Unravel Me: Shatter Me, Book 2

There is some big battle going on, but this seems secondary to a bizarre teenage romance. The lead female is in love with the one guy that can touch her without getting shocked. But, he is not the only guy that can touch her. The "lead bad guy" was able to touch her also. It turns out that bad guy and good guy just happen to share the same dad. And this dad is the "boss of the bad guys". 

The story evolves to have girl meet up with "boss of bad guys" and almost kill him. But she doesn't. Instead, she ends up with his son ("lead bad guy") as a hostage. She tries to "convert him" to the good guy cause and falls in love with him in the process.

There is also some bug conflict going on. The "reestablishment" is run by the bad guys. Some underground operation is run by the other guys. There is still some lack of clarity of whether they really have a plan for society other than take down the bad guys. There are also various powers - healing, invisibility. The sons of "lead bad guy" have the least understood powers (ability to "take away" other powers and "see people's true feelings"). There is a bit of story here hidden behind the romance.

Shatter Me

The book begins with Juliette, a girl in a mental health prison. She has pretty much given up on life. We learn she has done something that made her parents to get rid of her. A guy from her past (Adam) shows up and next thing we know she is a potential life of luxury. 

She then meets the the leader of the Reestablishment. This is a post-apocalyptic group that is working on restoring humanity. The leader is a young psychopath who leads through fear and violence. She has been brought in due to her power to electrocute people that touch her. He wants to harness this power for his nefarious purposes.

Adam has a plan to get out. He also has the ability to touch Juliette and travel in nuclear wastelands without being harmed. They get out and eventually hook up with an underground movement. This movement includes many other people with special "powers."

Most of the book is a typical young adult science fiction romance. The end introduces the concept of "powers". They can be of various types of usefulness. We also learn that the poor condition of society is primarily self-inflicted by the ruling class to help keep themselves in power. This now sets up an interesting sequel. This ends with more open threads than closed one and sets up a more interesting second book.

This Woven Kingdom

The Jinn have greater strengths than humans. Humanity made "peace" with the Jinn which eventually lead to the Jinn being oppressed. The book focuses on a Jinn girl who is destined to be a leader. She is highly educated and well trained in physical defense and dressmaking. However, she is currently living on the streets and happy to get a job as the lowest of servant girls. 

The crown prince of a kingdom likes to be out at war. The kingdom is struggling to secure a stable water supply. Another kingdom sits in the path that could provide it, yet they are regularly at odds. This crown prince comes home because his grandfather is near death and he is next in line to be king.

While walking outside, the girl is jumped by a street urchin. She is able to easily defeat him, but offers him bread at her currently place of employment. The boy attempts to commit suicide when he is confronted about his crime. The prince sees this. He thinks the girl is a spy and carries the boy to treat him and help find the supposed spy. This ends up endearing him to the common people, but causing the nobles to question his sanity.

The current King wants his son to choose a spouse from the nobility so that he can produce an heir. It seems obvious that the future king and future Jinn leader will eventually get together. However, they seem a million miles apart. There is plenty of action and a bit of fantasy and romance as the events unfold.

There are plenty of conflicts as the story unfold. There seems to be a fairy tale ending, but there are plenty of twists and surprises. It is never good to make a deal with the devil.