A Review on Tahereh Mafi's Ignite Me

   

    Ignite Me is a dystopian novel written by Tahereh Mafi continuing the story of 17 year old Juliette. It is the third book of the 6-book Shatter Me series. I just finished reading it and I recommend this book to anyone looking for a dystopian novel with a complex setting with supernatural and romantic elements. One of the reasons Ignite Me is such a fantastic novel is because of the development of the character, Aaron Warner.

    Spoiler Warning!! 

    The book follows the perspective of the main character, Juliette. Due to this fact, at the beginning of the book we as the reader and Juliette believe that Warner is a bad person. He is seen as a sociopath due to the fact that he tried to use Juliette as a weapon, tortured her friends, and had no regard for human life (from first book). This is shown by how Kenji, one of Juliette's friends, describes him, "'We are talking about the same dude who locked you up and tried to make you his military slave, right?" This line demonstrates the opinions of Juliette and her friends near the beginning of the book.

    After that, the author develops Warner by having him tell us his viewpoint. First of all, Warner's dad was very abusive, as shown by the quote, "'-is that I hate my father more than you might ever be capable of understanding.'". Second of all, the way Juliette perceived Warner was not who he actually was. For instance, "'I wanted access to you; I wanted to study you. I wanted to know and understand you firsthand. Because in all my research, you were the only person I'd ever heard of who might be able to offer me answers about my mother's condition.'", reveals that Warner didn't want to use Juliette as a weapon, but instead use her to help his mother, showing his sympathy and care for his mom.

    Finally, Warner finally shows emotion when his mom dies. It is a huge turning point in his character because before, he had been seen as an emotionless character that cared about no one. This event happens on page 300, "I've never, ever seen him look like a child before. Never, not once, not in all the time I've known him. But right now, he looks just like a little boy. Scared. Vulnerable. All alone." As Juliette mentioned, she'd never seen him vulnerable before. This experience makes him seem much more human than he had previously been shown to be. Throughout the book, Warner's initial image is shattered to reveal the genuine, kind boy that he actually is.