Restore Me (Shatter Me #4) by Tahereh Mafi (Review)

Series:	Shatter Me (#4)
Genre:	Young Adult, Dystopia, Romance
Publication Date:	March 6th, 2018
Pages:	448 (Hardcover)
Published By:	Harper Teen
Website:	Tahereh Mafi
	Restore Me on Goodreads
My review copy:	Bought

Where to get:

Juliette Ferrars thought she'd won. She took over Sector 45, was named the new Supreme Commander, and now has Warner by her side. But she's still the girl with the ability to kill with a single touch�and now she's got the whole world in the palm of her hand. When tragedy hits, who will she become? Will she be able to control the power she wields and use it for good?

(Goodreads)

Idiots are highly flammable, love. Let them all burn in hell.

I cannot let the broken girl inside of me inhale all that I've become. I cannot revert back to another version of myself. I will not shatter, not again, in the wake of an emotional earthquake.

The lies that make up my life. The threats against the innocent people of Sector 45. The certain death that awaits me. The frustration of having so much power, so much power and feeling so utterly, completely powerless. 

Politics, it turns out, is a science I don't yet understand. Killing things, breaking things -- destroying things? That, I understand. Getting angry and going to war, I understand. But patiently playing a confusing game of chess with a bunch of strangers from around the world?
God, I'd so much rather shoot someone.

      So... this was interesting.

     As a huge fan of Shatter Me series (the original trilogy), I was overjoyed when Tahereh Mafi broke the news about additional 3 books being added to the series. I�ve read the trilogy twice, I gobbled it down. I remember suffering from the most epic book hangover afterwards. So, yes, I was totally down for 3 more books and more heart pounding awesomeness.

     If you�re here because you want more of the gloriously intense relationship between Juliette and Warner and you�re hoping for some hot and juicy hanky-panky, well, you�re going to really enjoy Restore Me. Tahereh spent a substantial amount of time on those two, and we got to see how their relationship progressed after Juliette took over Secter 45 and became the Supreme Comander. Between Juliette and Warner�s point of view, we get a ton of insight into what these two are going through, what they�re thinking and feeling. And it�s all executed pretty flawlessly, if you ask me.

     On top of that, we get to see the aftermath of the events of Ignite Me. Juliette, Warmer and Castle might have won the battle, but they�re as far from winning the war as they can be. In fact, there�s so much more to the Establishment than we initially thought. I enjoyed unraveling the secrets and learning more about Juliette, her parents and her past. The tension was building up slowly throughout the book, and with every new information, the plot line grew more intense and exciting. The ending was truly shocking. Pure chaos, total destruction, lots of confusion and the biggest cliffhanger of the century. The wait for the next book is going to be truly painful. Why do I do this to myself? 

     Being reunited with these characters felt fabulous. We got to read more heart wrenching excerpts from Juliette�s diary, we got to hang out with Castle and Kenji again, and we also got to meet some new, interesting characters (including - spoiler alert - Warner�s ex girlfriend). On top of that, we learned more about the twisted world of the Establishment, and boy, were those some revelations! 

     Overall, reading Restore Me felt like coming home after a long absence (if your home is a broken, twisted world, and your family are a bunch of freaks with superpowers). Personally, I had a ton of fun. If you�re a big Shatter Me fan, chances are you�re going to love this new installment just as much as I did. On the other hand, if you weren�t really into the previous books, I honestly see no point of continuing with the series. It�s kind of like the Supernatural situation - hardcore fans are rejoicing at the renewal of the series for the 14th season, while the rest of the world is rolling their eyes. (I�m in the first group, if you�re wondering). So yeah, this book will not make you love the series if you aren�t already a fan.

The Dying Game by Asa Avdic (Review)

Genre:	Adult Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopia
Publication Date:	August 1, 2017
Pages:	288 (Hardcover)
Published By:	Penguin Books
Website:	Asa Avdic
	The Dying Game on Goodreads
My review copy:	Received from the publisher via First to Read program in exchange for my honest review

Where to get:

A masterly locked-room mystery set in a near-future Orwellian state, in which seven people are brought to a remote island to compete in a 48-hour test for a top-secret intelligence position, and one woman must stage her own death.

The year is 2037, and on the tiny island of Isola, seven people have been selected to participate in a 48-hour competition for a top-secret intelligence position with the totalitarian Union of Friendship. One of them is Anna Francis, a workaholic bureaucrat with a nine-year-old daughter she rarely sees and a secret that haunts her.

Anna is not actually a candidate for the position: in fact, she�s the test itself. Her assignment is to stage her own death and then to observe, from her hiding place inside the walls of the house, how the six other candidates react to the news that a murderer is among them: Who will take control? Who will crack under pressure? But then a storm rolls in, the power goes out, and the real game begins�.

Combining suspense, unexpected twists, psychological gamesmanship, and a sinister dystopian future, The Dying Game conjures a world in which one woman is forced to ask, �Can I save my life by staging my death?�

(Goodreads)

     I enjoyed reading this book and thought the ending - while frustratingly open and hazy - was one that fit the story. I would have hoped for a more conclusive and satisfying finish, but at the same time, I feel like the ending of The Dying Game was purposefully constructed this way to enhance the feeling of hopelessness and confusion, and in that it succeeded fully. 

     The action of this book takes place in 2037 Stockholm and on a remote Isola Island. It's a near-future totalitarian state that is part of Union of Friendship, and that brings to mind a dystopian society much like the ones described in Orwell's 1984 (absolute government control, manipulation, top secret projects ran in the background, surveillance, government organizations controlling everyone and everything). It's a scary, but completely realistic vision that is quite unsettling.

     The story revolves mainly around Anna Francis, a former foreign aid worker suffering from PTSD, who is asked to play the role of an observer during a top-secret test designed by the government to select one person for the intelligence position (RAN). It's a stress test for the other competitors. Anna is to fake her own death (it is staged as a murder by strangulation), and she then is hiding away at a secret level of the house, where she can observe the reactions of all of the candidates. 

     What's supposed to be a relatively simple 48-hour task quickly turns out to be a much more complicated and dangerous one when, one after another, all of the other contestants begin to vanish into thin air and Anna begins to suspect that something much more sinister is going on.

     The Dying Game, while set in a dystopian world, was more of a political high-stake thriller and a mystery than it was a typical dystopian novel. I'd go as far as to call it psychological thriller. The action was slow-moving and there was a lot of foreshadowing of Anna's character, but not much in terms of the other characters at all. We didn't get a whole lot of details about the society set up either, just the vague and bone-chilling impression of the government being all-powerful, unstoppable, manipulative and highly dangerous. 

     I enjoyed the plot of this book, the sinister atmosphere and the underlying, ever-present tension. It was a good read overall, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes political thrillers, mysteries and not-so-positive endings.