Reached - Ally Condie (Matched series)

Reached is the final book in the futuristic teen trilogy that began with Matched, and continued with Crossed. I won't go into too much detail about the plot here, so if you have not read it, you might want to check out the Amazon description I linked to above.

While this sort of  a review of the last book, it is also a review of the series of a whole. 

When I first read Matched, I really enjoyed it. I was not really sure where it would go after that, but I had high hopes. Right after Crossed came out, I read it and was relatively disappointed. It was fine, but certainly not as good as the first book. It was, however, good enough that when Reached came out this fall, I put a hold on it at the library. I figured that the series still had hope.

I am glad I gave it a second chance. I really enjoyed the last book. I think on of the biggest problems with the second book is that it has very little that is important to the rest of the series. I almost feel like the series would have been better with just the first and last book, with maybe an epilogue and prologue to take the place of the second book.

All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who liked the first two. If you are just considering starting, the series, I would recommend it with a warning.

The romance, while okay, is not really that believable. The characters are all right, but not as believable as they could be either. The plot, while not airtight, had some really good parts. While I liked the original idea, I feel like the series strayed from it, not really coming back until the last part of the third book. Each book is pretty different from the last. While the first book reminded me a lot of the Giver, the last book at more of a Mockingjay feel, with some added romance. If you want to hear my main complaint about this book, go all the way down to the bottom paragraph. I put it down there to make it easier to skip if you have not read the book, and you do not want the spoilers. I am going to put a warning up in my blog header about spoilers, but until I have done that, just be warned.


Now, I have a question for you, the reader. What do you think of my style of book review? For the most part they are just a semi-random collection of thoughts about the book that I try to get written down right after I read it. But, do you have any interest in reading these thoughts? Would you prefer more traditional book reviews? Let me know, and I will try to find a method that works for all of us.






Also, why, why, why did she have to miss her chance with the Pilot? There are so many great things she could have some with him, but didn't. What I really wanted was a scene where you find out who he really is. I was hoping for Matthew (Ky's cousin) the whole time. Even if it was not him, surely she could have made it something interesting. It could have even been mentioned in the last page or two. We did not need a lengthy explanation, just something to add a little for depth to the character.