Book Seven

Reached

By Ally Condie

I finally got my hands on a copy of Reached.  With the semester taking off in earnest I've been struggling to find time for reading, but when this book came in at the library I found time for it.

Reached was the perfect ending for this series.  The story is amazing and the twist that provides the main plot thread for this last book was clever.  I found myself wishing for more when I finished reading.  There are many unexplored aspects of this universe that I would have liked to learn more about.  The surrounding enemy and mysterious Otherlands left me imagining the setting to be North Korean despite name like Cassie.  

I do have my complaints out about this book and the series in general.  I loved the story.  It was unique and interesting, but the books themselves are wordier than necessary.  The writing is circular and dull in places.  As a reader I recognized the poetic wordiness is meant to mirror the poetic nature of Cassie, the first person narrator, but it makes the book more difficult to read, not a good feature for a young adult novel.  Each of the books requires trimming.  If they were half their size they would be much better.

Recommendations:

At the end of the day I did enjoy this book and series so I definitely would recommend this book to YA readers.  I would describe this series as a cross between Hunger Games and Twilight set in the Ugly's universe.  Fans of those series will love this one.  I would not recommend this for low readers.  The wordiness makes the book difficult to read despite the good story and would be frustrating for low readers.

Stars:

7 out of 10

Book Six

Crossed

by Ally Condie

An excellent sequel to matched!  I enjoyed matched and the world Ally Condie created for the story, and Crossed take reader to a completely new place in her universe.  I was so transported to the carving that I was disoriented after closing the book.  I looked around expecting to see a canyon and was confused when all I saw was my room.  That being said the book was a little bit slow.  Too much time is taken inside Cassia and Ky's heads and with all the thinking the action stalls in places.  I was a big fan of some of the romantic twists and Ky's character growth is wonderful, although too symbol heavy for me.

Recommendations:

Obviously this book is absolutely required for anyone who read Matched, a reader who hasn't read Matched must read that book first.  The series is definitely sequential.  After reading this book I would still recommend fans of Hunger Games and Uglies read the series, but also Host fans would like this book especially and should read the entire series.  Once again the slow parts are difficult to read through so I would recommend strong Young Adult readers only, not for low readers.

Stars:

7 out of 10

Book Five

Matched by Ally Condie

I have two local bookstores.  Neither of them had Insurgent in stock.  I was told the local library has three copies but all are checked out.  While I wait for Insurgent I picked up Matched instead, which turned out to be an excellent choice.  

Matched didn't quite live up to my expectations which were, admittedly, through the roof.  It was still an extremely good book.  My two main complaints were that the plot seems over done (this is usually a sign that I should change up what I'm reading), and that the voice of Cassia, the main character and narrator, is overly melodramatic.  The writing is wordy, but after reading a few chapters the reader gets used to Ally Condie's voice.  I loved how well the diverse cast of characters were developed, which I find is rare with fist persons books that are limited by how the main character sees people.  I also enjoyed the world Condie built.  The Society, a place where everyone is bred to be the same, is an excellent stage to explore struggling with conformity.

Recommendations:
This is not for a low reader.  A strong reader is required to power through the first few chapters and get used to the writing style.  I recommend this for anyone who enjoys a dystopian novel where the characters are struggling to break free of their over powering governments.  This is similar to Hunger Games or Uglies.

Stars:
8 out of 10