Watch Me

Watch Me is a dystopian science-fiction novel written by Tahereh Mafi and originally published in 2025. It is the first book in Mafi’s Shatter Me: The New Republic series, a spin-off from her popular Shatter Me series, set in the same universe. The novel focuses on two protagonists, Rosa and James, who come from opposing sides of an oppressive and brutal world. Rosa’s world is ruled by artificial intelligence and authoritarian control, while James’s world is defined by its opposition to hers. Through their story, Mafi explores themes including The Tension Between Safety and Freedom, Reconnecting With One’s Humanity Through Empathy, and Redefining Survival as Resistance.

This guide is based on the 2025 HarperCollins edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of disordered eating, graphic violence, illness, physical abuse, and death.

Plot Summary

Twenty-year-old Rosabelle (Rosa) Wolff and her younger sister Clara live in “the pit” on Ark Island, the final refuge and self-sustaining home of the Reestablishment. The Reestablishment, a highly authoritarian society, was overthrown by The New Republic, a group of rebels who sought to create a new society based on a different set of morals.

The Reestablishment now only exists on Ark Island but plans to take the world back. The citizens of the Reestablishment have had their genes edited to remove any chance of developing superhuman abilities, while those in the New Republic retain them. Their plan to regain power involves infiltrating the New Republic and editing their genes as well as removing the superhuman abilities that give them an edge in the battle for power. The Reestablishment is overseen by Klaus, an artificial intelligence that connects everyone’s consciousnesses by a neural network.

Rosa and Clara are alone, starving, and being indefinitely punished for their father’s betrayal of the Reestablishment. Their mother died by suicide shortly after that betrayal, and since then, Rosa has taken care of her constantly ill sister. Rosa was trained as an assassin since childhood and is often ordered to kill captured prisoners. Rosa copes with her position and her past actions by shutting down her emotions so that she does not have to feel anything.

Currently, Rosa is tasked with killing a recently captured prisoner. The prisoner, James Kent, is the younger brother of Warner Kent, the ruler of the New Republic. He came to Ark Island to infiltrate it, a major risk, and left home without telling anyone.

When Rosa and James meet, their first encounter is tense and emotional, and there is already chemistry between them. Rosa, however, does her job and slits James’s throat. However, James heals himself, his superhuman ability, and attacks Rosa. He wins their fight, but before he escapes and makes his way out of the forest, Rosa begs him to tell “them” not to hurt Clara.

When Rosa awakes, she is plunged into the cradle, the home of Klaus, cold, icy water filled with the bodies of sacrificed humans. Telepathically, Klaus talks to Rosa that she may not deserve to live. However, he promises that she and Clara will be “free” if she completes her next mission.

Later, Rosa and her commander watch James, who is still in the forest, on a monitor. When he escaped, he managed to take some artillery, but it explodes on his back and sends him flying. He falls through a tree, breaks several limbs, and spends the night painfully healing. All the while, Rosa feels for him and feels an attraction toward him.

Later, Rosa is told she will be marrying Lieutenant Sebastian, the man who usually performs her grueling interrogations. The interrogations are necessary, according to the Reestablishment, because, unlike the rest of the citizens, Rosa still has her superhuman ability, which rejected the Nexus chip implanted in all citizens. Because of this, Rosa is the only person in the Reestablishment not connected to the neural network, and after each mission, they interrogate her to get the information that would normally be automatically relayed.

Rosa has no desire to marry Sebastian, even though it would mean she and her sister could eat. During her next interrogation, Rosa is electrocuted and asked if she is loyal to the Reestablishment, but she is too weak to answer. Sebastian promises Rosa that Clara will be well cared for while she is gone on her mission, but Rosa has doubts.

James wakes up after his night of healing and rips open an AI squirrel to remove its chip, planning to take it home. He climbs a tree to look around and sees a cluster of homes on a cliff. He hijacks a craft flying nearby, a chopper, and flies to the small community.

Upon landing, James is immediately met with a scene of Rosa screaming as her sister is taken away. Rosa spits in Sebastian’s face and is beaten with a gun, and James decides to intervene. He invites Rosa into the chopper and shoots several of the men before they fly off. He asks Rosa how to get to Clara, but she sees the situation as hopeless. Still, she is moved by James’ concern for her sister.

Rosa asks James to take her out of Ark Island, and James agrees but on the condition that Rosa is immediately interrogated upon arrival in the New Republic. Rosa passes out on the chopper, and James holds her until they reach the New Republic. This situation fits perfectly with her new mission: to stay near James and follow a set of instructions she will receive upon reaching the New Republic. She hopes that if she succeeds, she will see her sister again.

James’s friends and brother Adam are irritated by James’s unsanctioned mission but welcome him home. However, James’s other brother, Warner, the ruler of the New Republic, is angry at him for leaving unannounced and risking his life. He tells James that his new mission is to shadow Rosa, talk to her, and gain information. James tries to encourage Rosa to eat, but she becomes ill when she attempts it. Rosa and James get to know and understand one another, and the attraction between them builds.

Rosa goes to take a shower, and the nurse accompanying her instructs her to find a glass vial filled with black liquid, indicating the next phase of her mission. Later, James finds Rosa after group therapy and attempts to ask her questions, but Rosa isn’t very forthcoming. He takes her to the dining hall, where she becomes irritated with her neighboring cellmate for continually harassing her. She stabs him with a fork, attempting to kill him, and James rushes over to heal him before he dies.

James is urgently called to Rosa’s room because she is being accused of invading her neighbor Leon’s cell. Rosa denies it and wonders if Leon is the one who possesses the vial she needs. Meanwhile, James starts to notice how often Rosa stares at him, but Warner advises James not to get emotionally attached or mistake Rosa’s interest for affection.

The next time James finds Rosa, Leon is dead in her cell. He came into her room during the night, claiming she wrote him a love note, and gave her the vial. Talking through Leon, Klaus instructed Rosa to drink the contents of the vial and bury herself alive. Her body would then explode, sending the contents of the vial, a gene-editing substance, across the New Republic. The hope is that it will remove the superhuman abilities of the New Republic citizens and make them easier to control. Klaus tells her that she is a traitor to the Reestablishment and was sent to the New Republic to die.

After instructing Rosa, Leon dies, and everyone thinks she killed him. She is confronted by several people, including James and his friend Kenji, and attempts to defend herself but is captured. James is tasked with taking her to maximum security prison, and along the way, Rosa finally tells him about her past. When James sees the conditions Rosa will be living in, he attempts to save her, but Warner intervenes. He announces that Rosa’s father, Hugo, is working for him and waiting to “begin.”

Rosa is taken to prison, where she begins plotting a way to return to Ark Island. She plans to sacrifice herself by drinking the substance and allowing her body to explode in Klaus’s cradle.