Review--Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi

It's been sixteen days since Juliette Ferrars killed the supreme commander of North America and took over as ruler of The Reestablishment on the continent.

Sixteen days since she assassinated Warner's father.

Juliette thought she'd won. She took over Sector 45 and now has Warner by her side. But she's still the girl with the ability to kill with a single touch--and with so much power in young hands, the world is watching her every move, waiting to see what happens next.

Juliette and Warner have risked everything. But when tragedy strikes, they must confront the darkness that exists both around and inside them. Will they be able to control the power Juliette wields, or will it control them?

Oh my god!! Oh. My. God. I had waited to read Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi because I knew I would need the next book asap. I idealistically thought I’d binge the series like I did with the first trilogy but since Tahereh will be at my library next week, I decided to break protocol and now I am suffering the consequences! Needless to say that Restore Me was just as mesmerizing as its predecessors! The story hooked me in despite a slightly slower pace, but the storyline itself was well developed and had me turning the pages as fast as I could.

I told myself I needed to pace myself with this one, but it’s a hard thing to accomplish when returning to a series I thought over! Getting back into the groove took a bit of doing, I had read some series recaps on the previous books so I felt mostly prepared; I did have some confusion about The Reestablishment itself because the recaps didn’t really go into detail on that. Otherwise, this one was a breeze…a soul-crushing and intoxicating breeze! Lol.

Juliette is slowly adapting to her new role as the Sector 45 leader. She still has no idea what she’s doing, but she’s learning. Warner is at her side, but he’s dealing with a lot of emotional baggage after the execution of his father. He doesn’t miss him, but there’s a lot of emotional turmoil to be dealt with. It was saddening to see such disconnecting from him. Warner was a hard character to like in the beginning, but naturally, I found myself warming up to him by the end of the first trilogy.

Despite my enjoyment of the story, I will admit that the storyline itself was kind of slow. It’s a lot of Juliette trying to get herself together for her new role. There are children of other Sector leaders coming in for a “visit” prior to a large symposium that’s to take place. These teens are the kids Warner grew up with, so he’s slightly leery of trusting any of them.

There was a lot of reveals happening in this particular installment! It’s amazing how many more secrets there are to uncover when we really thought all things were said and done. I won’t get into many details, but let’s just say that the secrets that come out are big. Incredibly big. World-changingly BIG! They will likely be setting the course for the next two installments as I haven’t gone so far as to read what Defy Me will be about.

I was happy to see that Adam was back in the picture, if only briefly. I can’t remember exactly what he was up to at the end of the series. I recall wanting to know where he’d “be” at and while we don’t quite get that answer to the point of my satisfaction, it was still nice seeing that he was still around! And let’s not forget Kenji either! I don’t know where we or Juliette for that matter, would be without him!

As far as romance goes, this one had a few good moments between Warner and Juliette. Though as seems typical for most of the YA series I read, just when we think things are all happy and nice…something comes along and wrecks it all. Let’s just say that Juliette and Warner will have a lot to overcome if they want to stay together. But before all that happened, I was quite happy watching these two be happy! Lol.

The ending. Oh my god, that ending! It was kind of chaotic, but in a good way, it was bad for the characters, but made for exciting reading. If only it didn’t have to wait until the very end and egads the cliffhangers!! I mean seriously?! Now I have to wait THREE WHOLE DAYS until the next installment comes out! It really feels like four since I have to wait until after work to pick up a copy! But yeesh!

Restore Me proves that no series is done for good and can still pick things up with a blast and have you hooked long before the last page. If you’re a fan of the Shatter Me series and haven’t yet picked this up, I’ll say that there is nothing wrong with waiting to binge read the series. It does wonders for one’s sanity, but if you’re impatient like myself, then well, we can go crazy together!


Overall Rating 4/5 stars