Review: Reached - Ally Condie

I actually liked it. Having had a bad experience with series finales lately (Inheritance), I was afraid to read this one and find out that the author had failed to answer most or all of the questions developed during the previous books, but, to my surprise, the end of the Matched series was both surprisingly good and providing closure.

We get back to seeing Cassia, Xander and Ky separated, working on their Rising-assigned works. And then it starts, the rebellion, the Plague.

It's hard to talk about it without spoiling things, but I really liked Cassia's growth, she does finally sort out her feelings and starts understanding emotions - more than words, she finally understands what she feels and how she feels it. Also, she starts understanding creativity instead of worshipping old poems. It's probably harder for her, since she was so society-based before Ky. Also, we find out more about her family and of course, it makes sense, I loved it.

The one thing that I missed was the explanation about The Others and The Otherlands. Really, can we have another book talking about that part of the "Not-Society"? Also, some history. We got the history about the way the Society evolved and formed itself, but was it really just that? It simply evolved?

Aside from that, I liked the whole book. The Rising and the whole thing. Oh, for crying out loud, how am I not to spoil this? I REALLY want to talk about spoiler-y things...

Let's see, let's see. We get more information about the blue and red tablet, also about the Plague, which is the main story in this book, and what was happening with the banquets - little things we didn't notice, but like, in Matched, one girl just didn't have a Match  (blank screen)... And we learn about the red pill and that your memories can be recovered! (omg was that a spoiler?)

Indie's ending was, not being harsh, EXTREMELY disapointing. Like, got me saying out loud "WTF"? Because, well, Indie was an odd character, I was never sure if she was really a friend or not, but I can understand parts of what she did. But that ending? I didn't like it. How could anyone like it?

I think the love triangle was well solved and was quite obvious. Sorry Team Xander, but I think from page 1 it is obvious she's chosen Ky, so I won't even hide that. Xander is well solved, though, he understands himself and others much better than it looked like and can see everything much clearer around the middle and ending of the book.

The ending is sort of bittersweet. I was hoping for something else, like I said, specially about the Otherlands, but I can understand what happened and I can see why it is needed - hopefully, for the best. I could read another book about that world, but with other characters... I like how dystopias like that make you think about your own world and how much that is true - how much of the "rebels" are actually the system trying to make you believe you have a choice, how much of your choices aren't real, how much of the "for your own good" really binds you and makes you defenseless. I could enjoy seeing what that world will become, after the events in the end of the book.

I highly recommend to anyone who likes sci fi, dystopias, love triangles and stories that make you think (or not, since you can take both approaches, I guess).
 
You can buy Reached here.
You can read my reviews for the previous books here: Matched and Crossed.


From my Crossed review:

Other questions I'd like answered include (but are not limited to):

- Who is The Enemy and how did they become "The Enemy"? Not answered.

- What happened (history-wise) to create the separation between The Society and The Enemy? Not answered.

- What's with that weird Society Employee who told Cassia that they'd put Ky's name on her card? Why did she lie like that? Not answered. And that's one that I really would like to know. But at least we know how the card happened...

- What's with The Rising and what's the connection with The Society? Answered pretty well.

- What's with Xander? Did he know... (spoiler)? Answered. Poor Xander.

- What's happened to the artifacts? Where are the things that were "removed" from The Society? Not answered.

- What's happened to the farmers (sure we know part, but why now?)? Not the why now. Not that I understood anyways (could be because of the Plague?)

- What's happening in The Society? Why it's getting different? Sort of answered, I guess. The Plague.

Review: Pink Noise - Leonid Korogodski

I should've written this review long ago, but due to zillions of issues, I haven't managed to do so. Let's make this right now!

Pink Noise is a sci fi novel, by Leonid Korogodski, and it is hardcore sci fi, by the way.

I was impressed by the narrative style, which reminds me so much of Isaac Asimov and yet, so different. Poetic, visual.

The book tells us the story of Nathi, a posthuman doctor, who gets the mission of repairing a little girl's brain and "migrate" it to a posthuman state. Here, I must stop and explain: posthumans are simply people whose brain got "uploaded" to a central system and then they can live anywhere - on any machine conected to the central system. The story is set on Mars.

The girl has a Wish Faerie, though, a being that is inside her mind and prevents her from being directly plugged into the system, and being controlled. 

I'm not going to tell much about the story since, well, it is only 120 pages long, so anything I tell may be everything.

What amazed me was the book itself. The images were incredibly beautiful and the cover, the paper, everything made me think that there are a few reasons why paper books top ebooks anytime - these special editions. Ebooks can replace paperbacks, but really, the experience on reading a book as well thought as this one, makes you think you have a major need for paper.

The Dancer (a character a bit along the book) is a perfect mix of the human and posthuman e also Pink Noise itself is a chronicle of what we could gain but, more than everything, what we could lose if we all stopped being human. Is immortality worth it?

If you think about it, look at Egypt, they TURNED THE INTERNET OFF! And if they got as much control, imagine if all of our minds were connected there... Who would be controlling the system? And who would watch them? (who watches the watchmen kind of thing)

While the story is about 120 pages long, the book has over 100 pages of references: it is so sci fi, that it explains the whole science behind the book, how everything would be possible. It describes perfectly (or at least to me, I could visualize perfectly) Mars' atmosphere, the buildings, how they manage to breathe there and such.

If you're not a sci-fi fan, I do not advise you to read it. You'll get lost, you'll get bored. But if you ARE  sci fi fan, then you should run and get it now. It's spectacular, poetic, passionate.

I promise to get a new post up soon with pictures of the images inside the book, I think they're worth a post on their own.

If you're already in love with it, you can buy it on The Book Depository or Amazon