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If you’ve ever went to Tiktok and clicked on the notorious subgenre of 'BookTok' , you’ve heard of the young adult series, Shatter Me. Now fourteen years after the first ‘Shatter Me’ novel by Tahereh Mafi, comes it’s spinoff series, Watch Me.
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Shatter Me has become one of those comfort reads for me. I read it the summer after the COVID-19 pandemic happened, and I fell in love with the characters, prose, and storyline of the series. It was what truly got me into being an avid reader.
After reading all eleven books in the series, it’s safe to say that I am a fan of Tahereh Mafi and her work. So when the spinoff series Watch Me was announced, I was a bit nervous.
Mafi isn’t a stranger to expanding the series. The original Shatter Me series was meant to be only three books: Shatter Me (2011), Unravel Me (2013), and Ignite Me (2014). But in 2018, Mafi returned with Restore Me, the fourth book in the series and the beginning of a second trilogy. This trilogy continued with Defy Me (2019) and Imagine Me (2020).
These books were highly enjoyable and built a large fandom. On TikTok, the hashtag #shatterme has remained popular among readers, with third-party hashtag trackers reporting billions of views. The series was also recognized by BuzzFeed as one of the best YA book series of the decade in 2019, and Shatter Me received an honorable mention in the Children/Young Adult category at the 2013 Arab American Book Awards.
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Coming Back to Her Roots
Last year, Mafi announced that the spinoff series Shatter Me: The New Republic, which will be a new trilogy, taking off after the final book's events.
“Statistically speaking most revolutions fail.” Mafi tells Simon Teen. “I was just thinking about the ramifications of what they might have experienced. What would have been the natural course of things [after the events of the Shatter Me Series]. I was wondering what it would be like to re-examine that world from a new perspective, and particularly the perspective of trying to rebuild, while you’re constantly being threatened and undermined at every turn. I just wanted to come back into that world and see what it would be like ten years later.”
The book synopsis follows James Anderson, the brother of the infamous Aaron Warner Anderson. In the original Shatter Me series, James was a side character and only 11 years old in the series. Now, he returns to 21 years old, with a new personal conflict outside of the main gang. He has infiltrated the enemy, the Reestablishment, and has brought home an enemy agent: Rosabelle Wolff.
This book is marketed as a romantic dystopian fantasy. The book has sold over 8 million copies, and has great reviews. It currently has a 4.26 out of 5 star raiting on Goodreads and named as one of the Nominee for Readers' Favorite Young Adult Fantasy & Sci-Fi of 2025 by the Goodreads Choice Awards.
My Review
As a fan of the series, this book was phenomenal. This book, like most spinoffs, did not change the recipe. It had the same exact emotions and plot bones as the last book.
Tahereh Mafi has the power of intrigue in her writing. I vividly felt the emotions of the characters through her analogies, metaphors, and the way she conveys the characters’ feelings at the right time. This book made me feel everything without feeling rushed.
Characters
This book had great character development. When we first meet James, he is very different from the eleven-year-old we saw before. However, he isn’t a carbon copy of the old characters in the series.
He has his own voice. He is funny, sarcastic, and strong, but also very much in his head about things. He has his own internal conflict. He feels inferior to his overachieving family and wants to make his own name for himself. His conflict throughout the story helps his arc build. He is a great protagonist to watch, and Mafi writes him sincerely and interestingly.
The book also follows the point of view of a new character, Rosabelle Wolff, an agent of the Reestablishment and the antagonist to James’s plan. She was a very damaged but interesting character. The book unraveled as we learned more about Rosabelle. We did not learn everything about her instantly, and every time you thought you understood something about her, something new happened, further complicating her desires and deepening her fears.
The romance between both of these characters was slow and authentic. I felt myself waiting for something to happen, holding my breath during the moments between them. Mafi kept the tension between them, making readers fall to the edge of their seats.
Plot
The plot was very timely. Although the story had a lot to establish after ten years, it did so very seamlessly. The reintroduction of old characters was rewarding and exciting. The story also felt authentically James, not like it was trying to reheat the old story.
Overall
I give this five stars. The story was really well done, and I am excited to read Release Me, the second book in the trilogy that continues Rosabelle and James’s high-stakes, anticipated story.