Book Review: Reached by Ally Condie

I’m back! I know it’s been ages, but I really haven’t had much time during the last couple of weeks. I just wanted to let you guys know I finished Reached by Ally Condie, which is the third book in the Matched trilogy. Check out this link for a review of the first two books in the series on my blog!

I finished reading „Reached“ last night and I haven’t really had time to figure out how much I liked this book. Maybe at the end of this review I can tell you. It’s just that A LOT happens in it!

Source: Goodreads

 

Plot:

The book starts a few months after the end of Crossed. Cassia is working as a sorter in Central, Xander is a medic in Camas Province (I think. I’m not good at remembering all the different provinces and cities), and Ky is training to be a pilot for the Rising.

More and more people get a mysterious sickness, called the “Plague” that only the Rising has a cure for. So when the situation gets out of control because too many people are infected, the Rising takes over the Society and starts healing the sick. But nobody expected a mutation of the Plague that nobody has found a cure for and that ends deadly…

 My Thoughts:

 Where should I start? Which the things I liked, I guess. Please, if you haven’t read the book yet, DON’T continue reading. There will be spoilers!

1.     I’m really satisfied with the ending: Ky and Cassia are meant to be together. But I’m beyond happy for Xander. At the beginning of the book I thought it could be Indie, because in Crossed she always looks at Xander’s microcard. And I’d never have expected it to be Laney, I never suspected she could be alive. So that was a really pleasant surprise.

2.     Character development. Again. The characters went through so much in Crossed, and now, at the end of Matched they have become adults. In my opinion Xander changed the most, working with the Still at the medical centers, falling in love with Lei. Plus, he’s such a good person! He’d do anything for his friends, and he’s so happy for Cassia and Ky.

3.     The ending. At the end everyone who is older than 17 could vote for the Society, the Rising, or for Anna, who stands for something entirely new: A kind of democratic system. I think the vote is described beautifully in the book; it’s something totally unknown to the people in the Society. I loved the moment when they’re in the mountains and Cassia explains how strange and unknown, but beautiful having a choice is.
      
  Because that’s kind of what Reached is all about: How having a choice is a gift. Cassia’s grandfather gave Cassia the choice which poems to follow, or not to follow any of them at all. Cassia’s father decided not to. Cassia did.

4.     I wouldn’t call it fast-paced, because it really wasn’t in my opinion. But it still made me keep reading, because it was INTERESTING. I had to know what the ending was like so it was a really quick read for me. (Which makes me think of “The Casual Vacancy”. I’m still stuck at page 130. It’s just not interesting to me).

Reached was really good, but it could have been a little better. What I didn’t like as much:

1.     I think too much of the book was about the Plague and about finding a cure for it. 

2.     I’m a sucker for romance. Except for a few scenes at the end there was hardly any romance at all in this book… Which is because the character weren’t together until like the middle of the book. But still, I love Ky and Cassia together, and I would have enjoyed a few more conversations between the two of them.

3.     Sudden deaths! SPOILER ALERT! Seriously? Indie? Cassia’s dad? I was okay with Oker, his death made sense and made the story a lot more exciting. But Indie was one of my favorite characters, I feel like there is so much about her that we didn’t find out, and never will. 

4.     Unanswered Questions. Yes, I know that’s normal, it happens every time a book series is over: there are questions. Why could Cassia walk through the blue tablet? Why can she remember some things that happened after she took the red? Does is have to do with her never taking the green? Do the Otherlands really exist? Why has nobody ever come back? Where are Ky’s aunt and uncle?

RATING:                                                                       

Plot: 4/5
Language: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Overall: 4,5/5

Author: Ally Condie

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Publication Date: November 13 2012

Genre: Young Adult / Dystopian

Pages: 384 (Hardcover)

Get it on Amazon:  (Available as: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio book)

Have you read Reached yet? What did you like or dislike about it? Please tell me in the comments!

 

"Matched" and "Crossed" by Ally Condie

I read two books last week that I really wanted to review. They're "Matched" and "Crossed" by Ally Condie. (Yes, I've been loving dystopian novels recently. This book series really reminds me of "Delirium" by Lauren Oliver (which I also highly recommend!)).

Don't be afraid of spoilers, these reviews don't give away anything about the books' endings!

Matched by Ally Condie

 

 source: Goodreads

"Matched" is about a 17-year-old girl called Cassia who lives in a world where everything is controlled by "the Society", e.g. you can't choose your job or your relationships, how many children you will have or what you eat. The only choice you get to make is whether you want to be "matched" or stay single for the rest of your life when you turn 17. Cassia chooses to be matched, but the result she gets is very strange and dangerous: She gets two results. On the one hand there's Xander, her neighbor and best friend. On the other hand there's Kyle, who Cassia finds out is an "Aberration" (which means he's not considered a citizen in the Society and can't be matched. But for some reason he gets matched with Cassia).

What I found fascinating was the world Ally Condie created. Her descriptions of the houses, technology and the Society in general are very detailed.
It took me a while to be able to relate to the main character, Cassia: At the beginning of the book she doesn't question the rules of the Society at all, she's very naive, and that kind of annoyed me at first. But after getting the strange matching result she grows more and more suspicious of the whole situation, and her whole character develops a lot.

I read "Matched" in only 2 days. I really got sucked into the story, and couldn't put it down. So when I found out there was a sequel I HAD to read it straight away :).

Crossed by Ally Condie

 

source: Goodreads

I always look up reviews online before reading a book. When I finished "Matched" and looked up reviews for "Crossed" I was kind of disappointed because so many people didn't like it ("Eew, I don't like the setting", "there's not enough Xander", "it's boring" etc. etc.)

Now, after finishing "Crossed" I don't think I'll ever read reviews before reading the book again. Because I really liked Crossed.

It's really hard to compare "Crossed" to "Matched". The setting is totally different, and there are many new characters. But different doesn't always mean worse. I really enjoyed getting to know the Outer Provinces, new characters like Indie, Hunter and Eli, and finding out more about Ky (because, let's face it: we didn't really get to know him in "Matched")...

My favorite part of the book was the character development (imagine what Cassia was like at the beginning of "Matched", and how she's so much more independent now), and of course I loved the fast-paced storyline.

I can't wait for the third and last book to come out (next month? Can't wait :D ). I feel like after Cassia found out about Xander's secret, the story will focus even more on the love triangle. (Which I know is like "soo YA", but done really beautifully in this series in my opinion).

"Crossed" was a really quick read for me (just as quick as "Matched"), and even though I liked Matched a little bit better, Crossed didn't disappoint me in any way.

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 If you have any questions about the book, or if you want me to review a book please leave me a comment! I'd love to hear from you!