The Ones We’re Meant to Find Review

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.

I wake on my feet, wind tangled in my hair.

How does one even begin to describe The Ones We’re Meant to Find? It is a book that you have to go into knowing that you will be confused for most of the first half but the experience is worth it. Joan He is intentionally keeping the reader in the dark and setting them up for everything that is revealed in the second half.

I would classify this book as speculative Sci-Fi and it is so beautifully written and thought-provoking. It makes you want to sit down and have a conversation with Joan He to understand how her minds works. I truly thought that the way it all came together was brilliant!

I read The Ones We’re Meant to Find as a buddy read on Instagram, and if it is possible to read it for a book club or with a friend, I would highly recommend it. Part of the fun was talking through theories and excitedly talking about the ending with others!

At its core, this is a book about sisterhood, which is something that I love. I appreciated that we got the perspectives of both sisters and we could see how different they were but what they meant to one another. The book was more character-driven than I expected, which I loved, and though the world was confusing at times, it was utterly fascinating.

The Ones We’re Meant to Find is beautifully written, wholly original, and very bittersweet. Read it if you love speculative fiction, stories about sisterhood, and/or books that will leave you asking yourself a lot of questions.

• Characters: 9
• Atmosphere/Setting: 10
• Writing Style:  9
• Plot: 8
• Intrigue: 9
• Logic/Relationships: 9
• Enjoyment: 10

Overall CAWPILE score: 64/7=9.1

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