So, I binged the entire Shatter Me series (and ranked them) just so I could read this novel. I’ve had this release day on my calendar at least since December, so to say I was ready is an understatement. There are things that differ from the Shatter Me series, but a lot that stays the same. I’ll go over the writing style, the plot, and the characters below. 

With the writing style, it’s still the same flourish and beautiful prose as ever, but you definitely don’t get any journal entries like you did with Juliette. However, Tahereh Mafi does something similar to the journal entries in Watch Me, and it’s basically just Rosabelle stuck in her own head. I thought that was pretty interesting. As far as other things you should know about the writing style for Watch Me, I would say that if you liked Shatter Me, you’ll enjoy this novel because they are honestly insanely similar in writing style (although many people would fight me if I said it’s any better than Shatter Me, which, if you go by my ratings, it is). 

With the plot, you basically have James, all grown up now, as he tries to show off and infiltrate what Warner never was able to: Ark Island, the last establishment of the Reestablishment. There’s a reason that Aaron Warner never tried to get on Ark Island, though, and James finds that out pretty quickly. Their tech is insanely evolved and they have something called the Nexus that is super similar to what Juliette’s sister was in the last three novels of the Shatter Me series. Basically, they’re trying to control everyone’s minds. You find out pretty quickly that Rosabelle can’t be connected to the Nexus and that she’s tortured monthly (yes, you read that right) to make sure that she isn’t going to backstab the Reestablishment. She endures all of this to protect her sick sister who the Reestablishment would have killed anyway thinking that sick people are a waste of space. Once James and Rosabelle meet, you get the internal struggle of Rosabelle as she tries to keep her sister safe, but she also can’t understand why James has genuine human kindness. I found the first half of the book to be decent, but by the second half, I couldn’t tell what Tahereh Mafi was trying to set this series up for. I understand the cliffhangers and a lot of the plot points (which I’ll talk more about in the spoilers), but the story as a whole? It kind of got complicated. 

The characters were honestly the most similar thing to the original series. James feels like a spinoff to Kenji (who we get to see a few times in this novel), and Rosabelle felt like a mixture of Juliette and her sister (who I can’t remember the name of to save my life). I appreciated that Tahereh Mafi tried to reuse one of her most beloved personalities of her characters, but James at times felt too similar to Kenji that, having just finished the whole Shatter Me series, when I read scenes with both Kenji and James in it, I had a hard time telling them apart. Rosabelle was honestly the most unique and my favorite in this book. Her inner monologue, like I mentioned above, gives you backstory without feeling like a flashback and also gives you the similarity to Juliette’s journals that it was a really cool add. Not to mention, I LOVED the slips in her “mask”, and there were times that she would remind herself that “you’re dead, you don’t have feelings, just die.” Literally heartbreaking and felt so well-developed in her character. I can’t wait to see more of her later.

In terms of cameos, we get to see Juliette, Warner, Kenji, and a few others from the original series. Their storylines actually get added to, but you never read from their POVs. The only two characters you get to read from their point of view is Rosabelle and James. 

Basically, this book gets a higher rating than a lot of the other ones in the series because the world building finally finally feels like time and effort were put into them. I just really hope we don’t get another ending like Imagine Me at the end of this series….

Spoilers ahead.

Alright, so basically to sum up the cliffhangers, I’ve bulleted some of the things that I still have questions for below:

• What’s going to happen to Rosabelle’s little sister? Is she in the asylum or being tortured?
• How the heck are all of these members of the Reestablishment infiltrating the New Republic?
• Does Rosabelle have powers and that’s why she can’t be connected to the Nexus?
• Is Juliette going to be okay during THE BIRTH OF HER BABY???
• Why did Rosabelle’s dad abandon their family? And what the heck is going to happen when the two of them finally meet face-to-face?

Overall, I honestly enjoyed this novel and am looking forward to the rest of the series. I feel like Tahereh Mafi has grown a lot as an author since the last time she has written anything in the Shatter Me series and it shows in the best way. The world building was great even if the plot got a little lackluster at times. Her characters were on point as always, but some were too similar to other characters we already know and love. I would definitely rate this a 3.5 rounded up to 4/5 for social platforms. 

Source: Personal Copy

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