemplifying how Adam would never love anybody the way he loves his brother,
showing us that he could never really love Juliette… Are you serious? Not only
is that incredibly infantile, but also ridiculous. James is his brother,
brotherly love is not the same as romantic love, you can love more than one
people at time guys!! The whole idea behind this is so dangerous! To believe
that the only way someone will love you is if they love only you, you first,
your wants before their needs… no! Imagine having a boyfriend/girlfriend asking
you not to love your family or friends “as much” as you do because it makes
them feel bad, and tell me if you wouldn’t flip them off.
That’s not
real, and I’m sorry because I know that so many of my friends love this series but
this is terrible done. I’m not even sure I’ll read Ignite Me, and it’s insane
because Shatter Me is one of my favourite books read this year, what happened?
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