Review: Reached by Ally Condie

Publication date: 11/13/2012

Pages: 384

Series:Matched Trilogy Series , #3

My Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads synopsis:

"After leaving Society to desperately seek The Rising, and each other, Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again. Cassia is assigned undercover in Central city, Ky outside the borders, an airship pilot with Indie. Xander is a medic, with a secret. All too soon, everything shifts again."

In-depth review:
Its hard for me to say how I truly felt about this book. For starters, I couldnt put it down. So thats definitely a good sign. The first 200-300 pages were non-stop, I couldnt get enough and the story was captivating. I really enjoyed reading this book from three different points of view. It sounds like it would be difficult or confusing but it wasnt. It was very refreshing and interesting reading from three different characters that Condie makes sure she individualizes and gives their own opinions.

I didnt love Cassia in this final book, she wasnt as strong of a character for me as she was in Crossed. I found that in Matched she was a very weak character also, and I didnt like Matched nearly as much as these second and third installments. I was very happy when Crossed came around and she was such a strong character as compared to the last book and I was hoping she'd be even stronger in Reached but she fell short - only by a little - I mean, I didnt hate her.

I enjoyed Xander a lot. He came off as naive to me at first, and it made me pity him, but by the end of the story I realized how dynamic he was and how much he had changed. The story was exciting and kept me guessing the whole time, with little surprises here and there to make my jaw drop in amazement.

The one thing I didnt like about this book was that around the middle, things started going everywhere. I felt like Condie was mentioning things or having scenes that, in my mind, seemed like they were supposed to be significant, but come to find out, it meant nothing. And then I was left scratching my head wondering why she even bothered because it wasnt something that moved the story forward, and sort of just confused me... It was just kind of all over the place.

Also, I dont want to have any spoilers, especially for those of you who havent read ANY of the books in the series, so I'll just say that certain situations in this story requires some complex explanations, but I feel as if Condie didnt do a great job doing so. She used some big words and didnt tell her readers what those big words or phrases meant, and I dont mean big words that nerds like myself use. I mean scientific and medical terminology that even the average nerd cant be expected to know... and after a certain point I would just skim over them and shrug and move on. Thankfully those complex explanations didnt impact the story enough to make it harder to read or less enjoyable. Just annoying.

By the last hundred pages, I'd gotten past being annoyed about those small things and every few pages there was a new revelation that turned on a "light bulb" or made me understand something I hadnt understood before. I found myself with the jaw to the floor, talking to myself or sometimes the characters or the author, begging for a reprieve. This one was a little tough one, emotionally.

Overall, the book was a fantastic ending to the series, though slightly reminiscent of the Hunger Games without the games - just in the sense of the revolutionary aspect. The world Condie created was elaborate and interesting, and frighteningly real, showing the reader what the world could soon look like.

Final Thoughts...

I enjoyed this book very much. Mid-book, Condie started going all over the place with her plot, with her information, with her scenes full of mystery that ended up leading to nowhere, and her scientific explanations that made me wish I had taken that physics class in high school... It was a bit confusing, but overall it was a great read. Suspenseful, interesting, etc. If you havent read this one, or the series, I would recommend it, with allowing the first book some slack, because its not all that great. The second and third books are well worth it though.

Rating:
★★★★
This one gets 4 stars. It was a great read and I would recommend this book to anyone who likes YA/Dystopian novels.

Have any of you read this one or any in the series? What did you think about it - do you agree or disagree with my rating? I'd love to hear what you think!


Happy Readings!
Manda C.