Book Review: Defy Me (Shatter Me #5)

Defy Me
Tahereh Mafi
3/5

The Overview

So I had mixed feelings going into this book. I hated the original trilogy, I only read it because my friend was obsessed with it but I honestly hated it. Everything was poorly explained, there were no plot twists, it was just everything wrong with YA. The fourth book was different, I don't honestly know why I read it last year, I think I was just really bored and needed a book and it was super short. But it shocked me in a very good way, for once I actually wanted to read the next book. If you told me that the fourth book was going to turn out the way it did after I finished the third seven years ago, I would think you were talking about fanfiction. But compared to that book, this one just really fell flat to me. I think Mafi relies way too heavily on the shock factor, 90 percent of both of these books has just been meaningless and then bam, it lures you in with some kind of shock factor. That's how a lot of books function, but at this point in such a lengthy series, I'm looking for more. I started this series as a seventh grader, so I can understand how it could be considered more of a middle grade novel, I don't know if the romance was too much for a middle schooler? If you're looking at it from a conservative perspective then probably. There aren't any graphic descriptions at all, but sex is directly mentioned and that's a little too much for some middle schoolers. Also the parental abuse may be too much, along with the violence, someone literally gets their heart ripped out.
Featuring Kenji's point of view was fun, but honestly it was not enough substance. I couldn't really grasp the significance of what was happening to him given the length of his parts. Like I know he was in a prison, he was in isolation, but I didn't feel the emotion of it because it was over in the blink of an eye. I wish he was less of a peripheral character, and I know she's working on that, but here it just felt a little too little.
That could be linked to how wrong the length felt. I kept checking to make sure this was a full-length novel, it says it's 352 pages but it was only like 700 on my phone, so the font must have been pretty large in print. The ending felt like a novella, it was too happy, it didn't make me want to read anymore and it didn't feel related to the rest of the series. Okay, we get it, he's traumatized and he's finally where he belongs, but why is the book ended on that?

Why Three Stars?

I think it's fairly obvious, the book just didn't have enough substance to be ranked anything higher as a novel. Maybe if it was a novella I would think differently of it, but it's just nothing in the comparative time scheme. I had high hopes for the novel, I felt like it would be addressing a lot of the major introduced plot points. It kind of did? It felt more like it was just gearing us up for the next novel, so again, it just felt like a random novella. I needed more substance, the last novel was already a build up novel.

How Was the Ending?

Not good, like I said, way too happy. I know that there is an active plot, but it just felt like all of the characters were settling way too quickly. It felt like fanfiction again, you don't know these people but hey, let's throw a birthday party!

Would I Recommend?

If you have already invested time in this series, the original trilogy, then yeah I think that these additions make the rest of the books stronger. But that's coming from someone who hated the original books, if you really loved them then these might not be for you. If you kind of liked them, these books are so short that I think the little twists and the continuation of the existing romance makes it worth it. If you're new to this series, I wouldn't recommend starting it.