Reached (Matched, #3)

by Ally Condie

[nannah]

I'm not sure how to introduce this one . . .

I don't feel like there wasn't enough story to actually sustain a plot, and especially not for the finale of a trilogy! Basically you have a plague and there needs to be a cure. That's pretty much the core of the plot, and the bulk of the book consists of scientific observations, studies, and tests performed in search of the cure. Not that that's not interesting, but this book is fairly long and to have this all go on for 512 pages with character asides about their problems in love (. . . rectangles?) didn't really do it for me.

I did, however, adore Lei, Anna, and every mention of Cassia's grandfather. Those characters really shone in this book, and really kept me reading. They were strong, beautiful, and they were written with such care and sweetness that lacked with many other ones.

The writing kind of grew on my nerves in some places. I never got a sense of some characters and gestures, because they were constantly written in ways that didn't ever tell me anything. (i.e.: Her smile was beautiful. She looked at my sympathetically. Her eyes were lovely. I could tell she was nervous. It was beautiful.) I wanted to be shown how things were beautiful, why people looked nervous, etc., but I was just told everything, over and over, and I ended up just rolling my eyes in between dialogue. Because that's what this book ended up feeling like: a few paragraphs of prose stuck between dialogue.

I don't know. Reached just didn't do it for me.