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Have you ever picked up the Shatter Me series, by Tahereh Mafi? If you have, you may be wondering which order is the best to read them in. Some book series can be pretty complicated when you are trying to figure out which order in which to read them.
Thankfully, the Shatter Me series is not one of the complicated ones and the reading order of these is pretty straight forward.
There is only one way to read the Shatter Me series, and that is by order of publication. There are 6 novels and 5 novellas in this series, while that may sound pretty complicated, the novellas actually fit perfectly into the story’s timeline from when they were published.
So, there is no guesswork, and just a simple reading order.
First of all, as we look into this series and its reading order we will go through the series and look into the actual story being told in these books.
So, let’s learn the reading order, and what the story is actually about, so when you go to read Shatter Me, you know what you are getting into with this gorgeous tale!
Straight to the point, we won’t dilly-dally around. We know you want to know exactly how to read these books. So, here is the way you should be reading Shatter Me, in chronological and publication order:
If you know anything about this series or have done any searching about them (especially on Amazon), you will likely have come across Find Me and Unite Me, other titles affiliated with the series.
Unite Me is a book that contains the two novellas in the series; Fracture Me and Destroy Me, which are listed as separate titles in our above list.
So, if you do purchase Destroy Me and Fracture Me as separate titles, then you will not need to buy Unite Me. However, if you are short on shelf space, you could just purchase Unite Me instead.
This also stands with Find Me. Find Me contains the novellas Reveal Me and Shadow Me, which are also separate novellas. These are the latter two in the series, and again you could purchase these separately, or together.
Depending on whether you would rather have them as separate titles, or ones together.
For those of us who read the Shatter Me books as they came out, it will have been quite a while since any of us read those first ones.
Mafi wrote the first 3 books in the early to mid-2010s, and then there was quite a sizable gap before she got to books 4 through 6. You can’t rush a writer after all.
Some of the older books may be a bit of a trial to recall for anyone who read them when they first hit the shelves, so we will go over them in a moment. And as for the newer books, some of you will have yet to read them, so… SPOILER ALERT! We do go over these too.
This series, however, is exceptionally popular, having sold over 1 million copies. The series is a young adult dystopian series that follows the story of a girl called Juliette.
This young lady has quite the superpower (or anti-superpower, we suppose?) in which anyone she touches, ends up dying.
This makes having a romantic life something of a difficulty for Juliette, and so this is a very focused point of tension and drama inside her story, not to mention the emotional baggage she carries around. As you can imagine from someone of her age.
An effect of this type of story is that there is a touch of realism to it, in the crossed-out lines, like a young woman writing in her journal, crossing out things she decided not to keep in eye view on paper.
Some readers find this irritating, however, you do get used to it, and it becomes part of the charm that the series has, instead of a tedious addition to the whole thing.
It is a bit easier to cope with than some other types of reading which can be in different dialects, with mixed-in languages, and such, so an avid reader will likely not find it so tedious after some time.
Now that we have gone over the important stuff, let’s take a look at each and every book (including the novellas) in the Shatter Me book series. We will go over what they are about.
We will do this to help you decide if you want to read the novellas as well as the primary storyline books, or if you will give them a miss.
Note: You do not actually have to read the novellas, however, if you are interested in them, they can be a great bit of additional storyline that fuels the intrigue between the novels.
Shatter Me is the first book in the overall gripping YA series. This now features some really cool jacket art, so that it matches up nicely with the rest of the book series, and includes the Destroy Me novella.
This is when we get introduced to Juliette.
“One touch is all it takes… One touch and she can kill”.
In our story, no one really knows exactly why Juliette was gifted with such incredible power. Of course, to her, it feels more like a curse than power, as it is such a burden that it is hard for one person to bear alone.
Yet, the Reestablishment sees her curse as a gift, and her as more of an opportunity. Or… more likely a deadly weapon.
Juliette has never actually fought for herself in her life, however, when she ends up being reunited with the one person who actually, really cared for her, she finds an inner strength in herself, one she never knew she had.
A part that we love about this series beginning is that while it touches on fantasy (Check out What Do We Need To Know About J. K. Rowling And Her Net Worth?) in the aspect of Juliette and her superpower. It also touches on the isolation, and fear that most people feel at some point in their life (especially in their teen and young adult years).
But, it also touches the hearts of the readers on a deeper level too, in the value of companionship.
Destroy Me is set after Shatter Me, but before Unravel Me. It is a Novella that is told from a different perspective this time.
It is a story told by Warner, who is the ruthless and cold leader of Sector 45.
At this point, Juliette shoots Warner to escape, but he simply cannot let her go, and won’t stop thinking about her, determined to do absolutely anything to get her back.
However, the Supreme Commander of the Reestablishment arrives and has totally different plans for Juliette than Warner does. These plans are against Warner’s wishes, and so, things heat up.
Unravel Me is the second installment in the novel series. It should ideally have taken Juliette only one touch to kill Warner, but he has some strange immunity to her very deadly power, and this has somewhat shaken her, she wonders why her powerful superpower just did not work against the one person she really needs it to.
Adam and Juliette escaped Warner, joining a group of rebels, most of whom have powers themselves, and Juliette is delighted to know she can finally fight against the Reestablishment and put the pieces of her broken world back together.
She has hopes that her new allies may help her understand how, somehow both Adam and Warner have some strange immunity to her deadly superpower.
We have to admit that the world of Juliette and her superpower is the ideal reading material for readers who are fans of Darkest Minds and The Red Queen.
Fracture is only 60 pages as the novella that follows Unravel Me. It tells the story of what happens to the Omega Point Rebels when they end up going face-to-face with the Reestablishment.
It is set during and just after the ending moments of Unravel Me, and it tells the story from Adam’s perspective this time.
The Omega Point Rebels are preparing to fight against Sector 45 fighters, but Adam’s focus is pinpointed towards Juliette, his brother, and Kenji.
However, the Reestablishment does not care what Adam wants, and they will do anything to fight the resistance of the rebels, including killing everyone that Adam wants to protect.
Ignite Me is the third installment of the series. It has been described as:
“A thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love”.
Omega Point has been destroyed, and Juliette is lost with absolutely no idea if her friends, Adam, and the rebels survived. However, this is never going to stop her from obliterating the Reestablishment.
However, now she is stuck relying on Warner, the rather dashing commander of Sector 45. Yes, the same guy she shot, and the one person she never believed she could trust, but the one person now she has to.
He is also miraculously the person who saved her life, and now he swears to help her master her superpower and save their world on the brink of destruction, but… As you may expect, that is not all that he wants from Juliette.
After some years the readers had to wait, the fourth installment in this series continues, as the story of Warner and Juliette continues.
She has the power to kill but now has the world in her hands. She thought she had won, taking over Sector 45, it all looked great. She was even named the new Supreme Commander for North America, and with Warner beside her things looked awesome.
But, tragedy strikes, and she is finally forced to face the darkness inside her and surrounding her.
We now find out who Juliette becomes in the face of adversity, has she got the power to control her powers within her, and use it well, or not?
In this novella, we hear the story of Kenji, as he narrates the rather explosive events that happen in Restore Me.
At this point, Juliette is seething from Warner betraying her, while Kenji tries to balance out the friendship he has with her while also managing his responsibilities being the leader of the resistance fighting against the Reestablishment.
But, things get even more complicated when an unexpected somebody from the past of Omega Point resurfaces.
The ending is said to leave readers gobsmacked and gasping. It is a tale jam-packed with sass for Kenji and is the ideal bit of reading to keep you hooked until Defy Me.
This is the 5th book in the series, and it continues the intriguing story between Warner and Juliette. It turns out that she is not who or what she thought she was, and everything has come crashing down.
She thought she defeated the Reestablishment. She thought she had her life under control, per pains, and her powers.
However, now she starts unraveling a lifetime of falsehood and lies, and she ends up being faced with the same choice she started off with. Should she be a warrior or a weapon?
However, now she is not alone, she has more bravery, strength, and resilience. She fights for her life with her friends, but she needs to fight to remember who she was before.
First, she must fight with herself.
Kenji is once again the focus of this novella. It brings you back into the world of chaos and calamity that is the Shatter Me series and is enough to tie you over before the final installment.
Juliette, or… Ella? Which is real?
Ella knows who Juliette is, and why she was created, and everything is complicated. Understanding the past is hard, and looking to the future is worse. Wrong and right are blurred lines, and her destiny is out of control.
The Reestablishment will face their reckoning, but will Juliette get to decide which side she is fighting for?
Finally the last novella, a romance between Warner and Juliette after the results of the final book. We find out if they are able to be happy, or if the world is just a cruel master.
Shatter Me is an intriguing and enveloping series that is hard to resist for any avid reader. Its story takes you on many twists and turns. Read the novellas, or stick to just the novels, either way, is good. It is a simple reading order if ever there was one.
