Human race has succeeded in destroying the planet so now the life happens in eco cities and you participate in reality or online.. Wow, what an incredible premise.

We follow our main characters - 2 sisters - separated in time and space and both of them are trying to find the other one. What lead to disappearance of one? Why can't the other one remember most of her past or see in color? There are so many exciting turns in the story that will keep you up late reading it.

One of the better stories about the end of the world as we know it. Throw in sibling relationships, androids, life you live while actually being stationed in a pod..

The Ones We're Meant to Find is a beautifully lush story about two sisters set in a futuristic world that quickly becomes uninhabitable for the human race. This book is a sophisticated Sci-Fi with twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat. The environmental aspect of this story is hauntingly familiar and made me wonder where humanity will end up in a couple decades.
The author manages to captivate the reader with her writing style and complex characters.
Thanks to Netgalley and Text publishing for sending me an early review copy of The Ones we're meant to Find!

Some secrets were best left at sea, between sisters.

This above all else is a story of two sisters fighting to find their way back to each other, while also trying to rediscover themselves. There's mystery, there's budding romance and there's hurt and comfort.

I loved every moment of reading this, with the uncertainty and hopelessness that was woven throughout, even as the girls were so determined to not give up.

I would recommend this for fans of the sci-fi/dystopian genre, for fans of girls saving themselves, and above all for fans of unreliable narrators because the layers that this book had kept you fed on the crumbs of information you get at every step of the way.

I really enjoyed this book but I'm not sure how much I understood it - I felt like it was building up to something and it didn't really get there. But it was well written and engaging, after the first 10-20% (which took me a while to get through).

I went into this book completely blind and I found it such an interesting book to read. It took a number of turns throughout which I was not expecting. It was such a beautifully written story. The ending matched the vibe of the book incredibly. This isn't the type of book I read but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

What a unique and well crafted story. Easy to glide right in to, although it does take a minute to get your bearings. Because this world is not like ours so it will take a few page to get the lay of the land. However, it is easy and I loved learning about it all

Two sisters - Celia and Kasey. They've been separated and are, each, looking for each other. I loved learning the life on the island. I loved the breadcrumb clues I painstakingly looked for and I loved what I found. Kasey was heartbreaking but also interesting. Her story is more prominent and I appreciated the details of her life and her world.

There are so many layers to this story, so many reasons to love it. Sisters, family, life purpose, the breaking down of the planet, pollution and death. So many themes that were touched on and explored and had such interesting and new settings. This one was so good. I loved it!

<i>A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>

If you loved Joan He's previous book, this will definitely be one for you. A compelling sci-fi story that keeps you guessing throughout.

I really enjoyed how fresh this book felt. It had lyrical writing, an innovative style, and compelling mystery. The questions and alternating POVs made me really keep turning virtual pages.

I especially appreciated the type of sci-fi included here. Joan He provides an interesting view of where the world is heading, and what moral questions people might face in a climate-destroyed world.

YA needs more books like this, and I hope Joan He gets to write them!

The Ones We’re Meant to Find is a book that I devoured within a couple of hours. I looked up after 50 minutes to find I’d read almost two thirds of the book. And yet. I wasn’t entirely engaged with it. I don’t have a whole lot to say about it. There were twists and turns aplenty, but I think what happened was that I was too fixated on guessing those to get fully involved in the story itself.

Which is entirely a me-problem, I realise. If you enjoyed Descendant of the Crane, then you are definitely going to love this one. If you haven’t read Descendant of the Crane, I still predict you’ll enjoy this one. For me though?

I probably could have seen this coming.

I think my issue wasn’t the plot — I was plenty engaged with it, and didn’t want to put the book down because I had to know what happened. I think the problem I had was I didn’t feel much about anything in it. (This is likely also a me-problem. In fact, most of anything in this review will be so. Stop reading here and go about your day, I would say.) Maybe this was because I was trying to guess too much, maybe I was reading too quickly. Whatever the reason, I didn’t get to be involved enough to love this book.

But I would still highly recommend reading this book! I am easily going to be in a minority regarding this one, I think. So if the premise intrigues you (as well it should), then make sure you get to this one as soon as you can.

This was a quick and fun read. I especially enjoyed the duel POVs, the settings of both the island and the eco-city, and the sci-fi elements. It felt immersive and the twists definitely kept me turning the pages.

4.5/5

I was stunned by the beautiful portrayal of human corruption and selfishness in this science fiction YA as we get to explore two dynamics, opposite in every way.

As we explore this futuristic world we are introduced to two sisters living in a world where the environmental crisis has escalated.

The story is told through short critical moments in Kasey and Celia’s lives, jumping from past to present. Kasey’s point of view is in second person, while Celia’s is told in first person.

While the story is enthralling and has the reader on their toes, the world building is a little difficult to understand at first. I did have to reread a few parts several times to try and comprehend the world building, but it doesn’t take away from the story itself. It ends off at an interesting moment. At a point you know what has happened, but you are still left wondering as it isn’t wrapped up in a neat and tidy bow. But I wouldn’t have expected anything different from Cee or Kasey’s story.

Through the discovery of love, loss, truths and lie we just might stumble upon the ones we’re meant to find.

Favourite: I can’t share my exact favourite part without spoiling it, but their was a huge plot twist that I did not see coming and it was both shocking and devastating. I get the same emotions the character did, my heart is still healing.

Least favourite: I usually find books to be too long, but in this case it’s the complete opposite. I feel like it may have benefited the story to have the book be a bit longer. I would have liked to see more moments between Kasey and Actinium.

This book is everything I love about dystopian fiction.
The worldbuilding, the eco-cities, the futuristic technology, it was all so greatly written. I loved all the science behind the book, the Intraface, the holo-ing, the statis pod, the bots, the floating cities. Some parts reminded me a little of the series Uglies which is my all time favourite dystopian/sci-fi series.
On top of that the characters were marvellous. The dual POVs between Cee and Kasey added so much to the story, and the switch between first and third person was so interesting. I instantly loved Cee, she felt so true, so real, so full of emotions, and I just love emotional characters. It took me some time to warm up to Kasey, who's the polar opposite of Cee, all about facts and data, not so much about emotions and feelings, but she was driven, goal oriented, and I liked that.
Characters and world-building are what makes a great book for me, and these aspects were amazing in TOWMTF but on top of that there was also a wonderful plot! So many twists, so many surprises! I knew this book was full of twists so I tried guessing some of them, I was often on the right track but I could never guess the whole extent of the twist! And some of them I had absolutely not anticipated at all! It was fantastic!

This book is about family, about sisters, about morals and the grey areas between right and wrong, about the environment and saving the world, about being true to yourself.

What can I say except that the vibes in this book were absolutely phenomenal and go very well with the stunning cover.

The Ones We're Meant to Find is a YA dystopian that is unlike anything I've ever read. We follow two perspectives: Cee who mysteriously found herself on a deserted island 3 years prior and is determined to find her sister, and Kasey, a citizen of an eco-city trying to help the world cope with the devastating effects of climate change.

What I loved:
- Cee's storyline. Absolutely everything about it. The pacing, the setting, the characters on the island (U-me has my whole heart), her finding out about her past, everything. Someone transport me to a desert island where I live off taro and vibe amongst robots.
- Seeing all the pieces of the story fall together was just so cool and so damn satisfying. Joan He does an incredible job at giving you bits of information at just the right times so that you are never confused while still maintaining a hint of mystery that keeps you turning the pages.
- The worldbuilding was just so cool and very well done so as to not be confusing at all
- The characters were so easy to get attached to yet also flawed and nuanced in the best ways possible. I loved the exploration of sisterhood and seeing Kasey and Cee grapple with difficult decisions they were faced with.

A few things I struggled with:
- The pacing in Kasey's storyline felt a little off to me and I wasn't as interested in her parts of the story as I was with Cee's, especially towards the end of the book.
- I wasn't fully invested in the romances? But that might just be a me problem and I am also glad that the story wasn't too romance-centred so... Is that really even a negative thing?

I started The Ones We’re Meant to Find only knowing that it deals with two sisters and they’re trying to find each other (and that its cover is a work of art.) That was basically it. So the first 20% of this book were very confusing to me as I hadn’t realised it was sci-fi. But once I got the hang of it all - I was hooked.

This book can be defined in two words: smart and surprising. I never knew what the plot was going to be or what the author was trying to achieve but once I got to the the last part of the book, it all started making sense and man, I did not expect any of it. But I really, really liked it and I know already that it’s not going to be a book or plot for everyone but I loved it and I think a lot can be discussed and taken from it.

The ending was probably the one thing I was a bit disappointed by. It’s almost an open ending while not fully being one and that left me unsatiated. I would have like a little bit more but I do understand the chosen ending.

This was the first book I read from Joan He and was truly mesmerised by the world-building and her way of writing. I was very drawn in by the synopsis and beautiful cover and had to read it!

I must admit that at the beginning I wasn't that drawn in the story, but as soon as chapters went on, oh boy! It's a gripping sci-fi novel set in a dystopian world were part of the population lives in eco-cities in the sky and the rest of the population lives in the world we know, which is tormented by continuous natural disasters.

This story is about two sisters: Cee, who woke up on the shore of a deserted island and lived alone with the only thought of getting back to her sister and Kasey, a stem prodigy who wants to escape the technology and the eco-city that let her down with the disappearance of her sister.

It's a gripping page-turner, where finally the bond between the two sisters reveals lies and secrets that they both hid from each other to save hurt. The world-building and prose were exquisite and will surely check out Joan He previous works.

The premise had me from the beginning, and there were many elements that matched my taste in reading.
However - the plot twist (or the big reveal) came at around the 60% point, and it held no punch for me. For most of the second half of the book I wished it went by faster, and even though the writing style is very nice, I felt it was much longer than I would've liked.

3.5 stars/5.

The Ones We’re Meant to Find is a sci-fi novel set in a futuristic world where sisters Kasey and Celia are focused only on each other. Told in alternating perspectives, Celia is stranded on an island, trying to find her way back to civilisation and her sister, while Kasey is drifting in the absence of her sister and answers as to what happened. As the story unfolds, we come to realise this is not a story about two sisters, but simply just the story of two of many people living in a crumbling world.

The comparisons to We Were Liars and Black Mirror were well-founded, as this story was very complex and so were my feelings about it. I would say that the first two-thirds of the book was sluggish, confused, and disconnected. Joan He is such a talented writer, creating a sense of eeriness and unnaturalness in both perspectives, given that the sisters seem so out of touch with each other but not knowing the reason why. It IS a mystery, so of course there should be some element of confusion, but the kind of experience The Ones We're Meant to Find elicited resulted from too many questions and not enough crumbs being given to keep the reader engaged and active. I think the disjointed, slow narration, with some redundant scenes bogging down the plotline, undermined any revelations that occurred and the overall impact of the story, leaving the reading feeling quite dissatisfied.

Despite this, the last third of the book is completely enticing and unforgettable. Despite my boredom and pessimism about the outcome of the book, I was drawn into the revelations. While I did find a few aspects of the big reveal to be obvious, I thought the reasoning and storytelling behind it so intricate and compelling. It was incredible to see how everything fell into place and for the themes of environmentalism, human innovation in dire times, existentialism, capitalism and privilege (especially one where technology is so closely involved in defining identity and control, and ensuring safety).

The novel is set in such an interesting setting, with the eco-cities, ranking of people based on the sum of their ancestors' environmental impact, living in cyberspace to save resources, and terrestrial territories persisting with our current way of living despite the pressing environmental degradation, and while they were established well enough for the reader to understand how things worked, it also seemed disorientating at times and I saw it as a loss that we didn't see as much emotional interaction with this world, or into the lived experience. I also think that the bond between Celia and Kasey could have been developed further, as we know of their need to protect each other but we don't see much of their bond "in action", particularly in the period of time in their childhood where they reconciled after an event occurred, which was said to have solidified their relationship.

Overall, I enjoyed how this small story between sisters fit into this larger history and context, and thought that while the ending was worth the significant chunk of the novel that was slower, the momentum of the novel could have been kept at a pace that ensured the full impact of the story and its protagonists was delivered.

I had no idea what to expect going into this book, and even while reading it I wasn’t always sure how I felt about it.

The first word that comes to mind when describing it is “confusing.” The combination of the mysterious plot, the futuristic setting, the vague writing style, and characters that often felt distant from me as a reader came together in a perfect storm of “wait, what is going on?” I could always get the general gist of things, but the details were often foggy, and while I enjoy being held in suspense as a reader, I don’t like feeling confused.

First of all, every aspect of the plot had some sort of mystery to it. How did Celia get on the island? How did she lose her memories? Why can’t she see color? Why is Kasey so unfeeling? What is the felony Kasey committed? Who is Act and what is his relationship to Celia? And more as the plot continues. If I’d had fewer questions, or if the answers to some of them had come earlier on in the story, I would have had firmer footing and been able to focus on the most important questions.

The sci-fi setting didn’t help matters. I love science fiction – seriously, it’s probably my favorite genre – but it can be confusing to get to know an unfamiliar, futuristic world. On top of all the other confusion, it was too much. And although many of the concepts Joan He introduced were unique and interesting – the eco-cities, ranking people based on their ancestral environmental impact, experiencing things virtually to save resources – none of these concepts were explored as thoroughly as I would prefer, so once again, I was left with questions.

The protagonists, sisters Celia and Kasey, were promising characters, and there were moments or even entire chapters where I strongly connected with them, but I never felt like I truly knew or understood them. I was surprised that I especially had trouble connecting with Kasey. She seemed like exactly my type of character: a socially awkward STEM prodigy who feels different from everyone else around her. But she felt so distant and unfeeling, which I know was partially intentional but also partially resulted from a lack of in-depth exploration of Kasey’s thoughts and feelings or development that explained her actions.

I had more insight into Celia and ended up relating to her more, even though, because of her amnesia, her personality and motivations weren’t always clear. In terms of side characters, Act might as well have been a black box for all I understood his motivations. Paradoxically, despite knowing nothing about him for most of the book, Hero came across as more accessible and less inscrutable; I could at least guess at why he did what he did. And surprisingly enough, though I was disappointed to discover both romances in this book were straight, the romance was actually pretty well-written.

This is a three-star read for me because everything that I liked about it also had some part that I disliked. The plot was full of unexpected twists and turns, but that meant I spent the first half of the book with nothing but questions. One of the protagonists was well-written and grew on me as the story progressed, while the other seemed promising at first but never felt real to me. The world of the story was so interesting and unique, but I never got to learn about it in as much detail as I wanted.

4/5 stars.

First off, I have to comment on the beautiful cover for this book. As soon as I saw it I immediately needed it, and then reading the blurb I was so excited to read a dystopian novel for the first time in years.

The Ones We’re Meant to Find is a sci-fi dystopian novel set in a futuristic world about sisters Kasey and Cee who are trying to find each other again. The novel is told in alternating perspectives, about Cee who is stranded on an island and trying get to her sister Kasey, and Kasey who is struggling to keep afloat following her sister's disappearance and trying to find out what happened to her. The book is about sisterhood but also the futuristic world they live in, which is slowly crumbling.

The world isn't one completely foreign and obscure to this one; unfortunately, a lot of the aspects in the novel are ones I can imagine happening in real life a hundred or so years from now. The novel is set in a world that's been severely damaged by human waste, who've taken advantage of the Earth's resources so much so that now people are driven to live in small 'eco-cities' in which they have to spend 1/3 of their time in holograms to reduce emissions, and that's only if their ranks are high enough. If not, they live in other areas where the air is polluted, resources are scarce, and they're strongly effected by natural disasters. It's tough to read, especially when there's already so much going on in present day here, but worth it to ride it out till the end.

I liked both sisters, but I really enjoyed Kasey's chapters the most. I loved the worldbuilding in her chapters, since most chapters were set in the eco-city she lived in and she was surrounded by technology that I struggled to understand. It was confusing at first, and took me a while to get to grips with, but once I did it became easier to become immersed into the world. I loved thinking of theories in the novel, a lot of them being wrong but the ones that were right ended up hurting so much.

Overall, the novel was touching and gut-wrenching, and perfect for sci-fi fans who also enjoy reading about familial relationships

I've been wanting to read this book since I saw it on multiple lists at the beginning of the year for books to be on the lookout for in 2021. For one thing, the cover is absolutely stunning and the description (<i>We Were Liars</i> meets <I>Black Mirror</i<??) made me even more intrigued. That's why I was so excited when NetGalley and the publisher gave me the opportunity to read and review an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The story is told from alternating perspectives, Cee, who has woken up on an abandoned island with no memories other than one: that she has a sister and she needs to find her. Kasey is living on a version of Earth that is crumbling. The safe places to live on the dying planet are shrinking and Kasey might be the only person who can save everyone.

To really say much more might be a spoiler and the journey of discovery with this book is half of the enjoyment. This book had me constantly thinking...of what was going to happen (and so many of my theories were WRONG) but also about free will and about what makes us human. When I realized that so much of this book happens due to humans being humans and the disasters that follow I was a little nervous... it has been hard for me to read dystopian-type stuff while under lockdown from a pandemic. However, while I was nervous and excited to see what would happen I found the book enough of a thought-provoking escape to be an enjoyable read.

Above all this book made me think about the love of sisters and how despite all the science and logic in the world some things are just stronger than that.

There are some CWs here including violence, death, death of a loved one, suicide, drowning, natural disasters and terminal illness.