Book Review :: Reached by Ally Condie

Reached by Ally Condie
Series: Matched #3
Also in this series: Crossed
on November 30th 2012
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult
Pages: 528
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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.

Last updated on 22 February 2022

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The third and final instalment of the Matched series, by Ally Condie, Reached was better than I thought it was going to be. I had seen mixed reviews about this YA/Dystopian novel, but to be honest, it seemed like there was more one-star than five-star reviews on Goodreads. But since when have I let someone else’s review determine whether or not I read a book? Never! I always want to read a book because it sounds good/interesting/worth reading to me, not because someone else says it’s amazing. It was in the back of my mind while reading this book, though, but I did really enjoy it.

What is Reached by Ally Condie about?

Reached continues the story of Cassia, her best friend Xander, and the love interest Ky as they join the rebellion against the Society called the Rising. Cassia is in the main city working undercover as a Sorter; Xander is working as a medic in another city; Ky is a pilot for the Rising and works outside the borders. While both Cassia and Xander are a part of the Rising too, they are working on the inside, waiting for the Rising to actually begin.

When it does, the leader of the Rising and the one they have been waiting for (also known as the Pilot) finally steps forward, and although not of all the plans are successful or understood, the people in the Rising now have someone to follow, and a single goal to aim for: the cure of the Plague that has swept through the Society again to be distributed to the people.

My thoughts on Reached

That’s the main gist of this final book anyway, and while there is a lot more, the main goal is to find the cure. Cassia, Xander and Ky all play a large role in that, and while they are apart for most of the book, at the risk of giving too much away, they end up being the heroes they were probably always going to be. Because they are apart, there are a lot more minor characters and people that they interact with independent of each other, which I really enjoyed.

Matched (the first in this series) was written in first person from Cassia’s point of view, Crossed (the second book) alternated between Cassia and Ky, and Reached finally has chapters dedicated to Xander, as well as Cassia and Ky. Not only did this mean that we got to see things from Xander’s perspective, but it also meant that new characters were introduced or developed more in each of their storylines. I really enjoyed that, and it was really great to be able to read from Xander’s point of view and see what kind of person he really was.

“You cannot change your journey if you are unwilling to move at all.”

Even though this was all fine and dandy, and I liked the plot and characters, it was a little confusing towards the end. I won’t go into detail but you kind of have to keep a clear head at the end to really understand all the things that are said and explanations for things given. The end was how I thought it was going to end, mostly happily ever after endings and some sad moments too, but on the whole, it was a good end to a good series I thought.

What I really liked about Reached was all the creativity in it. Not in the way it was written or anything, but in Cassia’s storyline she creates a place where people can come and bring what they have crafted or written to a place she calls the Gallery. In the Society, there are only a Hundred Songs allowed, a Hundred Poems, a Hundred paintings etc, so this is a big deal. That was pretty neat. I love this quote near the end:

“Writing painting, singing – it cannot stop everything. Cannot halt death in its tracks. But perhaps it can make the pause between death’s footsteps sound and look and feel beautiful, can make the space of waiting a place where you can linger without as much fear.”

You can read my review of Matched here, and my review on Crossed too. If you’re looking for another dystopian society to launch yourself into, give Matched a go. I believe I read somewhere about the movie being made…? So you’ll probably want to read these before that comes out.

Have you read Reached? Or the whole Matched series?