Book Review: Reached (Matched #3)

 

Reached is the third book in the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie.

If you read my previous posts, then you'll know I wasn't a fan of the second book. I felt nothing much happened and was a bit boring, to be honest. But the idea of this post-apocalyptic world enthralled me and the writing is good, so I continued onto the third book, Reached.

Reached was a much better book than Crossed (#2), mostly because a lot happened. At first, I felt like the author had written the first book and then had to create a second and third book without knowing where she was going. Now that I have finished the entire story, I can see the author had a plan and I got the feeling she needed to tell the story of the second book to get to the third, but there wasn't enough material for that second book. Since book 3 is longer, I can only imagine there wasn't a "right" place to split the sequel. And thus, book 2 became more of a filler book with little action, and book 3 became meatier.

All right, now that I'm done rationalizing the existence of book 2, I can move on to talk about Reached (#3).

WARNING: Spoilers ahead.

Although I enjoyed the book overall, and I knew where it was going, I had a few issues with it. The book basically deals with the end of the Society—which is a government that dictates everything you do, from where you work, who you marry, and what you eat—as the rebellion rises up (called the Rising in the book) and tries to take control of the population by offering a cure to a sickness they (the Rising) created.

Their plan backfires when the virus mutates and they can't cure the people who get sick. They call them the Still because they become vegetables. 

The entire population gets the virus unless they are immune because they have a mark on their necks or because they live in the outside of the Society.

Our main character is Cassia, a sorter (which, I never fully understood what that meant), who is matched to Xander, but loves Ky. And that's the love triangle.

Xander somehow becomes a medic—although when he got all his training makes no sense), and Ky becomes a pilot in the Rising. Also makes little sense how some teens learned to flight planes in a few months, but. . . 

During the first half of the book, the three of them live their separate lives, each dealing with this new plague in different ways.

And the, suddenly, they get taken by the rebellion to find a cure.

Yes. They choose these teenagers after having the  entire population to choose from (or at least those who aren't Still). But I guess they were super important because these three kids are essential to save the world from a pandemic. There is an explanation, but it doesn't make any sense either.

Oh, well . . . just roll with it, right? It's fantasy. Move along. I'm sure plenty of people thing the same of my books. 😅

The story was well written, and even when I didn't feel the characters grew all that much and some things just seemed to happen, I still enjoyed it.

It was also interesting because we are, at the moment, still dealing with a pandemic in real life and the theme was all too familiar. 

I recommend the book—perhaps not necessarily the second one, although you must read it to fully enjoy the third. It really made me thing about whether we need a Society, dictating everything we do, a Rising, which is complete and utter freedom, or an alternative. 

Cheers!