About the Book
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Author:
- Ally Condie
Cover Story: Rising From the Ruins
BFF Charm: Make it Rain
Talky Talk: Consistently Condie
Bonus Factors: Women in STEM, Critical Thinking, Character Growth
Anti-Bonus Factors: Pandemic Politics, Loose Ends
Relationship Status: Hospital Roommate
Cover Story: Rising From The Ruins
(Get it? Rising? … Terrible, I know.) Cassia’s gone from being trapped in the bubble, to smashing through it, to standing proudly in the open, wearing a red dress I suspect she traded for with illegal poetry. You go, girl.
The Deal:
The revolution Cassia hoped for, and Ky dreaded, finally happens … except it’s less of a military coup and more of an aid mission, delivering medical supplies to fight a disease that the Society has been keeping secret for years. But what seems like a dream come true at first – new friends, meaningful work and a free choice of Matches – quickly becomes a nightmare as the virus mutates and politics become unstable. For Cassia, deciding between Ky and Xander soon becomes secondary, as the three of them fight for their lives and their country’s future.
BFF Charm: Make It Rain
Xander joins Cassia and Ky as a narrator this time. The way he cares for his patients at the quarantine center, his deep if sometimes misguided loyalties, and the sacrifices he makes for Cassia without her knowing it, won me over. But it’s not only the narrators I like, it’s so many others: Indie, as fiercely independent as ever; Lei, a gentle nurse with a mysterious past; Dalton, a sculptor who inspires Cassia; Oker, a crotchety old scientist who escaped his Final Banquet; Cassia’s family, still loving and supportive in emergency conditions; Eli, still hopeful after a childhood of war and plague; Anna, a matriarch fighting for her people’s survival … With a few exceptions (I’m looking at you, Indie’s bullies), I could give a BFF charm to almost everyone in this book.
Swoonworthy Scale: 5
When I first read this book, I caught a terrible case of second lead syndrome. The love triangle from the first two books evolves here into a love hexagon. There were not one, but two occasions where the character I was rooting for, who had the more interesting arc and a more natural relationship with their love interest, did not get together with said love interest after all. Still, there’s a lot to be said for getting me so invested in the first place. Condie has the rare gift of writing love triangles that don’t make me lose respect for any character involved.
Talky Talk: Consistently Condie
I’ve said enough about how much I enjoy Condie’s prose in other reviews. I have to admit that the three narrators sound very much alike to me. Ky is a little easier to tell apart because of his pessimism (the others would never describe themselves as a “dead man flying”), but in a story about discovering one’s creative voice, I would have liked them to be a little more distinct.
Bonus Factor: Women In STEM
Indie is an ace pilot and she knows it; the Rising depends on her to deliver medical supplies. Lei is a nurse who looks after the Plague patients at the risk of her own life. Cassia’s “sorting”, i.e. data analysis, becomes vital to the development of a cure. I liked seeing all these smart, capable women almost as much as I liked seeing the men in their lives respect them.
Bonus Factor: Critical Thinking
In this book, we meet several factions with different ideologies: the data-driven, utilitarian Society; the Rising, not as different as they’d like to believe; the Archivists, black-market traders who judge everything by its value; and the villagers of Endstone, who are both democratic and isolationist, voting to exile anyone they consider a threat. Cassia and Xander are still searching for a leader they can follow without question, but eventually they learn what Ky already knows: that leaders need to be questioned if the Society is ever to be free.
Bonus Factor: Character Growth
Cassia’s growing relationship with art is honestly my favourite love story in this series. (Sorry, boys.) In Matched, she destroys any non-government-sanctioned art she finds, justifiably afraid of getting in trouble. In Crossed, she hides it for safekeeping. In Reached, she learns not only to create her own, but to share it with others despite the risks.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Pandemic Politics
“This revolution will begin and end by saving your blood, not spilling it,” says the Pilot of the Rising. This is his euphemistic way of saying his followers will hand out cures to anyone who joins their revolution. In 2011 I found this refreshingly non-violent, compared to other dystopian franchises at the time. In 2023, the idea of someone making the cure for a deadly disease contingent on political membership actually scares me. The calculations for when to start unplugging people from life support to save resources? The truth about how the Plague began in the first place? It all hits very differently today.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Loose Ends
I was disappointed on several fronts where I was hoping for closure. We never find out who is responsible for the Plague, the war or the Aberration genocide. We never see them go on trial or look their victims in the face. On the other hand, the fates of characters the protagonists did know and care about are still a mystery. I’m still hoping for a spin-off (or a TV series), but by now, the chances are slim.
Relationship Status: Hospital Roommate
I couldn’t read you while I was sick, because the triggers were so strong, but now that I’m recovering, you give me hope.
Literary Matchmaking
If the Plague in Reached wasn’t exciting enough, try the one in Dan Wells’ Partials.
Cale Dietrich’s The Love Interest takes the formula “one girl, two opposite boys” and gives it a queer twist.
Lauren Oliver’s Delirium sends a note to governments: Don’t censor love. The teenagers will get you.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review. Reached is available now.
