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sarah984's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Overall I enjoyed this one. The author’s note mentioned it feeling weird to edit this book in 2020, and it definitely feels weird to read after having lived through so many climate emergencies in 2021.
Most of the characters are interesting and the central dilemmas of the book feel real. I loved the robot U-me and Cee’s routine on the island. However, I thought the romance was extremely silly and the ending was a little muddled.
Most of the characters are interesting and the central dilemmas of the book feel real. I loved the robot U-me and Cee’s routine on the island. However, I thought the romance was extremely silly and the ending was a little muddled.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, and Terminal illness
Minor: Alcohol, Body horror, Cancer, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
jennamcclendon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Okay, WOW. That was a WILD RIDE. Joan He KNOWS how to write a plot twist, and when I say this book was full of twists, I mean that it’s all back to back, continuous streams of “WTF”, sobbing over those moments of craving something so precious yet so impossible, and getting so excited and/or shocked have to put the book down. The middle of the story seemed the strongest to me. It may have just been me being stupid, but the beginning and end kind of confused me. In the beginning I was struggling to figure out transitions between past and present and how the timeline worked out (which is actually more complicated than you might think, but it makes more sense in the middle when things are revealed). There was also the struggle of figuring out what the heck happened to the world and why everything is the way it is in society and with the characters. In the end, I feel like some of their actions didn’t make a lot of sense, and I still had unanswered questions about the plot at the end about what was resolved or what wasn’t and why characters did what they did. I would have loved to rate this book higher especially with the writing and twists and concepts, but because it was so confusing and the ending didn’t really make a whole lot of sense, I went with a 3.5ish rating! Overall, though, I loved it. It reminded me a lot of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe, one of my favorites. If you like scifi, mystery, post-apocalyptic societies, and major plot twists that make you question your existence and make you feel a million emotions at once, I highly recommend!
A quote I liked:
A quote I liked:
“All we can do is live and feel as much as we can, to rebel against the life and feelings we can’t control.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Suicide attempt
Minor: Vomit
emily_mh's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Okay this book hit me quite hard which is the main reason why I've rated it so highly. It was confronting and haunting; whenever I finished a reading stint I had to stare into space for a bit and process what I had just read. It raised so many challenging questions, like how much personal freedom we can morally have in an environmental crisis, and who gets to decide who survives such a crisis. I was fascinated by how He envisioned the future of humanity, especially the solutions people made to reduce their carbon footprint. I also loved the sister relationship in this. They had such deep connection and love for one another.
I docked my rating half a star for two reasons. The first is that the writing could be very confusing from Kasey's perspective, both in terms of world-building and interpreting her personality. The pacing in this perspective also grew to be quite erratic. The second reason was the romance.I wish that Cee and Hero's relationship had been platonic. Or at least if it had to be romantic/sexual, I wish that their physical intimacy wasn't the reason why Cee's happiness spiked so high. Emotional connection provides happiness too, and more stable happiness that I feel that Kasey would have programmed for. In all honesty though, when a book impacts me the way this one did, reasons such as those aforementioned aren't enough to significantly affect the overall star rating, hence only a half-star dock.
I docked my rating half a star for two reasons. The first is that the writing could be very confusing from Kasey's perspective, both in terms of world-building and interpreting her personality. The pacing in this perspective also grew to be quite erratic. The second reason was the romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Gore, Body horror, Blood, and Self harm
Minor: Drug use, Excrement, Vomit, Racism, Sexual content, Confinement, Child death, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Sexual violence
nyoom's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Abandonment, Colonisation, and Gun violence
Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Excrement, and Racism
mirandavictoria's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Murder, Terminal illness, and Death
starccato's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Vomit
erinsbookshelves's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Violence, Grief, Suicide, and Death of parent
Moderate: Vomit and Medical content
azrah786's review against another edition
4.75
**I was provided with an ARC through netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
CW: terminal illness, suicide, violence (including choking), death, death of parent (off page), vomiting, large scale natural disasters and mass casualties, some gore
After absolutely loving Joan He’s evocative writing and twisty storyline in her debut Descendant of the Crane, I was super excited for this book and it absolutely blew me away!
The Ones We’re Meant To Find is a slow paced sci-fi mystery story set in a dystopian world where climate change has ravaged the planet. Its dual perspective, following two sisters– Cee, who has been trapped on a deserted island with no memories other than that of her sister Kacey whom she is determined to find her way back to, and Kacey, a STEM prodigy both dealing with the grief of her sister’s disappearance 3 months back as well as the crisis of the planet, who decides to retrace Celia’s last steps.
It has distinctively voiced characters and wonderfully nuanced character relationships as well as a compelling narrative on climate change. The world-building is both fascinating and unnerving and He captures the atmosphere just right!
I don’t want to give too much else away because so much can be spoiled here but if you’re going to pick this one up be patient with it and trust me it’ll be worth it.
Final Rating - 4.75/5 Stars
CW: terminal illness, suicide, violence (including choking), death, death of parent (off page), vomiting, large scale natural disasters and mass casualties, some gore
After absolutely loving Joan He’s evocative writing and twisty storyline in her debut Descendant of the Crane, I was super excited for this book and it absolutely blew me away!
The Ones We’re Meant To Find is a slow paced sci-fi mystery story set in a dystopian world where climate change has ravaged the planet. Its dual perspective, following two sisters– Cee, who has been trapped on a deserted island with no memories other than that of her sister Kacey whom she is determined to find her way back to, and Kacey, a STEM prodigy both dealing with the grief of her sister’s disappearance 3 months back as well as the crisis of the planet, who decides to retrace Celia’s last steps.
It has distinctively voiced characters and wonderfully nuanced character relationships as well as a compelling narrative on climate change. The world-building is both fascinating and unnerving and He captures the atmosphere just right!
I don’t want to give too much else away because so much can be spoiled here but if you’re going to pick this one up be patient with it and trust me it’ll be worth it.
Final Rating - 4.75/5 Stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Terminal illness, Suicide, Death, Death of parent, and Vomit
Minor: Gore
emerynmader's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
When Joan He (Author of Descendant of the Crane, 2019) announced her second novel, I was incredibly excited. I had loved her first book and was very curious to discover what else she had in store, how her writing would potentially have evolved in the meantime and with another project. The more details came out, the more my excitement grew: science-fiction (new genre!), seperated siblings (I had loved the sibling relationships in DotC!), climate change, a beautiful cover, great and intriguing quotes... Time went on and on and I could wait less and less to finally get my hands on this story and read it. Needless to say, my expectations were high.
Spoiler alert: This book really did NOT disappoint.
Review:
Review:
TOWMTF is told from two perspectives, Cee and Kasey. Before reading the book, I expected to have a strong preference for either of them, since this is what happened with previous books which had this sort of structure. Now that I have actually finished the story, however, I can say that I love both Kasey and Cee. They are a perfect fit to the story without feeling mechanical (which often makes me stop reading and instead think about different ways the author could have approached or resolved a certain plot point). In this case, however, they come across as organic to their place in the story, being affected by and in return affecting the plot in a way I cannot imagine how it could have been done differently, both while reading and in hindsight. With this book and its cast, He managed to create not only characters, but people.
Both the protagonists and all the secondary/supporting characters are perfect for this story and add something necessary to it. Even the ones that are missing are missing in the right place, filling the emptiness with the negative space of their absence.
Thanks to the fantastic groundwork laid by the existence of these fantastic characters, the relationships between everyone takes this book to a new level. Even when the two sisters are separated, the reader (or at least I) gets a clear image of what the relationship between them is like and even the minor dynamics with and between characters that get less page time are clear and really add to the story. It is difficult to create the image of a full history and its evolution in a single book, especially considering the hurdles set up by the premise and the plot alone. TOWMTF passes this test (if one wants to call it that) with flying colours and allows both the story and everything related to it to come alive in the process.
For those who have already read He's first book Descendant of the Crane, it might come as no surprise that TOWMTF also has at least one big plot twist - which might or might not take you aback when it is finally revealed. To me personally, it was not unexpected, I actually guessed it rather early on, but the beauty of the book lies not in the surprise, but in the anticipation of how the story develops and evolves from the beginning to reach said twist. To me, this only added to the reading experience. However, if one doesn't guess the plot twists or revelations, I expect they're in for a pretty wild ride - and might want to re-read the book immediately to see what they first missed and it will absolutely be worth it.
Last but not least, He manages to touch upon and address important and heavy topics in TOWMTF, the most striking likely climate change and its grave and lasting consequences. It does this without offering either an eternal solution or a total doomsday vision but instead functions like a warning of the consequences our current path will have on a global scale, while not shying away from the role and relevance of social classes, privileges and the role communities, self-perception and habits very much ingrained in our current daily lives (could) play in such a scenario. Some things are too large to be resolved or really tackled in a single book (even if it is such a dense one as TOWMTF) but that doesn't mean they're not there or can be ignored and He managed to hit just the right balance of addressing these topics without letting them take over the central story, instead weaving them into the tapestry of the plot as needed to bring the story forward and not afraid to leave some things for the reader to ponder over after they've read the last page.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Suicide
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Cancer, Car accident, Medical content, Murder, Racism, and Sexual content
popthebutterfly's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Disclaimer: I received the e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: The ones We’re Meant to Find
Author: Joan He
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 5/5
Diversity: Asian main characters and side characters
Recommended For...: ya readers, sci-fi lovers, dystopian readers, thrill seekers
Publication Date: May 4, 2021
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Recommended Age: 16+ (suicide TW, grief, terminal illness, violence, gore, drowning, choking to death, sex mention)
Publisher: Roaring Book
Pages: 384
Synopsis: Cee has been trapped on an abandoned island for three years without any recollection of how she arrived, or memories from her life prior. All she knows is that somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, she has a sister named Kay. Determined to find her, Cee devotes her days to building a boat from junk parts scavenged inland, doing everything in her power to survive until the day she gets off the island and reunites with her sister.
In a world apart, 16-year-old STEM prodigy Kasey Mizuhara is also living a life of isolation. The eco-city she calls home is one of eight levitating around the world, built for people who protected the planet―and now need protecting from it. With natural disasters on the rise due to climate change, eco-cities provide clean air, water, and shelter. Their residents, in exchange, must spend at least a third of their time in stasis pods, conducting business virtually whenever possible to reduce their environmental footprint. While Kasey, an introvert and loner, doesn’t mind the lifestyle, her sister Celia hated it. Popular and lovable, Celia much preferred the outside world. But no one could have predicted that Celia would take a boat out to sea, never to return.
Now it’s been three months since Celia’s disappearance, and Kasey has given up hope. Logic says that her sister must be dead. But as the public decries her stance, she starts to second guess herself and decides to retrace Celia’s last steps. Where they’ll lead her, she does not know. Her sister was full of secrets. But Kasey has a secret of her own.
In a world apart, 16-year-old STEM prodigy Kasey Mizuhara is also living a life of isolation. The eco-city she calls home is one of eight levitating around the world, built for people who protected the planet―and now need protecting from it. With natural disasters on the rise due to climate change, eco-cities provide clean air, water, and shelter. Their residents, in exchange, must spend at least a third of their time in stasis pods, conducting business virtually whenever possible to reduce their environmental footprint. While Kasey, an introvert and loner, doesn’t mind the lifestyle, her sister Celia hated it. Popular and lovable, Celia much preferred the outside world. But no one could have predicted that Celia would take a boat out to sea, never to return.
Now it’s been three months since Celia’s disappearance, and Kasey has given up hope. Logic says that her sister must be dead. But as the public decries her stance, she starts to second guess herself and decides to retrace Celia’s last steps. Where they’ll lead her, she does not know. Her sister was full of secrets. But Kasey has a secret of her own.
Review: This book. Oh my goodness. This book is my favorite read of April! I absolutely loved the characters, the world building, and everything about this book. The book is a perfect mix of thriller and sci-fi and dystopian and it makes my heart so so happy! The characters were so well developed as was the world building. The book also had a great plot and it kept me reading the book until the very end.
The only issue I had (and I’m only saying this because I have to put one) is that some moments were a bit slowed down and I felt that the book focused too much on the sci-fi elements and not the thriller ones, but other than that it was absolutely perfect for me.
Verdict: Highly recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Grief
Moderate: Terminal illness and Gore
Minor: Vomit