Review of Reached by Ally Condie

November seems to be the season for ending trilogies. We finally get the last chapter of the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie. I thought it was a nice ending the trilogy, but I could easily put it down and not feel a huge need to finish it.

Goodreads Book Description: 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.

In this gripping conclusion to the #1 New York Times-bestselling Matched 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.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My Review: An end to another trilogy. As I've said before, the last book in the trilogy may be the hardest because you now have a following that has certain expectations built up that may or may not be satisfied. I agree with another reviewer who said that this is a nice ending to the story but at the same time, wasn't earth shattering.

Reached by Ally Condie is the last book in the Matched trilogy, and we now see the perspectives of all three main characters: Ky, Cassie, and my favorite of the bunch, Xander. This book left off where the second one ended-- the characters are involved in the Rising to overthrow the Society, and each of them takes a path to find a cure for the deadly Plague that has been released into the population. Cassie is a sorter, Xander plays a doctor sort of role, and Ky is a pilot. A bit of a love triangle remains as well as expanded this triangle into a more complicated web. Will they find a cure before it is too late?

There were wonderful things about this book-- Condie has a way with words, and her love of literature and poetry once again shines through. Xander, who was already my favorite character in the first two books, now by far outshines everyone else. He grows into a man before our eyes and continuously puts the good of other people before his own. There are some nice twists that I wasn't expecting, and I really appreciated the effort Condie took to make her medical details more accurate.

This said, I had some issues with this book. First, the perspectives tended to run together for me-- the voices and prose didn't really change from character to character so sometimes I had to go to the beginning of the chapter to remember who was speaking. Second, the middle dragged a lot. I sometimes had to push myself to finish the book. And lastly, the many romantic entanglements just got tiresome and the fact that it all worked out so "perfectly," was a little unbelieveable.

That said, overall, the Matched trilogy is a huge success. Ally Condie is only going to get better, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what she writes next now this trilogy is over.

What did you guys think about the book?
  
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