Review by sweet_mangocake - Watch Me

sweet_mangocake 's review for:

Watch Me by Tahereh Mafi

4.25

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

4.25 out of 5 stars.

Holy shet. You know how some people read a book and have that visual brain where it feels like they're watching a movie? Watch me watch a movie in my brain through this book because WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT.

The Reestablishment vs. The New Republic. Agency vs. the Nexus. James Anderson vs. Rosabelle Wolff. These dichotomies that the immense world-building established... Tahereh Mafi, you've done it again.

The world-building is undoubtedly my favorite part of this entire book. The reason I say this book reads like a movie in so many parts is because of Klaus, the suffering that Rosabelle went through, the aviation technologies, being submerged in ice-cold water (gave me flashbacks to Emmaline), and indicating how everyone there is really just a product of their environment (mainly Rosabelle) was top-notch. I was a little unclear about Klaus's predictions to how James will act and Rosabelle watching them (maybe it'll be explored more in the next few books), but still an eerie thing to read about. One thing I noticed from Mafi was the attention to detail in her rhetoric. From the repetition of "I remind myself that I am dead inside," line breaks/semi-colons/abrupt transitions whenever Klaus or simply being from Ark Island is messing with her + Leon's mind (y'all, the Leon scene got my heart racing!), when she spirals from hunger (gosh this HURT), the way she thinks about Clara in italics, only in bittersweet memories, the rhetorical choices Mafi took aided to how we perceive this world in a more subjective, open-minded way. Rosabelle is not immediately a villain for simply being where she is from, and between trying to survive and save her sister, she's made some poor choices. It was done immaculately and felt so cinematic.

The only part I thought was a little unrealistic in the large scheme of things was the progress that the Reestablishment/Ark Island was making with Klaus, the Nexus, and getting everyone online. It's only been 10 years since Aaron and Juliette overthrew the Reestablishment. I know by then the technology was already advancing (indicated by the suffering my poor girl Emmaline had to go through), but I wonder if it's realistic to think that the Reestablishment was able to launch Klaus and fight against the New Republic in ten years. I'm really sensitive to time, progression of advancement, and technologies when it comes to dystopias and this one felt just a tad too fast. I know we as a human society progressed from phones to AI, and it took about 10-15 years. It feels a little hard to believe that they were able to get to Klaus's level of advancement from Juliette and Aaron's days, even with the level of advances they had while overthrowing. Consequently, that's what piques my interest—Rosabelle's father, Hugo, and the role he plays with Warner post-overthrow. How long have they been planning this? What's he doing here? It for sure has something to do with why Rosabelle can't get online like the rest of the Ark Island victims. Maybe there's more that was going on at that time, we don't know.

However, the narration at times didn't allow for the world-building to shine to its fullest potential. I understand this is still a YA novel, continuing on from a YA series, but for a dystopia with such good technological details, a lot of it (especially at the beginning) is just told to us through Rosabelle's inner monologue. Sentences like "Most of our weapons are now powered by directed energy. Lasers so powerful some can reduce bone to ash in a single shot," or "He's the pinnacle of chemical intelligence; an omnipotent, synthetic brain built upon decades of work and research..." are not necessarily wrong to use. In fact, they're informative, set the scene, and work best for dystopias, especially when the world has been updated since its predecessor novel/series. But, I found it to be alternating between a basic/falling flat novel and a really dramatic, action-packed one with thrilling scenes. It's like a hot and cold, feverish writing. Even I don't truly know how to describe it. But I much more enjoyed learning about the technologies through the characters' dialogue or their actions, like how Rosabelle and James explore the military-grade / civilian-grade aviation together. That was such a good example of unraveling the world naturally. I don't think writing in either extreme is right, but I found the first half very telling and the second half a mix of showing and telling—so I think that can be improved a little bit.

I see one of the common critiques people had for this book is that "nothing happens at all" or there wasn't really much to take in. And while that is a valid critique, it's also a pattern of Mafi and her writing style. We've seen it in Shatter Me, we've seen it in This Woven Kingdom, and now we see it here. She often spends her time in the first (few) books of a series focused on world-building and introducing the circumstances and stringing along just enough action to keep us reading. And she's doing the same with this series. So much has changed since Shatter Me that it's important for us to get to know this world, the new set of characters, and establish the circumstances before things escalate. And I personally didn't see people's complaints—this was still a relatively engaging book while still doing all of that, and I only expect it to be fueled by rising action in her future books. That's why the world-building shines in this book, because I feel as if she's taken the time to give a sense of how high the stakes are.

 "No one has ever studied me as if I might be interesting, or worse: a real, comprehensive person." - Rosabelle 

Y'all want complex female main characters and couldn't even handle Rosabelle Wolff, come on now.

Rosabelle was such a well-done morally grey character, and I'm telling you, if she were a guy, she'd have a lot more simps. Maybe I'm just on the side of reviews/booktok that have perceived her as a boring character with redundant narration—much similar to Juliette, but the overall consensus being that she was a lot better than Juliette. And to that I have to present an alternate viewpoint: her being boring and redundant is the point. I loved reading and being in Rosabelle's mindset, because every day she's acting on autopilot, with depression and lot of severe mental health issues (that feel like the least of her concerns at Ark Island), and how much she has to suppress her emotions for her and her sister's well-being. One cool detail was the way she thinks in computer-esque terms ("every time I think I've found consistencies in him [James], he introduces deviations"), which speaks to the larger technological atmosphere of Ark Island and her upbringing. What differentiates between Juliette and Rosabelle is I couldn't fully understand why Juliette was the way she is, other than being locked up for 500+ days, and that can subjectively get a little annoying when the readers aren't there where the character/author are with empathizing. And we found out just how much she went through at the end of the series. With Rosabelle, Mafi wrote her a bit differently, despite what readers may argue. I think we constantly see her seeking her dead inside emotion while also recollecting her flashbacks and her trauma and how much Ark Island demands of her. Her mind is constantly calculative and on a survival instinct, much like how we see her trying to figure out James's intentions. And this was SO important to see to truly get an insight of just how it is to live in a brainwashed, destructive dystopia.

But no, the people want... what do the people want? Immediate empowerment? Badassness? In this scenario, I'm willingly taking Mafi's side; it's like she can't win. She handed a badass yet ultimately numb-to-survive female lead (as her circumstances would realistically make her out to be) on a silver platter, and people STILL complain. What more do people want? Is something I can't figure out. Rosabelle was great to read abou,t and it'll be exciting to see how she'll fight against the Reestablishment, Klaus, and with James.

 "My pants were getting tight over a serial killer. Kenji is going to love this." - James 

JAMES YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE AN 11 YEAR OLD WHAT ARE YOU SAYING. Jk, I know James has more complex quotes, but this one was just funny.

But just like how I belittled James, his whole arc has been to seek respect and be on the same footing as the infamous Aaron Warner Anderson—but more on that later. James was such a delightful character (and grew so well, my lil boy) and for sure a stark contrast to a heavily depressed Rosabelle. His humor, the way his inner monologue was effortless sarcasm, the way he was talking to all the animals, him ragebaiting The Nexus people through the cameras, he's just so hilarious, and I love Mafi for writing him that way. Because Rosabelle and James are two sides of the same coin—but have experienced trauma since they were a kid (and of course, James has had time to heal under Warner, Juliette, Kenji, etc.) and respond to it by putting up walls. Rosabelle's walls are to suppress her memories and keep telling herself that she's dead and James's walls are using humor as a coping mechanism to not get vulnerable. Stressful situations like coming on to the rebellions' highly technological island? Yes, let's make some jokes about Jeff the aviator with diet milkshake (truly, justice for Jeff) and cyborg birds. Where would the Kenji Kishimoto effect go? I see myself a lot in James because of this, so I really loved reading from his POV. But in the end, they're both hurting and have coped with life in different ways.

James looks up to Aaron, which is great, but hopefully what I get in the future books is a separation from Aaron. Every action, every motivation to James's actions has Aaron's roots in it. To why he went to Ark Island, to the way he fell in love with Rosabelle. Come on Aaron, you're really one to blame James for liking an emotionally destroyed woman tortured for years. YOU're really one to talk. But because James wants to constantly be like Aaron and take the same risks as him, he's unable to separate, and I wish for that character development for him.

 "After so many years of being dead inside, James makes me feel alive." - Rosabelle 

While we're quickly on the topic of James and Rosabelle's romance, I found this to be one of the weaker aspects of the book because it was so abruptly done. We jump from having to kill him, to mainly trying to figure him but also still kill him, and by the end, feeling like she hates nothing about him. James, on the other hand, has been in conflict of whether to like her or protect himself from her. I know YA/shatter me readers specifically demand romance due to Warner/Juliette's impact on the serie,s but I didn't think the romance or affection was necessary yet. If Mafi was truly using this book as a way to set the scene and take things seriously, there's no way 14 days will make Rosabelle like this man. Of course, what she feels is intrigue and return on affection and love, but I find it so hard to believe they like each other already for that heated conversation in the end. I don't think their conversations and interactions (especially the good ones) were long enough to build that budding romance. It's too soon to take root.

But what it does serve is a reason for Aaron Warner and Juliette Ferrars to appear smarter and more strategic than James, a silly little loverboy, doesn't it?

Hhhh. Welcome to the part of my review I've been MEANING to talk about but needed to lead up to it. Aaron Warner and Juliette Ferrars. I have some hot takes for this one, and not everyone might like it or understand it (even I myself am trying to figure it out). I've had some mixed feelings about these two throughout the whole book.

Let me be the first to say, Warner and Juliette are not all that. They're not holier-than-thou, as both readers even the Shatter Me characters like Kenji and Adam make them out to be—especially Warner. When James came back from Ark Island, he was never hearing the end of "Ooh, Warner's gonna f you up, you made J cry for 12 hours straight," or ooh scary Warner. When Warner and Juliette actually came on-screen (on-pages?), nothing of that hype happened, and it truly never happens. Of course, they were all just joking, and Warner may be different from James, but I truly even hate seeing that dynamic set up. There was another scene where Warner and Juliette discuss about James not being ready to monitor Rosabelle and talk about Hugo (way before the ending) dismissively, as if James is not in the room. I get it, they're older, they've been through a lot, they think James is too little to be involved in this, but the way they came off was truly annoying. They don't want him to go through the trauma from their teens, but they don't provide adequate support.

I don't understand why they're put on this high pedestal. I don't know why, but they've micro-annoyed me in other ways too. I should see Aaron's unwavering love and will do anything for my girl attitude towards Juliette as cute, but I see it as less intricate than it can be. Juliette has always had a "This isn't you, look at me!" role in their romance since the first series, since she's the only one Aaron is completely open to, and I feel like it's sort of continued on here. Their romance, their superiority over other characters, and their strategies have always felt slightly forced? Idk. But that's why, when Warner reveals the Hugo plan at the end, I learn about Juliette's pregnancy and why Warner is even more on edge than normal around her, I have to shut up about everything I said in the previous paragraph. Mafi will always write them as more strategic and superior. I just felt bad that James was not in in on this and is subject to that "you're just a little kid" treatment from them for a little longer.

As much as I have said all that, I equally adored seeing these + other characters live out their new domestic lives. As much as I have mixed opinions on Warner and Juliette, the fact that she was able to get pregnant after all that experimentation is incredible news. As much as I critique Warner, I have high respect for him for balancing the safety of the New Republic, his pregnant wife, and the influence he has on the people around him, like Adam's kids. Speaking of them, it's so cool to see them all talk about cooking pasta, going over to dinners, and Kenji. KENJI I've missed you so so much!!! But what was more heartbreaking was to see Nazeera and him break up. AIN'T NO WAY. TAHEREH MAFI, YOU'RE PUTTING THEM BACK TOGETHER IN THE NEXT BOOK. Adam was just where he needed to be. Not to concern with all this war stuff and being happy. I love that for him.

All that said, not a bad start to the New Republic. I have a strong feeling that Release Me will launch us into thrilling action, especially with Warner girlies being fed with his POVs. Till then, I'll be watching.