Book Review #3 - Reached

I think when a book is one in a series, it's hard to judge it on its individual merits.  Reached, number three in Ally Condie's Matched triology, is about Cassia, Ky and Xander's realization that along with the power to choose, a freedom not previously experienced in their young adult lifetime, there is often pain. Loss. Heartbreak. Guilt. And, of course, love. This is a young adult series with two guys wanting the same girl, after all.

Although this is not an LDS book and should appeal to readers anywhere of any faith (or none) the theme of agency and accountability is one that is familiar and pivotal to members of our church.  For this reason, perhaps, I didn't find the characters' journeys all that startling or even very interesting.  I loved the first book.  I thought Condie's choice to portray a futuristic, dystopian society featuring happy, productive people instead of the more familiar scary and looming forced conformity was smart.  Because I've always been a believer that it is better to have good and bad so that we can know the difference and more fully appreciate the good, I found myself really thinking about a place where the things we seek after - good health, happy families, satisfying work and hobbies - are all but guaranteed. Sure, it was obvious that something was missing but because I felt those good things through Cassia's and Xander's experience,  in a way, I didn't want it to go away.  They were likable and good.

Ky was used to illustrate what happens to the imperfections.  To achieve perfect health, the risks (foods, vices, idleness) against it were taken away.  Likewise, to achieve perfect societies, those who disobeyed rules or were even born to those who disobeyed rules, were taken away.  As Ky, classified as an Abberation or an outcast because his parents were part of the Rising, was also a character to root for, the conundrum was established.  Who or what should go?  Those threats to perfection or perfection itself?

I suppose I needed to set that all up to explain that I did get the point.  I liked the point.  I just didn't like the story anymore.  As much as I enjoyed Matched, the first book in the series, I equally disliked Crossed, the second book.  Take that as a lesson in opposition! I had no idea where Reached would fall in the spectrum and due to its length, grueling repetitiveness (Cassia loves poetry and is thinking, hiding, trading, or writing poems to express how she feels about any topic.  Xander is learning about the nature of viruses while he thinks about Cassia.  Ky flies a plane while thinks about Cassia. Who is the Pilot? Who is the Pilot? Who is the Pilot?) and predictability, it falls closer to Crossed than Matched.  Everything felt so tedious to me.  From finding a cure (twice!) to waiting for something, anything to make the love triangle more interesting (everyone liked and respected each other an awful lot) I just kept waiting for the action to happen.  Either the conflict was too long in development or simply not overwhelming enough to notice, but I felt like there was no climax.  At least no page-turning one.  I also got tired of the Capitilizations.  Pilot.  Society.  Rising.  Otherlands.  Plague.  I felt irked each time one of those words popped up in a sentence.  If you've read the book, you have an idea about the frequency of the emotion.  What I did enjoy was Xander's growth as his eyes were open to both his limitations as well as his innate talents.  I know he had alternating chapters but I wish there would have been even more about Xander.

So, I liked it but I didn't love it and because I wanted this book to redeem the series for me, I feel disappointed.