Reached - Ally Condie

Watch out for 'Matched' and 'Crossed' spoilers!

A Spoiler Free Bit About The Book

Against all odds, after crossing the canyons and surviving, Ky and Cassia are back in the Society, waiting for the Pilot's voice to tell them it's time.

Time for rebellion.  Time for what they've always longed for.

A choice.

My Review

I needed a quick beginning.  I needed stuff to start happening almost immediately.  I remembered the slow start to 'Crossed' and I begged for 'Reached' to be different.  Obviously Ally Condie didn't hear me.  'Reached' took such a long time to get off the ground.  So long, in fact, if it wasn't the finale in a trilogy I would've put it down.  But as often do, I persevered, wanting stuff to happen now, not being motivated in the slightest to read it but still making myself.  when stuff started happening it was good.  It just took a long time to get to it.

While I'm on the negatives, the style was contrasting in places which struck me as being very bizarre.  Sometimes the writing was so beautiful and descriptive, the sentences flowing like they were born that way,  but other times it seemed too simple, child like even.  Both these styles are fine . . . but not together.  It clashed a bit for me.

I also found a typo.  I know some people find typos in every book they read but I don't, I'm a fast reader.  I don't linger long enough to notice mistakes.  But I saw this one.  It stuck out to me like it was in bold.  I even read it over a couple of times to make sure it wasn't just me not understanding.  I'm pretty sure it was a typo.  The reason it was such a big deal was that it took me out of the world and put me back in my own head.  And that's not something you want to happen while you're reading.

Now for my favourite things.  I loved that I got to- at last - see the world through Xander's eyes as well as Cassia's and Ky's.  I've always loved Xander as a character and I loved him even more knowing what he was thinking.  I understood him perfectly.  He was my favourite characters and narrator of all three.

I was amazed by the way that everything fit together so perfectly.  The trilogy must've been so thoroughly planned that Condie wouldn't have been surprised by anything she was writing.  Everything, and I mean everything, turned out to be important.  I applaud Condie's genius.  Never before have I read a series that made every tiny detail mean something in the end.

The end was so beautifully poetic and I felt it matched Casia's personality which was the perfect sign off by her.  Everything was complete and I felt soothed by the ending and content.

Evaluation

Plot - 8/10 - back in the Society and life isn't pretty

Way Plot Was Pursued - 8/10 - three points of view made this book

Characters - 9/10 - few new ones and the old ones were built on.  I understood them so much more this time around

Style - 7/10 - clash of styles

Pace - 6/10 - too slow to start

Would I recommend it? - Yes.  but only if you've read and liked 'Matched' and 'Crossed'.

Would I look up the author? No.  Didn't love it enough.

'Reached' contented me with its ending but didn't blow me away.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready