rach 's review for:

Reached by Ally Condie

3.0

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My lack of enthusiasm to finish this series is evident in the fact that this book, the last in the series, came out almost 2 years ago, and I am just getting to it now. In fact, I probably would be putting it off yet again if it wasn't for the "finish all the series" challenge I gave myself. If you're wondering why I am feeling this way, please see my reviews for book 1 and book 2. I'll briefly reiterate, though: it's not like I hate the series. If that were the case, I just wouldn't bother. It's more like I just don't find the characters that compelling, and the plot is confusing enough that even my super spoilery reviews aren't helping me remember where things stood at the end of book two. Heck, there are some characters who I don't even remember who they are. Yes, I have a bad memory, but still, that's pretty sad. There's no way I'm going to re-read the series, though, so I'll just have to muddle through.

I'm sure I would feel differently about this book if I read the series all the way through in one go. As I mentioned, I didn't remember most of the side characters, so when things happened like that characters dying, or when Cassia or Ky or Xander would be remembering someone sadly, those moments had no emotional impact on me. Take Indie for example:

Spoiler

when I read my little recap from the last book, it only briefly mentioned Indie, and that was in reference to the fact that she had apparently fallen in love with Xander based off his picture. I didn't remember anything about all the time she and Cassia spent together, of how she became friends with Ky. So imagine my surprise when it becomes apparently early on that she's in love with Ky, and if he hadn't already been in love with Cassia, he might have fallen for her, too. There is so much we were told about how strong and fearless Indie is, and though I believe it, I never really felt it. When she died, it didn't feel that sad, because I didn't really feel like I knew her.

Even the new characters introduced in this book, like Lei, didn't really feel that fleshed out. I wish I knew what it was that disconnected me from these characters, but I guess it's just not meant to be.

The thing I appreciated most about this book was that it didn't portray love and marriage (or matches, if you prefer) as a one-time-only true love thing.

Spoiler

It might have been a glitch that Cassia was matched with both Ky and Xander, but that wouldn't have been possible if they weren't both suitable for her. It's true what Cassia says to Xander, there was a time when she could have been with Xander, and lived a perfectly happy life full of love together. But things happened, and that moment passed, and they both changed. Cassia fell in love with Ky, who had loved her all along, and as hard as that might for Xander to watch, it's not impossible to overcome. Just because he loved Cassia once doesn't mean he'll never love anyone again, which is proven when he gets to know Lei and they fall in love with each other, both because they are well-matched and because they chose to open themselves up to love again.

In the end, the are other series in this genre that I would recommend over this one, but if it sounds intriguing to you, you might as well give it a try. And if you've already read the first two, you might as well read this one, too.