The Ones We're Meant to Find

Book Title: The Ones We're Meant to Find

Author: Joan He

Date Started: May 11th 2021

Date Completed: May 13th 2021

Genres: Sci-Fi, Mystery

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I was so unexpectedly impressed by Descendant of the Crane when I got it from NetGalley a few years ago that I was so excited to see what Joan He put out next. And she’s provided a wonderful testament to her versatility by coming from a sprawling epic mystery set in historical China to a futuristic sci-if thriller with a deserted island, A.I. and humans with in-built technology monitoring them night and day.

The Ones We’re Meant to Find was very clever, well paced and meticulously structured. Like Descendant of the Crane, the story winds itself very deliberately and twists in several different directions as it progress that you wouldn’t expect at the start - and all perfectly convincingly.

It’s characters are grey and complex, explored in a thoughtful, well-planned way. This book, at its heart, is a character study that isn’t over-indulgent in the time it gives to expanding each character, but necessary to letting the story play out in a way that immerses the reader to fully understand the reality of what their choices mean in this world. He also doesn’t enforce complete sympathy; many individuals are deeply morally conflicted, and everyone acts in fear or spite at some point, and we as the audience are allowed to doubt them and their motives. Which makes choosing to root for them all the more personal.

My one reservation is that I was left feeling... strange. I admire the grey characters and open ends but it leaves me feeling strange. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; it uprooted my expectations and assumptions in many ways, and challenged me to look at the situations differently - how many book actually leave you thinking when you put them down?

Sci-fi novels have never been my thing, but there was still a lot for me to enjoy in this book. I think Joan He is one of the most intelligent and imaginative young writers on offer at the moment, and I, again, can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.