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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
Kind of dragged on. She had a lot of things to tie up and it was a little confusing and overdone.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Vooral blij dat ik klaar ben met deze serie. Ik vond het een prima boek, niet zo vervelend als het vorige deel in ieder geval. Het einde van het verhaal vond ik wel tegenvallen, en ik had al niet hele hoge verwachtingen. Maar goed, dit boek lezen tijdens een pandemie just hits different.
Uhhhhhhm... Okay I'm just going to rate this books series overall.
The first was good, it was a nice and relaxing way to get into this series, I wasn't totally caught up on it, but it was good. Ky and Cassia are really cute (I felt horribly bad for Xander though)
The second was... boring. It was so so so boring and confusing, and I just... Some people think the second book was boring, because of all of the poetry - that wasn't the reason for me. It just... It just kind of lost me I think. At the end of the book, it got a little more exciting and more stuff happened.
The third was just as good as the first.
I think it took too long for it to end, I think that everything should've probably gone a little faster in the end, but it lost me again somehow.
I think this series was good and insightful, but... I don't think there was happening enough for it to be a trilogy. (What's happening with trilogies anyways, they're everywhere!)
Ky and Xander were my favorite people in these books, Condie gave them a lot of life, and even though they both where in love with Cassia, they were in love with her in different ways.
Cassia was not as amazing and alive as the two male protagonists. I think Cassia was a boring lead, and I just... I didn't like her in general. She wasn't very smart, she wasn't bold, she wasn't shy, she wasn't dumb, she wasn't sweet, she wasn't sassy. I think for me it wouldn't be possible to exactly describe her as a person. The only thing you could say about her was, that she loved everybody and had a hard time letting go of anything (which could have been a flaw making her alive, but it just seemed like a flaw in the writing). She just wasn't my cup of tea.
And the love triangle was just - i'm so sorry - lame. I'm a sucker for confused love and all that, but if a love triangle sucks... It doesn't work okay?
I don't exactly regret reading it, but when I started the third book, it was only because I thought it would be weird only reading the first two and not the end.
This series was very mediocre, but you should give it a try if you like dystopia. Maybe you'll like it more than I did! ;)
The first was good, it was a nice and relaxing way to get into this series, I wasn't totally caught up on it, but it was good. Ky and Cassia are really cute (I felt horribly bad for Xander though)
The second was... boring. It was so so so boring and confusing, and I just... Some people think the second book was boring, because of all of the poetry - that wasn't the reason for me. It just... It just kind of lost me I think. At the end of the book, it got a little more exciting and more stuff happened.
The third was just as good as the first.
I think it took too long for it to end, I think that everything should've probably gone a little faster in the end, but it lost me again somehow.
I think this series was good and insightful, but... I don't think there was happening enough for it to be a trilogy. (What's happening with trilogies anyways, they're everywhere!)
Ky and Xander were my favorite people in these books, Condie gave them a lot of life, and even though they both where in love with Cassia, they were in love with her in different ways.
Cassia was not as amazing and alive as the two male protagonists. I think Cassia was a boring lead, and I just... I didn't like her in general. She wasn't very smart, she wasn't bold, she wasn't shy, she wasn't dumb, she wasn't sweet, she wasn't sassy. I think for me it wouldn't be possible to exactly describe her as a person. The only thing you could say about her was, that she loved everybody and had a hard time letting go of anything (which could have been a flaw making her alive, but it just seemed like a flaw in the writing). She just wasn't my cup of tea.
And the love triangle was just - i'm so sorry - lame. I'm a sucker for confused love and all that, but if a love triangle sucks... It doesn't work okay?
I don't exactly regret reading it, but when I started the third book, it was only because I thought it would be weird only reading the first two and not the end.
This series was very mediocre, but you should give it a try if you like dystopia. Maybe you'll like it more than I did! ;)
It was slow moving but overall I liked it. It tied the end of the trilogy together well. I think my favorite part about this book was that it had the ever so common and cliche love triangle (gag) but didn't make it annoying. Cassia was strong by herself and did not rely on either Xander or Ky. Condie also had a very interesting dynamic about the possibility of loving more than one person.
I'm feeling generous with that second star. This whole series was a mess to me. The vision of the dystopian society was so vague, and there was just so much borrowed "stuff"--conflicts, love triangles, blah, blah blah. (I did actually like the three colored pills--I was happy with where that all went.) Overall, I struggled to get through this book, and I wanted to like it so much because the author is my spirit animal who once taught High School English and then decided to start writing (when did she find time? I want that time to take these ideas and actually get them on paper. No time. Ugh.)
Here's what I did like: the devotion to poetry and literature and the message that it can free us, that any of us can create art and be artists, but if we do not have the freedom to do so, we are repressed. I loved the Dylan Thomas poem references (I love that poem.)
Sorry, Ally Condie. I really like and respect you--I just could not get into this story, and like many trilogies, the third book was just bad--it's hard to keep a story idea going for 1300 or so pages. There just wasn't enough here. I hate to say it, but this was one of my least favorite dystopian novels (and I have by no means read them all--I get dystopia'd out pretty quickly!)
*Plus, I fly through books. This one took me FOREVER because I just couldn't keep going, and it should have been a quick read.
Here's what I did like: the devotion to poetry and literature and the message that it can free us, that any of us can create art and be artists, but if we do not have the freedom to do so, we are repressed. I loved the Dylan Thomas poem references (I love that poem.)
Sorry, Ally Condie. I really like and respect you--I just could not get into this story, and like many trilogies, the third book was just bad--it's hard to keep a story idea going for 1300 or so pages. There just wasn't enough here. I hate to say it, but this was one of my least favorite dystopian novels (and I have by no means read them all--I get dystopia'd out pretty quickly!)
*Plus, I fly through books. This one took me FOREVER because I just couldn't keep going, and it should have been a quick read.
Boring!
[Spoilers below]
While Reached started out with a little bit of adventure and excitement, it quickly faded into something quite slow-moving and dull. I thought it was an original idea to have the revolution take place at the beginning of the book rather than in the middle or towards the end, which is often found in series like this, but the author didn't really have much to follow up with after it took place.
The storyline following the plague surprised me in that I didn't find it interesting at all, really. Usually epidemics/pandemics are of great interest to me and I love reading anything that includes them, but that wasn't the case in this book. Maybe it's because instead of a huge death toll there were only people going still, but I just thought that entire aspect of the book was boring.
Additionally, the characters themselves were fairly boring. Cassia's storyline was never of much interest to me, and to be honest I still don't quite understand the concept of sorting and how exactly it works, but that's not of much importance. She never seemed to have much to do other than share art, sort, and think about Ky. Similarly, Ky was a pretty forgettable character who didn't have much to do up until he fell ill, and then he really didn't have much to do.
Xander, to me, is the saving grace of this book. He took everything with a maturity and rationality that was refreshing among the plethora of third-wheel characters I've seen in many other YA novels. I remember even from the first installment of this series I preferred Xander to Ky, and I wanted Cassia to choose him simply because I wanted him to get what he wanted and their friendship seemed to be a steady and benevolent thing. However, right from the beginning of Reached it's very clear that Cassia will end up with Ky, and everyone, including Xander, seems to acknowledge that. I'm not quite sure why it's drummed up as a love triangle wherein Cassia has make a tough decision because she's clearly already made it.
I read this book because I tend to feel supremely guilty abandoning a series (or book or TV show for that matter), and I already owned the box set. After reading Crossed I was in no rush to finish the series because that book had been so terribly boring, I was afraid this one would be the same. While I liked Reached a little bit more, I still found myself just wishing it were over because I was so utterly uninvolved with the entire thing.
In the end, I feel as though this book was not worth my time. I found little to no excitement in it and it constantly drew back on moments from Crossed that I had forgotten because I'd read it a few years ago and subsequently forgotten it because it wasn't very memorable. This made me a little confused, but not enough that I had no idea what was happening. The final installment of the Matched series was a bit predictable and overall it fell flat, as did the second one. This leads me to say that the entire series is not worth reading. The first book was decent but the last two are so painfully slow that it's just not worth it. Try another series.
[Spoilers below]
While Reached started out with a little bit of adventure and excitement, it quickly faded into something quite slow-moving and dull. I thought it was an original idea to have the revolution take place at the beginning of the book rather than in the middle or towards the end, which is often found in series like this, but the author didn't really have much to follow up with after it took place.
The storyline following the plague surprised me in that I didn't find it interesting at all, really. Usually epidemics/pandemics are of great interest to me and I love reading anything that includes them, but that wasn't the case in this book. Maybe it's because instead of a huge death toll there were only people going still, but I just thought that entire aspect of the book was boring.
Additionally, the characters themselves were fairly boring. Cassia's storyline was never of much interest to me, and to be honest I still don't quite understand the concept of sorting and how exactly it works, but that's not of much importance. She never seemed to have much to do other than share art, sort, and think about Ky. Similarly, Ky was a pretty forgettable character who didn't have much to do up until he fell ill, and then he really didn't have much to do.
Xander, to me, is the saving grace of this book. He took everything with a maturity and rationality that was refreshing among the plethora of third-wheel characters I've seen in many other YA novels. I remember even from the first installment of this series I preferred Xander to Ky, and I wanted Cassia to choose him simply because I wanted him to get what he wanted and their friendship seemed to be a steady and benevolent thing. However, right from the beginning of Reached it's very clear that Cassia will end up with Ky, and everyone, including Xander, seems to acknowledge that. I'm not quite sure why it's drummed up as a love triangle wherein Cassia has make a tough decision because she's clearly already made it.
I read this book because I tend to feel supremely guilty abandoning a series (or book or TV show for that matter), and I already owned the box set. After reading Crossed I was in no rush to finish the series because that book had been so terribly boring, I was afraid this one would be the same. While I liked Reached a little bit more, I still found myself just wishing it were over because I was so utterly uninvolved with the entire thing.
In the end, I feel as though this book was not worth my time. I found little to no excitement in it and it constantly drew back on moments from Crossed that I had forgotten because I'd read it a few years ago and subsequently forgotten it because it wasn't very memorable. This made me a little confused, but not enough that I had no idea what was happening. The final installment of the Matched series was a bit predictable and overall it fell flat, as did the second one. This leads me to say that the entire series is not worth reading. The first book was decent but the last two are so painfully slow that it's just not worth it. Try another series.
WOW
WOW
WOW
WOW
At parts I was like: THAT'S AWESOME BRO!
And then at others it was like: I need to lie down and obsess over what just happened here.
Some parts I felt like crying, others laughing.
I felt great satisfaction in how the series ended and I like how it differs from other "rebel against the government" stories. I like how the Plague backfired . . . twice. I like how it was the Sego Lily that saved them . . . I just really liked it.
Probably most of all, I loved how it practically didn't swear AT ALL. FINALLY!!! Thank you author for being amazing in that way!
WOW
WOW
WOW
At parts I was like: THAT'S AWESOME BRO!
And then at others it was like: I need to lie down and obsess over what just happened here.
Some parts I felt like crying, others laughing.
I felt great satisfaction in how the series ended and I like how it differs from other "rebel against the government" stories. I like how the Plague backfired . . . twice. I like how it was the Sego Lily that saved them . . . I just really liked it.
Probably most of all, I loved how it practically didn't swear AT ALL. FINALLY!!! Thank you author for being amazing in that way!
I'm glad that the series ended the way it did. While this had many similar characteristics and ideas to other dystopian fiction I still enjoyed it.
Probably more of a 3.5 stars. This series didn't grab me as much as other dystopian novels. I appreciated the fairly happy reconciliation of love interests and most off the plot loose ends.