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Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Teen Fiction Book Hardback | 120791002900417 | T HE | Searching... Unknown |
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A New York Times Bestseller
An Indie Bestseller
Perfect for fans of Marie Lu and E. Lockhart, The Ones We're Meant to Find is a gripping and heartfelt YA sci-fi with mind-blowing twists. Set in a climate-ravaged future, Joan He's beautifully written novel follows the story of two sisters, separated by an ocean, desperately trying to find each other.
Cee has been trapped on an abandoned island for three years without any recollection of how she arrived, or memories from her life prior. All she knows is that somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, she has a sister named Kay, and it's up to Cee to cross the ocean and find her.
In a world apart, 16-year-old STEM prodigy Kasey Mizuhara lives in an eco-city built for people who protected the planet?and now need protecting from it. With natural disasters on the rise due to climate change, eco-cities provide clean air, water, and shelter. Their residents, in exchange, must spend at least a third of their time in stasis pods, conducting business virtually whenever possible to reduce their environmental footprint. While Kasey, an introvert and loner, doesn't mind the lifestyle, her sister Celia hated it. Popular and lovable, Celia much preferred the outside world. But no one could have predicted that Celia would take a boat out to sea, never to return.
Now it's been three months since Celia's disappearance, and Kasey has given up hope. Logic says that her sister must be dead. But nevertheless, she decides to retrace Celia's last steps. Where they'll lead her, she does not know. Her sister was full of secrets. But Kasey has a secret of her own.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--If you tossed Lost, Black Mirror, and The 100 in a blender, you'd pour out something similar to He's sophomore novel. This science-fiction thriller pits the deep love of a sibling bond against the high stakes of Earth's impending climate disaster. Stranded on an ominously abandoned island for three years with a strange case of amnesia, Cee sleepwalks every other night closer and closer to the sea--and her sister. She knows Kay is on the other side of the ocean, if only she can find a way to cross it. Kasey lives in an eco-city, one of eight clean energy bastions against the environmental disasters that plague the landlocked territories, leaving her stasis pod only when necessary and living primarily through the virtual reality of her Intraface. While Cee fights for a way free of the island, Kasey grapples with the politics of the sky-built eco-cities and the ranking system that brings refugees in from the toxic land below. At turns whimsical and gut-wrenching, He's writing drives home the high stakes and unreliability of our narrators, setting the stage for a tense and twisting plot. Her characters are crafted with distinct voices and arcs, and must confront the best and worst of the human condition. Kasey and Cee are Asian, with more diversity included in supporting characters. VERDICT A first purchase for library collections. He grafts deep moral and ethical questions to a page-turning premise, making this sci-fi standalone an excellent book club selection.--Emmy Neal, Lake Forest Lib., IL
Publisher's Weekly Review
In alternating, timeline-shifting chapters, He (Descendant of the Crane) traces an expansive near-future narrative that centers Asian sisterhood and family. Three years prior to the novel's start, Cee awakens on an abandoned island amnesiac, colorblind, and alone except for a bot. She recalls only the absence of her younger sister, Kay, and feeling an impulse to get off the island and find her. Now, Cee has finally constructed a boat that may give her the chance. Meanwhile, in the wake of climate disaster, the highest ranked humans--"calculated from the planetary impact" of their behavior and their ancestors'--have moved to eco-cities, "conducting nonessential activities in the holographic mode." In one such city, Kasey Mizuhara, 16, daughter of an eco-city architect, considers the absence of her sister Celia, 18, recently lost at sea. Banned from science for previously breaking an international law, Kasey nevertheless pursues a lead to access her sister's memories. Interweaving Cee's immediate first-person voice and Kasey's more removed third-person narration, He crafts an intricate, well-paced rumination on human nature, choice, and consequence. Ages 12--up. Agent: John Cusick, Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management. (May)
Kirkus Review
An apocalyptic future tests the bonds of love between sisters. In this future world, climate change and other disasters have brought people together from different countries into eco-cities that levitate above their regions. Sixteen-year-old Kasey Mizuhara disassociates herself from people, moving through the world like an alien or ghost, observing her human companions. She prefers the cool comfort of logic, and the only one she loves and looks to for direction is Celia, her older sister. Cee, on the other hand, loves too much, continually pushing boundaries and breaking rules. Yet the sisters admire each other for their complementary strengths. As the world crumbles around them due to human-made disasters, Kasey strives to uncover the mystery surrounding Cee's disappearance while Cee survives, marooned on an island and driven to search for Kasey through her wavering memories. While the science-fiction setting often does not feel fully realized enough to anchor readers in this world where the residents of the floating eco-cities carry out most of their nonessential activities in holographic mode, the story is a compelling exploration of humanity and its tendency toward selfishness and self-destruction. The pacing is maddeningly slow at first, but midway through, the action accelerates, racing to a breathless end. Readers who puzzle through this world will find a curious struggle that may answer the question of whether humanity is worth saving. An intriguing foray into a devastating future--and yet one where hope abides. (Science fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In He's exhilarating and heartbreaking novel, Cee has been stranded on an island for three years with only one goal: find her sister. Meanwhile, Kasey is a young woman who wants to change the world. The narrative alternates between the perspectives of the two girls, luring readers into the mystery of Cee and her sister while exploring a civilization that is suffering from the effects of climate change. Cee's island home is shrouded in mystery and often feels claustrophobic, as her only company is a house, a stranger's wardrobe, and spare parts that can be used to construct a boat. Kasey, on the other hand, lives in a futuristic society where hologram parties and built-in AI are a part of everyday life. He spools out small details related to the worlds that slowly unravel the relationship between Cee on her island and Kasey in the eco-city. While the sparse details might frustrate those who want more background information, the desire to uncover the underlying mystery will keep readers invested. This fast-paced sf tale is sure to linger.