These books. Oh my soul. These books. Book hangover alert. All my yeses. What even was this. I'm still not quite complete.

This trilogy hurt my soul in the most delectable way. It's a very good thing I started these on a weekend with few plans because I read the three in less than thirty hours. They were delectable. Delicious. Scrumdidliumptious.

First of all, the concept. I loved the way I was able to experience the world alongside Kyla, and how I needed very little exposition because I was discovering everything alongside her. This was a very real story, and felt like something that could actually happen. It was easily to visualize, and I thought it was brilliant how Terry handled modern technologies, or the lack thereof--for instance, as cell phones were banned for people under the age of 21, at no point did I wonder why they were so dumb as to not use them.

The plot was exquisitely put together. At the end, all of my questions and all of the unsolved mysteries were tied together neatly and a bow was left for me. Maybe I was reading too rapidly to find plotholes, but there was nothing that stood out to me as being out of line or unsolved. I was really impressed by the intricacies webbed, and how small details from the first book came back to be solved in the third. There was even a really intense and fascinating psychological element to it all.

This trilogy was also unpredictable. At no point was I absolutely certain how everything would end. And when I did figure out what was going to happen in the coming scenes, my roommate thought I was crazy because I kept punching my pillow. So there's that. As Terry kept me on my toes, I had no clue if the ending would be happy or not. I had to keep turning those pages. (Seriously, thank goodness it was the weekend.)

The characters felt like people I knew. I had hunches about characters with nothing to base them on. And they turned out to be right. Because each character just had a distinct feel. I could envision them each having their own lives outside of these scenarios.

The ENDING. Okay, so I'm still angry about a certain death in the second book. But I managed to put aside my feelings (though in all seriousness I'm probably too obsessed with a very minor character) and root for someone else and this person succeeded so it's all okay and I have warm fuzzy feelings and there were at least two scenes I reread to feel all the butterflies in my stomach. I appreciated the ultimate message behind everything, which was telling without being overly in-your-face.

Overall, I just adored this trilogy. I need to learn how to savour books instead of devouring them, but that's on me. If you like dystopias or young adult novels or anything with a really good plot or if you just like books in general or if you breathe and are human, I insist that you read these books. It'll be worth it.
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3,5* ( )

Best closer of a trilogy I've read in a long time! ( )

The finale book in the Slated trilogy is the way I'd end a dystopian trilogy. Although, it started off slow, it ended perfectly and gave the readers an opportunity to make up their own minds as to what really happened to certain characters at the end of it all. It's a bittersweet ending, one that made me go: "Whoa!" and yet it was like: "I should've seen that one coming!" It's an engaging book that will keep readers wanting more, and although Teri Terry made sure to round Shattered off in a way that very little more can be created to entertain audiences, I feel it was the perfect way to end it.

The only problem I had was Ben. Luckily, even Kyla realised that Ben was kind of not the one for her, because she'd been growing attached to Aiden, but still ... I'm not always keen on the whole "loyal to the end no matter how screwed up you get" thing. Luckily, Teri Terry was able to figure out a sneaky way to get Kyla out of certain situations that were both ingenious and proper. Yes, I know not everyone will agree with me, but it was a helluva trilogy and I enjoyed Kyla's various adventures. I only wish we could have more Aiden/Kyla time.

Shattered (actually the whole Slated trilogy) is a good dystopian and I am glad that I closed my eyes and ignored some of the critique that I've read. To be honest, the Slated trilogy is by far better than the Delirium trilogy and the Uglies trilogy ... That says a lot, doesn't it?

(Review originally posted on www.tentaclebooks.com) ( )

Actual rating: 4,5 - At the beginning of this year I read a book called Slated, that I had ordered from Amazon a long time before that, and LOVED it. I immediately ordered sequel Fractured which I loved too and then third - and final - book Shattered. I started in that... and put it down after reading not more than twenty or so pages. Why? I have no idea, but I think I was in a sort of reading slump and I didn't want to read a book of which I really enjoyed the two previous ones in the 'fear' of disliking the third book. So I put it down and saved it for a time when I wasn't feeling like putting down every book I picked up.

In June I finally picked up Shattered again and I kind of cheered when I got past the point where I put it down the previous time. And I kept reading, and reading and reading - because oh my god these books are fantastic! Honestly I think one of the reasons I love these books so much is because they happen in Dystopian England rather than Dystopian America which happens in I believe 90% of the YA Dystopia's, and honestly I am getting a little bit tired of that (I don't blame American authors for keeping their stories in their territory, but still).

Shattered is the third and final book in the Slated series, and honestly I am a bit sad that it's over now - but I really enjoyed reading this third book because it is full of thrilling scenes. In this book Kyla goes in search of her birthmother and ends up in a small town which awakens more of her memories from before she was Slated. But there she finds out that not everything is as it seems, and even her birthmother seems to have some secrets of her own.

I liked the fact that Kyla was going to meet her family from before she was Slated, and I really liked the house that her mother, Stella, was living in. She took care of several girls who were under twenty-one and according to law not allowed to live on their own without an adult yet. Kyla went undercover as someone who was signing up for a program they have in the town and of course could not let anyone know that she was Stella's daughter. Then her cover gets blown and she has to go into hiding with Aiden and some other MIA people. And that is when stuff starts happening that made me go 'WHAT IS GOING ON?! WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?!'. A certain character makes his/her return, or in fact multiple characters from the previous two books make their return that made me go 'OH MY GOD'.

I mean the part where Ben walks into the room, I was freaking out. Too bad later on he turned out to be brainwashed by Lorders and got several MIA people killed - I was really happy when he walked back into Kyla's life again. Though I have to say after this book I don't ship them too much anymore, I think I like her more with Aiden now to be honest, ha ha ha oops.

Honestly, the end where the 'villain' meets the 'hero' for the last time before everything goes to a 'and they lived happily ever after' ending felt a bit rushed to me. I don't know why, but I had the feeling that it all happened so quickly after each other (which I guess kind of happens in this sort of situations), and it bothered me a little bit. I reread the part twice because I had the feeling I was missing something, but yeah - that was actually the only thing that wasn't that awesome about this book I guess..

In the end, Shattered was amazing and thrilling and a very good end to a series. I really recommend this series to people who are sick of seeing all those American-centered dystopias, and just people who love good action-packed books!

My opinion on this book in one gif:

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