Fantasy review: The Ones We're Meant to Find

The Ones We're Meant to Find is billed as a page-twisting thriller about the bonds between two sisters, one living in a hyper-tech ecological nightmare of a world, and the other stranded on a deserted island. 

I thought the world-building was fascinating, particularly the teardrop eco-cities, and the idea of ranking people by their family's historical pollution output. In a lot of fantasy where inequality exists, I see books falling into two camps--either the inequalities are replicated in the fantasy setting without any real analysis, or the inequalities exist only to push the main character to realize their place in the world and push them to challenge the power structure (but I, the princess, didn't know where my food came from! Or anything about my maid's life! Father, how could you?) In The Ones We're Meant to Find, inequality exists, and while the extent of it is slowly revealed to the reader, we understand that the main characters are not surprised, nor do they push back on it--they live in this world and already have a stance on how the world should be. Learning about inequality (and learning to care about other people) isn't a part of their character arc. The lack of a traditional savior narrative, even as Kay literally worked to save the world, was refreshing. 

In terms of the world itself, it did take me a while to understand the set-up, as Kay hopped from one holo-setting to another and as Cee moved through an island divided into parts. I had to suspend my confusion for a good quarter of the book and commit to continuing. In the end I did catch on and I was glad I pushed through, but I also wonder if the world-building could have been a little more robust up-front. Maybe this was a sacrifice made by the author to keep the plot moving quickly. 

I was a little underwhelmed by the "bond between the sisters" that the book was advertised with. I wanted this to be a book that mirrored my relationship with my sister, that I could send to her with a smile and a heart emoji. This book isn't that--Kay and Cee's relationships was fascinating and complex, but not similar to mine. 

Finally, the twist that happened two-thirds of the way through the book--what a twist! I gasped, I loved it. In terms of reader expectation, I didn't suspect it at all until the page before, even though the hints were there. It was an excellent lesson in surprise. 

I saw in some other people's reviews that they were disappointed by the openness of the ending. I found it to be thought-provoking. Sure, it would be nice to know what actually happened, but leaving the book open the way that He did leaves the reader thinking about what the right thing would have been. Who should pay for the destruction of the planet? Is it possible to get humanity to care about the earth? Especially poignant this year, how much loss do people have to suffer to accept inconvenience? 

Overall, I think this book poses excellent questions and will keep readers thinking about their impact on the earth, as well as a fun weekend read.