Title: Reached
Author: Ally Condie
Genre: Science Fiction; Dystopian
Pages: 512
Publication: November 13, 2012
Synopsis:
In this gripping conclusion to the #1 New York Times-bestsellingMatched trilogy, Cassia will reconcile the difficulties of challenging a life too confining, seeking a freedom she never dreamed possible, and honoring a love she cannot live without.
After leaving Society and desperately searching for 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 has been assigned to work for the Rising from within Society, while Ky has been stationed outside its borders. But nothing is as predicted, and all too soon the veil lifts and things shift once again.
The writing in this book is absolutely phenomenal. I could applaud Condie just for that. In a lot of YA fiction, you don't see many books with writing that is almost flawless. Not just the story is beautiful, but the words themselves. I felt like the words were pieces of a puzzle that only Ally Condie could only fit together seamlessly. When I read, the words were fluid, and in a way, almost felt like poetry to me. It was almost like it was written in prose.
This book had amazing character development. Especially with Xander. We see Xander in the first book, Matched, as a happy go lucky guy who absolutely cares for everyone and loves Cassia whole-heartedly. But by the end of this book, you see how broken he is. How changed he is. I didn't think that that amount of development in a character was even possible in a span of one book. This change broke my heart though. Xander is absolutely my favorite character in these books, and to see him broken like that is like seeing the change of Peeta in Mockingjay all over again. It's heartbreaking.
In the first two books, if I'm being honest, I didn't like Ky. However, this book definitely changed my mind. It showed me how much Ky really does love Cassia and how selfless he's grown to be as a character. However, my favorite change was probably Cassia's. She changes so much throughout the series. And it's for the good. She becomes independent of the Society and the people that have propped her up for so long. This is such an excellent thing to see in a powerful female protagonist.
While there were times in this book where things were boring and uneventful, it was all built towards an epic climax. The last 300 pages were fantastic. It was both heartbreaking and bittersweet. Ally Condie did an amazing job wrapping up her world with every single character and every single plot line. Everything was tied up fabulously.
Things that I didn't even think would come back from previous books did, and they were written masterfully. While the end of each characters' story were, for the most part, unanticipated, the wrap up was still done so well. Ally Condie has such a handle on her craft.
Although some of the story was sad, there was still a little brightness to the end of a war/conflict that is so devastating, which was comforting. The best part of the end of the series was how realistic the ending was. In fiction, many times, you have story endings that aren't realistic in the slightest. The guy gets the girl. Everyone lived happily ever after. The End. This one wasn't It showed how something like a plague, can end a society, but also build a new one. It showed how everything can change in the blink of an eye. It showed how love is one of the greatest powers of all. This book was beautiful in every way imaginable. In fact, I would say it was near flawless.
I'd give this book 10 million stars out of 5.
Reached was a heartbreaking, beautiful, and amazing conclusion to the trilogy. In Matched, Ally Condie builds a unique and dystopian world that hasn't really been written before, and Condie keeps that uniqueness throughout the entire trilogy. Reached is not an exception. The end of this rebellion is startling, and possibly, more heartbreaking than a revolution filled with bloodshed. This enemy is not necessarily the Society, but something that cannot be contained or controlled- a virus. As someone who loves science, I loved this. I loved how different it is from every final book or final battle in much of fiction, and I salute Ally Condie for that.
"There is an ebb and flow. Leaving and coming. Flight and fall.
Sing and silent.
Reaching and reached."
-Reached, page 512
