Reached by Ally Condie

About the book

Reached is the third and final book in the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie. The book was published on 30^th November by Penguin and it is 512 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy for review.

Synopsis (Taken from Goodreads.com)

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.

What I thought

I was so excited after getting the email about this book. The final book in the trilogy had been a long time coming and after liking Crossed so much, when many others didn’t, I couldn’t wait to read Reached.

With Cassia, Ky and Xander all apart at the beginning of this book, we get a triple narrative in Reached. For the first time, Xander is allowed to voice is thoughts which was something I was glad for. Over the past two books, I didn’t feel as though I got to know Xander well enough in comparison to Ky and therefore, didn’t even really see him as a valid member of the love triangle. I think that Xander’s point of view was one of the most interesting throughout this book because of his job. As an Offical in Society, he works with the sick and once the Plague really hits, he has a massive role in the story as a whole. Not only does Xander’s point of view show what is going on in the world in more detail, but he also reveals how he feels about Cassia and why which was something that I liked.

Cassia’s point of view is also very important in this book. As she is separated from the people she loves, especially Ky, we see a massive change in her. Now, Cassia has to take charge and make some very important decisions for herself which showed how strong she was. I really enjoyed the direction in which Cassia’s character was taken because I wasn’t so sure about her in Matched, then liking her a little more in Crossed. Reached made me really like Cassia and for me to really realise everything that she had to deal with.

While I loved the character development in Reached, I didn’t like the story quite as much. Reached is a big book at 512 pages long and I expected it to be much more exciting. Now, I’m not saying a lot doesn’t happen, because it does but it just wasn’t enough for me. The plot largely surrounds the Rising and Society, the Plague and what all of this means to everyone. Before all three of the main characters are brought back together, we see different things happen through all of their eyes and slowly, the pieces begin to fit together. No one really knows what is happening with the Rising or who is leading them or how to cure the Plague so a large amount of the book is spent on trying to figure out how to cure people.

I think I would have really liked the aspects of the book which focused on the Plague and the cure if they hadn’t been so damn drawn out. I feel like most of what happened could have been solved in much less time, or rather have other things going on with some of the characters at the same time instead. The realisation about what needed to be done was so drawn out to me that I just stopped caring about people living… or not.

While there are plenty of twists and turns in the plot, for me, there was only one really exciting part in Reached. The other twists were a bit shocking but they were quickly forgotten about and Condie moved on to something else within a few pages. The one exciting part for me wasn’t even exciting enough though. Again, the exciting thing happens and then it is kind of left in the background of many other things going on. The importance of this event and what it could mean to everyone was hugely important in my eyes and I wish it had been made more this way for characters in the book.

So, while there were aspects of Reached which I liked, there was also a lot that I didn’t like. As for the actual ending, I was happy with the outcome but it took a hell of a lot of reading to get there. Unfortunately, Reached falls short for me as a finale to a trilogy which was disappointing.