Reached
What a ride. That’s what I thought when I finished the third novel in Ally Condie’s Matched trilogy. What a ride. It has taken me some time to get to this point and there were moments when I wasn’t sure if I would finish the trilogy, but I’m very glad I did. I’m so very, very glad.
After Cassia was Matched with her friend Xander on their Match Banquet but another man’s picture showed up on the microcard she was given, Ky’s picture, Cassia has been trying to figure out what went wrong and why Ky’s picture was on Xander’s microcard. At the same time her grandfather has his Final Banquet, just before his death, and by him Cassia is given a compact which holds a few poems, something illegal in the Society. Slowly Cassia changes, from the Society girl she’s supposed to be, to a young woman asking questions about the world she lives in. She falls in love with Ky rather than Xander and follow him out of Society while Xander is left behind. She sees so much, learns so much and realizes that the Society isn’t the only way of living. There’s other things out there and if she just reaches for them, she might be able to grab it.
This is what happened before Reached took place. Now Cassia and Ky is out of the Carving and back in Society, but not together. Cassia is in Central, sorting, and still Matched to Xander. Ky is working for the Rising, the rebel group standing up against the Society, and Xander works as an official in Camas. They’re far away from each other but in some aspect always together. They’re part of the Rising and when the rebels make their move and the Plague sweeps through the Society, they all need to step up their game to help save the people they love as well as the rest of society.
It’s been over a year since I read the previous two books, Matched and Crossed, so I was a bit confused when I picked this one up. It didn’t take too long to get back to the world Cassia, Ky and Xander lives in, however, and I was overwhelmed by the story in a way that I never was during the first two novels. I remember, after finishing Matched, that I wasn’t sure if I would continue reading. I didn’t really like it and didn’t see a clear reason to pick the second one up, but I did anyway. Mostly out of curiosity. And I remember thinking that the second was much better than the first. Now, when I’m done with all three, I want to say that the third is the best. It’s different, in so many aspects.
Our three main characters live in a world where the Society rules, were they’re told what to do, what to eat, who to marry. They don’t have a choice and a lot of people likes it that way, but not everyone. In an effort to change it all, the Rising appears, years and years before this story takes place, but it lasts and it always tries to change the world they live in to something better.
All three of the main characters are involved in the Rising but they all view it differently and believe in it in their own way. In an attempt to overthrow the Society, rather than using violence, the Rising leaks a Society-made plague into the cities and watches as the people gets sick. The Rising has a cure which they provide and the idea is to get all the people healthy and at the same time show them what the Society really is like. What they can and can’t do and if the people do the right thing by trusting them. But it all backfires when a mutation of the plague appears and a cure for that is nowhere in sight. So many gets sick, so many dies and the only thing that can save them is a cure. But who will find it?
Like I said, all three main characters believe in the Rising for different reasons. They’re not alike, any of them, but work good together. In the desperate search for the cure they need to trust one another like they never have before and that takes strength. I find that Condie has created three strong individual who all brings something unique and valuable to the table and, who, paints the story in their own color.
There are so many books of this kind floating around the world right now, and has for years. Dystopian novels about a girl, or sometimes boy, who is somehow chosen and needs to save her world, her family, her life, one way or the other. What most have in common is that they’re usually a trilogy, there’s a love story or in many cases, a love triangle. Violence and often war of some kind is also usually involved. So what’s setting Reached and the Matched trilogy apart? Is there something? Yes, there is, and I find it to be a significant thing.
It is a trilogy and it does have a love triangle and some kind of war does appear, but there’s very little actual violence. Most of the big hits of the past few years, like The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner, all include violence. It’s about fighting, killing and hurting to stay alive. But here, and especially in Reached, it’s about living. It’s about working together to save as many people as possible so they can have a change to choose. I really, really liked this, but it’s so different. To see that you don’t have to hurt someone else to live. You don’t have to fight other people to keep going. You don’t have to kill to survive. You can be unselfish and do everything in your power to save everyone. And what a message that is to send out, to the readers and to the world.
This was an intricate story which I thought Condi handled very well. She left clues for the reader to pick up on in search for answers to all the questions asked since the first book. It takes a good author and a good team to pull a book like this off and I think the result was great. It’s a story greyer than that of Katniss or Tris or Thomas, but it matters just the same, if not more. It shows the reader that you always have a choice and also shows that a good book does not need violence or even deaths to a big amount of the cast for it to work out. It can raise serious questions, talk about tough subjects and be a great read regardless. I’ve always wondered why so many of the best sellers of the past years need violence. Because that will attracted boys as well as girls? I really hope not. I hope that lot of novels in the future takes a cue from Reached, and the trilogy as a whole, and sees that it can still be action packed and an amazing ride without fights as a requirement.
Maybe this is a novel that mostly will speak to girls. I think it’s sad if that’s the case and I hope everyone gives this a chance. The first may be a little childish and the second a little dull but the third will give you a new perspective on life, if you let it. I had so many interesting thoughts while reading and I’m so thankful for choosing to continue Cassia, Ky’s and Xander’s journey. I’m a little melancholy over the fact that it’s over now but I felt like I grew a lot during this novel, which is why I want to thank Ally Condie too. For showing me a side of myself that I’ve been afraid to confront. This feels like an important story for me personally and I hope other people can find themselves in the pages, just like I did.
After Cassia was Matched with her friend Xander on their Match Banquet but another man’s picture showed up on the microcard she was given, Ky’s picture, Cassia has been trying to figure out what went wrong and why Ky’s picture was on Xander’s microcard. At the same time her grandfather has his Final Banquet, just before his death, and by him Cassia is given a compact which holds a few poems, something illegal in the Society. Slowly Cassia changes, from the Society girl she’s supposed to be, to a young woman asking questions about the world she lives in. She falls in love with Ky rather than Xander and follow him out of Society while Xander is left behind. She sees so much, learns so much and realizes that the Society isn’t the only way of living. There’s other things out there and if she just reaches for them, she might be able to grab it.
This is what happened before Reached took place. Now Cassia and Ky is out of the Carving and back in Society, but not together. Cassia is in Central, sorting, and still Matched to Xander. Ky is working for the Rising, the rebel group standing up against the Society, and Xander works as an official in Camas. They’re far away from each other but in some aspect always together. They’re part of the Rising and when the rebels make their move and the Plague sweeps through the Society, they all need to step up their game to help save the people they love as well as the rest of society.
It’s been over a year since I read the previous two books, Matched and Crossed, so I was a bit confused when I picked this one up. It didn’t take too long to get back to the world Cassia, Ky and Xander lives in, however, and I was overwhelmed by the story in a way that I never was during the first two novels. I remember, after finishing Matched, that I wasn’t sure if I would continue reading. I didn’t really like it and didn’t see a clear reason to pick the second one up, but I did anyway. Mostly out of curiosity. And I remember thinking that the second was much better than the first. Now, when I’m done with all three, I want to say that the third is the best. It’s different, in so many aspects.
Our three main characters live in a world where the Society rules, were they’re told what to do, what to eat, who to marry. They don’t have a choice and a lot of people likes it that way, but not everyone. In an effort to change it all, the Rising appears, years and years before this story takes place, but it lasts and it always tries to change the world they live in to something better.
All three of the main characters are involved in the Rising but they all view it differently and believe in it in their own way. In an attempt to overthrow the Society, rather than using violence, the Rising leaks a Society-made plague into the cities and watches as the people gets sick. The Rising has a cure which they provide and the idea is to get all the people healthy and at the same time show them what the Society really is like. What they can and can’t do and if the people do the right thing by trusting them. But it all backfires when a mutation of the plague appears and a cure for that is nowhere in sight. So many gets sick, so many dies and the only thing that can save them is a cure. But who will find it?
Like I said, all three main characters believe in the Rising for different reasons. They’re not alike, any of them, but work good together. In the desperate search for the cure they need to trust one another like they never have before and that takes strength. I find that Condie has created three strong individual who all brings something unique and valuable to the table and, who, paints the story in their own color.
There are so many books of this kind floating around the world right now, and has for years. Dystopian novels about a girl, or sometimes boy, who is somehow chosen and needs to save her world, her family, her life, one way or the other. What most have in common is that they’re usually a trilogy, there’s a love story or in many cases, a love triangle. Violence and often war of some kind is also usually involved. So what’s setting Reached and the Matched trilogy apart? Is there something? Yes, there is, and I find it to be a significant thing.
It is a trilogy and it does have a love triangle and some kind of war does appear, but there’s very little actual violence. Most of the big hits of the past few years, like The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner, all include violence. It’s about fighting, killing and hurting to stay alive. But here, and especially in Reached, it’s about living. It’s about working together to save as many people as possible so they can have a change to choose. I really, really liked this, but it’s so different. To see that you don’t have to hurt someone else to live. You don’t have to fight other people to keep going. You don’t have to kill to survive. You can be unselfish and do everything in your power to save everyone. And what a message that is to send out, to the readers and to the world.
This was an intricate story which I thought Condi handled very well. She left clues for the reader to pick up on in search for answers to all the questions asked since the first book. It takes a good author and a good team to pull a book like this off and I think the result was great. It’s a story greyer than that of Katniss or Tris or Thomas, but it matters just the same, if not more. It shows the reader that you always have a choice and also shows that a good book does not need violence or even deaths to a big amount of the cast for it to work out. It can raise serious questions, talk about tough subjects and be a great read regardless. I’ve always wondered why so many of the best sellers of the past years need violence. Because that will attracted boys as well as girls? I really hope not. I hope that lot of novels in the future takes a cue from Reached, and the trilogy as a whole, and sees that it can still be action packed and an amazing ride without fights as a requirement.
Maybe this is a novel that mostly will speak to girls. I think it’s sad if that’s the case and I hope everyone gives this a chance. The first may be a little childish and the second a little dull but the third will give you a new perspective on life, if you let it. I had so many interesting thoughts while reading and I’m so thankful for choosing to continue Cassia, Ky’s and Xander’s journey. I’m a little melancholy over the fact that it’s over now but I felt like I grew a lot during this novel, which is why I want to thank Ally Condie too. For showing me a side of myself that I’ve been afraid to confront. This feels like an important story for me personally and I hope other people can find themselves in the pages, just like I did.