Review: Imagine Me

Imagine Me by Tahereh Mafi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So this is supposed to be the final Shatter Me novel, and...I'm not gonna lie, this is the first in the series that wasn't a five star for me, or even a 4.5 rounded up to 5. More like 3.5 rounded up to a 4. I hate to say it, but now I see why this book has a surprisingly low GR average - for being the ending to a big series, one of the most imaginative in all of YA, it does feel like Mafi kinda put a rush job on it to meet the "once a year" pattern of the rest of this trilogy. The story just kinda drags for a while, feeling oddly turgid even with Mafi's usual gift of atmospheric and creepy and experimental prose. But the second half, full of horrifying twists and turns, helps make this some of Mafi's most daring work yet, finally bringing us stakes so high as to be unbeatable in any future installments. Though I do wish there would be more just so it didn't have to end on such a state of mild disappointment, at least it ends, and with surprising sweetness too. And dear God, I found Kenji so goddamn relatable in this one, more than ever. Especially with his admitting his tendency to wall off and refuse to trust anyone. I'm glad that Mafi gave us his POV instead of Warner's for the vast majority of the book, because I just love Kenji too much. To the Shatter Me series, I once again bid ave atque vale...and also, one last thing. The tagline on the cover? Eerie foreshadowing there now that I've actually read the book.

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