WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS.
Man o’ man, I adored this book. Restore Me is a dystopian novel written by the best-selling author Tahereh Mafi. It is the fourth book in the Shatter Me series, which was originally a trilogy until a year ago when three more books were announced. Tahereh Mafi is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Shatter Me series and Furthermore. She was born in Connecticut, and is currently writing the next book in this series, among others. Let’s start by saying what the actual fuck???? I was stunned after I finished reading this book, I mean I literally was like, I need more; now. But we’ll get to that part later. First of all, the world. It was a huge bonus to have actual world building in this book, I mean, don’t get me wrong I love the first books, but we never got to see a lot of the world, and at the time it wasn’t really necessary, but now it is. It was fascinating, to get to know that world, especially since most of it had something to do with Warner. We have more information now about the characters’ past, about The Reestablishment, a little bit about their geography, etc. I particularly enjoyed the political addition to the story, dealing with the Supremes’ children. The plot had so many twists!! Honestly, honestly, I had years of theories for what I thought would happen after Juliette declared herself as Supreme Commander, and every single one of them was wrong, not even a bit close to the truth. I was left utterly and completely speechless after Juliette’s past was unveiled, as was Warner´s part in it. Their breakup, that broke my heart, it’s actually one of the reasons I was sort of afraid when Tahereh announced the upcoming books, I was scared my ship would sink, that she’d break them apart forever, and although I am almost sure that won’t happen, the uncertainty, not knowing for sure, it kills me. No one’s really safe, sometimes authors feel bold and decide to take some unnecessary risks, which sometimes work and sometimes not. Anyway, there’s still hope for them. After Juliette murdered nearly 600 hundred people, all with a loud scream, at first I thought I had misunderstood something, then I read it again and…nope, just about right, she just bam got rid of them. Can we talk about the characters pleaaase: Warner, sweet, tender, brilliant, Warner. He is and has been my favorite character of all times, ever since I read the series, which was a few years ago. He’s evolved so much from who he started as in the first book. He did awful things, there’s no denying that, and he never justified himself, never pretended he was doing something right or for the greater good, he evaluated the situations and then decided what he wanted to do, he actually says “I have never claimed to live by any set of principles”, Warner says to me, “I’ve never claimed to be right or good, or even justified in my actions. The simple truth is that I do not care. I have been forced to do terrible things in my life, love, and I am seeking neither your forgiveness nor your approval. Because I do not have the luxury of philosophizing over scruples when I’m forced to act on basic instinct every day.” I love that he accepts he’s done those things but he never liked doing them, nor does he think they were right, and now, since he’s changed, his decisions have too, he’s working hard to be the person he thinks Juliette deserves. He has anxiety, panic attacks. He’s grieving his father, and he doesn’t know how to open up, he’s never done it. He was taught not to feel, to suppress his emotions, so in times like this, it´s hard for him to talk about it. Besides, he thinks that by accepting his grief it would somehow be understood as if he had agreed with his methods in a way. He’s facing the fact that he’s now an orphan. He’s now bonding with Adam and James, and I know deep down, he’s grateful to have them. He’s afraid of talking to Juliette about his past, it was so hard for him to get her to trust him, he’s afraid that if he unveils the horrible truths haunting him from his past, then he’ll destroy her confidence in him, he cannot abide losing her. He can’t stand other people touching him, or any sort of physical contact with anyone else but Juliette. He loves Juliette so much and respects her. He didn’t intervene in her meeting with Haider because he could not bring himself to undermine her like that. I feel like I’m just rambling now, so I’ll just say, Warner has always been a complex and round character, a “grey” character, relatable. But now? Now he’s even better, we get to see that there’s more to his past, his personality, his emotions, and everything we learned about him in this book has allowed us to understand him even better, why he acts, speaks and thinks the way he does. As for Juliette, we’ve seen her evolve, grow throughout the books, and I identified with her personal growth in a deep, personal way, more than I have with most of the characters I’ve read. I liked that she was becoming more confident, that she loved herself, and although I knew she still had a long way to go, I didn’t think she was that far from overcoming her fears. When I read Ignite Me, I did have my doubts concerning Juliette’s plan. I do think she did it for the right reasons, I think she was in a good place, she had gained confidence in herself, she was ready to fight back, she wanted to stop the abuses towards the people, she wanted to bring down the Reestablishment. However, ever since she said she should take Anderson’s place I had my doubts, I thought it was a little unreal, a little too optimistic, that a girl who has known so little about the world, how it works, politics, with no experience, with nothing to offer but herself, was somehow going to bring world peace just like that. Did I think she had potential, that with time, training and through experience she’d become the leader the world needed? Yes. Because of this, I was glad to see that Tahereh had tried to make the book as “real” as possible in this particular aspect, meaning that she did show us Juliette’s struggle with being a leader, her doubts and that she realized it was nothing like what she had imagined. She starts seeing it more as a burden and often wonders if she made a mistake.She has a lot in mind: her daily tasks as Supreme, her internal struggle and constant worries about her lack of abilities, strength and intellect to be a leader, her political situation, the other Supremes and their children, Warner’s grief and his lack of communication skills, her relationship with Warner and how she realizes that despite her profound love for him, she still doesn’t know many things about his past, she’s haunted by Anderson’s words, curious and at the same time terrified of getting an answer to her questions regarding Warner’s past.I knew she still had a lot to figure out, and she was indeed bottling up her feelings, but never, never, would I have imagined the extent of her power and how fused it was with her emotions. It’s not been that long since she discovered her abilities, and although she was training, she doesn’t know how powerful she is and how vital it is to keep her emotions separated from her power since she is a very sensitive person.I don’t love that she exploded and killed hundreds of people, but I don’t hate it either. I guess I knew eventually her emotions would burst and hurt people in the process, but not cause a massacre. What I don’t like about this is that in doing it, she became who she’d always despised, whom she dreaded, she’s become like the people she hated, she’ll see herself as a monster. She achieved so much in the last books and I fear this will only set her back.
Her past. I was shocked by the revelations in this book and can’t wait to see how the story and the characters develop in light of these discoveries. I think her parents are crazy, I mean how can you see someone kill hundreds and say “You’ve done beautiful work here darling. You’ve really made us proud.” How insane do you have to be to say that? I don’t think they’re good people, buuut, I’m curious to see how they willingly gave up their daughters, I definitely think there’s more to that story. I mean, did they ever love them? Why are they back? Did they know what was happening to their daughters, how they both were going through hell, and if so, why did they never do anything?Just a quick note, why are birds constantly appearing in the story, and what does Juliette have to do with them? What do they represent? A memory? A metaphor?I think that she’ll play along with her parents, take advantage of everything while she readies herself to get out. I’m not sure what will happen to her once there, but I have my theories, I think she’ll be tortured and trained, in the same way Warner was, or worse.
Kenji is still hilarious and amazing. We now know what happened to his parents, more about his personality. He’s loyal, smart, extremely funny and unapologetically inappropriate. First of all, his friendship with Juliette is goals, they trust each other, care for one another, play with each other. He’s such a good friend, always there for Juliette when she needs him, always looking out for her, he’s honest with her.
Now, I loooooved his relationship with Warner, how it’s sort of a love-hate relationship. I live for their interactions, how when Juliette was pressing them to spend time together they despised each other, but after she backed off they unwillingly and not aware of it, where building a strong friendship. I love when Kenji calls him bro, and how he was really there for Warner after the whole Juliette-drama-breakup thing happened.
His crush on Nazeera is so cute, I’m so glad this happened. He does deserve to be happy and I hope we get to see him –even if it’s not with Nazeera- with someone who loves him.
Castle, what the fuck????? During the 3rd book he supported Juliette, he was always encouraging her, telling her how she was everything he never could, and now? He’s withdrawn all his support, making it very clear he doesn’t think Juliette is fit for the job. Castle knew more than anyone. He knew about Warner’s past, what his father did to him. What happened to his mother. He knew the truth about Juliette’s identity, he knew who she was and where she had truly come from. Which is why he was so scared of her –what she’d do when she found out- and for her –what the Reestablishment would do to her, since they wanted to retrieve her.I don’t think we gave him enough credit, I think we underestimated him, the way Warner did, we thought he was just an idealist, too optimistic to be a leader, we thought he never did research on his enemies, we thought he had underestimated them. We were wrong, so wrong. He is indeed smart, and most importantly experienced.
As for the writing style, I think it has changed, not in a bad way necessarily, it’s just…different. In the previous books, it was more…lyrical (it still is, just...less), in a way poetic, and in this book, it wasn’t as much. I guess the writing style of any author is deeply connected to his/her emotions, way to see life, perspective, etc. So everyone changes, and I think that’s ok, so I guess what I’m trying to say is I get why someone’s writing style might change. Regardless of this, I did miss that poetic, metaphorical touch.
I enjoyed reading this book so freaking much. I was really excited (and scared) to read it, I missed these characters so much, it was amazing to get to read them again. I was a little unsure about whether I liked the fact that Tahereh had extended the series, since sometimes it doesn’t really work and it ends up ruining a story, but I’m pleased to say it was fantastic, I finished it in a day, couldn’t put it down. I adore the characters, both old and new, the story was shocking and it stuck to the characters’ personalities, making the story more believable and relatable. I enjoyed the writing style, and the world building was an incredible bonus to the story, all things considered, I give it 5 out of 5 stars, and recommend it to anyone who loves a good story, with plot twists, amazing, relatable characters, and a romance to die for!