Reviews

The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He

paleontologa's review

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No

4.0

ktroney's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

li66ylou's review

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medium-paced

3.0

tatyanavogt's review against another edition

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5.0

I know a lot of people didn't like this, but I really enjoyed it. I would say it has its problems but I was invested the whole time and I liked the twists that it had because it went in a direction that I was like "Oh it would be cool if it did something like..." and It did.

This is a sci-fi set in a world that humans have pretty much destroyed and is on the brink of inhabitability (is that an actual word!? its about to be inhabitable is what I'm trying to say). We're focused on two sisters and two time lines, one is the sister in the city dealing with the aftermath of her sisters disappearance and the severity of the state of the world, and the other takes place on an island where our girl has lost her memory but knows that she just needs to get back to her sister.

I really enjoyed it.

moonlit_dewdrops's review against another edition

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2.0

The world building in this book was absolutely incredible and very well-written. The characters were pretty ok as well but I had a hard time connecting with them.

I also enjoyed the themes in this book and how much it addressed global warming and environmental issues.

Unfortunately the writing style and plot just wasn’t it for me. I might have to reread some parts and come back to edit this at another time bc it took me so long to figure out the changing perspectives which kept me confused for more than half the book

laelyn's review against another edition

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5.0

Wow.
Wow is the one word that comes to mind when I think about this book and my experience with it.
This is my first Joan He novel and it made me immediately order her debut and vow to read anything she ever writes. It's that good.
I went into "The Ones We're Meant to Find" with basically no expectations at all. The blurp sounded intriguing and the cover is simply gorgeous, and those are honestly the only reasons I need to want a book. And then, well, then He proceeded to blow me away.

"The Ones We're Meant to Find" is a dystopic science fiction novel that takes place on Earth in a future marked by climate change. Humanity has kept destroying our planet. While a large percentage of humanity still lives in various territories on Earth, a smaller percentage is allowed to live in eco-cities in the sky, living most of their lives in holographic form in order to save what's left of the planet. This is where Kasey, one of our two protagonists live. Cee on the other hand, the second protagonist, wakes up on a deserted island without any memory of who she is and how she came to be here. This is really all I want to say about the plot, the rest of it has to be experienced.

This is a painful novel, a deeply emotional journey that asks important questions while still offering an exciting plot full of twists and unexpected turns. It is never, not once, boring. The world building is spectacular, sucking you in from the very first page, making the world come to life. It's gut wrenching at times, especially when it really shows what humanity did to this beautiful planet. The writing is simply spectacular and the plot so well constructed that I'd genuinely call it a small literary masterpiece. The characters are intriguing, deeply complex and caused me to shed a tear or two more than once. He's choice to use different perspectives to tell the story and stylistically differentiate them as well - Cee's story is told in first person, Kasey's in third person - provides even more layers to an already layered story with layered characters. The sister relationship is incredible and still makes me emotional just thinking about it, and the romance was cute, too, and never too much of a focus of the plot.

This is a more than solid 4,5 stars for me, with my only very minor complaint being that the beginning is a little confusing, but I gladly round it up to 5 stars because it leaves a lasting impression. I won't forget this book and my time with it.

Many many many thanks to Text Publishing and Netgalley for this amazing arc!

misfitmoxie's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

izzys_internet_bookshelf's review against another edition

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4.0

4/5

This book was crazy. I enjoyed going back and forth between perspectives, but with that came the struggle of trying to keep the story straight and having to keep up with parts that were more confusing then others. The plot twist caught me off guard and was refreshing for the story but it added to the confusion as well that to me, didn’t seem to get answered.

neelima1998's review against another edition

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2.0

I am not the targeted audience for this book. Put me in a reading slump.

marieintheraw's review against another edition

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4.0

After reading and enjoying Joan He's debut, I had to check this one out even though sci-fi is not my go-to genre. This one is emotionally impacting onto of the twisty-twists that I was expecting.

I received an ecopy of this through Netgalley; however, all opinions are my own.