A compelling climate fiction novel full of twists and turns that will keep you on your toes
—Amanda Khong, Bookish Brews
Bookish Brews Snapshot
The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He
Sisters with a bond strong enough to survive anything set out on a quest to find each other and save humanity from the climate disaster we created.
📖 Couldn't Put It Down 😭 Emotional 🌳 Family Focused 🎲 Plot Twists
Book Review
Mind bending, surprising, twisty, engaging, beautiful, flowing, well executed
The Ones We’re Meant to Find was one of those books that I had to set aside for a few days before I could even think of reviewing it, because it surprised me so deeply. I definitely wasn’t ready, but there is a delightful support group out there for you already for those who have read it. This book was slow at the beginning to set everything up, but once you are halfway through, the pace picks up so dramatically you won’t want to put it down.
This book follows Cee and Kasey, two sisters with a bond that can save humanity, if only they could meet again… Cee has been trapped on an island for three years with only the memory of her sister to give her purpose, if she can cross the ocean to find her. Kasey is a STEM prodigy, in what seems like worlds away, on the search for her sister, who took a boat out to sea and never returned.
Let me just say that Joan He absolutely nailed this book. It was brilliant in so many different ways. I was incredibly impressed the entire time. The writing alone was simply beautiful. Every juxtaposition came crashing back into itself with an equal affinity, every piece of this story crashed and separated like water in waves. The imagery of water was tailored so beautifully into this story, I could feel myself being lost at sea within the writing. The ever changing emotional distance that we feel between Kasey and Cee felt like the ever changing tide rolling in and out, constantly pulled by unseen forces. It was truly stunning.
No review for this book can be complete without pointing out how well executed the twists and turns were. This book had me on my toes. Though this book is slow in the beginning, once I sat back and reflected, I realized that the slowness was just a foundation for the reader to stand on. The twists and turns wouldn’t have been nearly as good if we didn’t have the perfect amount of build. Once one twist comes, they don’t stop until the end. It dramatically changes pace, because there was so much happening at the end, you needed the foundation. Thank goodness I had it!
The last thing that I really loved was the world. We got just enough to know what happened, but Joan didn’t give us too much information. It really allows us to make our own assumptions for how exactly the world got to be so destroyed from climate change. I really adored that, because I think we all know how the world will get hurt by climate change. We can make assumptions easily for what might get destroyed already, so we don’t need the hand holding. The only small thing that I wish there was a little bit more of is how certain people landed in the eco-systems and the social effects. We got just the perfect amount of understanding of environmental reasonings for the world, but the social selection and effects would have been so interesting to read. It does bring this up! I just would have loved more of a statement there.
The Ones We’re Meant to Find was a book that is going to stick with me for quite a long time. The twists and turns were executed so well, and the prose was absolutely stunning. The way the prose and the story flowed like water, made me feel like I was lost at sea — or rather, lost in the book.
Book Aesthetic
