It feels a bit unfair covering another near future climate change-y book in the same review set as Goliath - and it definitely felt a bit unfair to read this after having my expectations affected by Goliath - but Joan He's young adult science fiction sets out to do quite different things with its story, and it very solidly achieves those aims. The Ones We're Meant to Find tells two intertwining stories about sisters who are heavily implied (but not outright stated) to be looking for each other: there's Cee, who has been trapped alone on a desert island for three years, with amnesia clouding everything about her former life except the fact that she needs to escape and find her sister Kay; and then there's Kasey Mizuhara, who lives in a carefully designed eco-city designed to protect humanity from natural disasters while minimising their carbon output to the smallest possible amount, and is searching for her sister Celia who went missing at sea three months ago.

As Cee struggles with survival, Kasey pushes against her own limitations and restrictions to retrace her sister's steps and understand why she chose to leave on a journey that everyone else assumes would have killed her. Along the way, resonances start to appear between the two stories: names turn up in Kasey's city which Cee independently uses to name things on her island, even as the circumstances that each is living under seem to get further and further apart. Frankly, for a long time I was ready to give up on Kasey and Cee's worlds ever colliding, and things with Cee get particularly slow and annoying at points (although she does get to meet a nice boy, who also has amnesia, and this is not baffling at all). But it does come together, and it's a reveal that's worth waiting for: one which contextualises and builds off both characters' struggles and personalities, and it leaves us with a powerful dilemma to work through at its closure. While it has its ups and downs, The Ones We're Meant to Find was ultimately a story I'm glad I spent time on.

the writing style was unnecessarily vague and the worldbuilding was poorly done and not properly described. i was left feeling lost and confused for the most part - the different timelines didn't help either and made things even more confusing. there was also a lack of character development that had me emotionally detached from the characters - i wish we could've gotten more backstory on the sisters' childhood so that i could understand their bond on a deeper level. i also didn't care for the romance at all, it just felt so pointless.

what i appreciated were the themes of climate change and the plot twists which definitely took me by surprise.

Although I enjoyed reading The Ones We’re Meant to Find, I struggled sometimes with understanding the plot and POVs, and it took a bit for me to fall into it.

I think this book is for certain type of readers, which I don’t think I was part of that focus, especially that I’m not entirely fond of scifi. I enjoyed the bonds between the sisters, but wasn’t fond of the somewhat insta love route it took.

Overall, it’s not a book I loved and isn’t one I’ll remember, but this will definitely hit the spot certain readers are looking for.

This book was a beautifully written story of two sisters. I loved how the dual timelines ramped up the mystery.

The Ones We're Meant to Find has been on my list for longer than I would normally like, however my brain was always intimidated by it from the first few chapters. It now seems to be the things that tie Joan He's books together for me - the first couple of chapters are hard for me to grasp and get sucked in by, but once I make it past these then I am utterly enthralled by it and the book is exposed to be one that sticks with me long after I finish it.

We're introduced to two sisters who are searching for their way back to each other, told in alternating POV chapters. Kasey is an intellectual and Celia is lead by the heart, two sisters who you would think have not much in common but they're the thread that tie each other to humanity.

This book is very scientific and you can definitely see the real world parallels with climate change and the classism that's at the root of what is holding the world back from true healing, and the separation between the 'haves and the have nots'. It was definitely an interesting approach and discussion around possible solutions, something you can see eventually being suggested in the next couple of decades.

I still don't know how I feel about the ending, but I know that I enjoyed the journey and perhaps that is enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review, , however I ended up purchasing the published copy on release date and read purely from that one.

DNF. I really wanted to love this, but I don’t think it was what I was expecting. I wasn’t able to envision what was being described to me and it involved a lot of elements I’m unfamiliar with and I’m not sure I enjoy. It seems to be a very steampunk based, technology focused story. The premise of this story sounded fantastic and I’m so certain it’ll be loved by many, but unfortunately I put this down and it didn’t align with my tastes. I have another of this authors books on my shelves which I will definitely try, however.

I DNF'ed this!! I wasn't engaged at any point, and don't have an interest in continuing. I felt super disconnected from the character's perspectives and their timelines. It made it difficult to be invested in following their journeys.

3.5 rounded up.

Well, this was an interesting read. It really didn't over explain leaving me to gather the information about the world gradually and I did find this sort of frustrating at times.

I can see that it's kind of Black Mirror-esque. This also sort of relates to my own reading experience. Now that I'm finished I can appreciate it a lot more but at times I was quite annoyed with the reading experience. This is like Black Mirror for me because if I'm feeling a bit bummed it just really makes me depressed, or if I'm feeling happy it just robs me of that happiness. Have to watch it when I'm in just the right mood.

I do appreciate the open ending but would say it you really want a clear answer then this isn't one for you.

My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not sure I can sum up how much I loved this, or have the right words to describe how fantastic it is. It’s also hard to talk too much about it without giving too much away, but I can say that it’s a book about sisterhood, relationships, family and I loved seeing how close the family relationships were. The world-building is exceptional , there is so much mystery, at the midway point there had been so many twists I’m not sure where I was and I loved it, but the final one completely blew me away. You Definitely Need to Read This.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy this book. I love Joan He’s writing style, but I felt like the worldbuilding in The Ones We’re Meant to Find was lacking. I didn’t really understand what was going on for most of the book, and I found myself skimming through a lot of it.

I absolutely hated this book.

I appreciate getting an arc for it and everything but I just didn’t get it. Like I got it but it also was just meh.

So you’ve got Cee who is trapped on an island alone and constantly trying to find scrap to fix a boat and leave. She has no real memories and only a shitty robot for company. She often sleepwalks to the ocean as well and almost drowns. She just wants to get back to her sister Kay, who she remembers nothing about but knows she exists.

Next we have her sister Kaycee who struggles to feel emotions or understand others but likes machines so she’s either set up as a psychopath or autistic (which is very clunky). She’s trying to find out what happened to her sister but also Unbothered by her sister being missing really. She meets some dude who her sister used to hook up with and they do tech stuff together and watch her old memories. Her sister even had an xxx memories folder which is weird. Also weird he’s okay with it like idk what her sister was doing exactly.

Anyway back to Cee, time constantly jumps around and maybe it’s been three years she’s been here or maybe less it’s very unclear since she’d fixed the boat but now it’s way later.

A boy shows up washed on the beach and she saves him. He tries to kill her. He has random bursts of a different personality but follows her around and she lets him live in the house. They randomly seem into each other for zero reason and neither have any personality since neither remember who they are.

Then we find out Cee was dying from radiation poisoning before she disappeared and only had a bit of time to live like months ago best. So how is she alive years later on an island? The timeline keeps fucking around.
Honestly not sure if Cee is the one on the island or it’s actually her sister. Frankly by then I was done and I gave up 60% through the book. It didn’t give me enough answers or hooks to keep me going, romances were ew and clunky, and the characters lacked any personality.

Sci-fi/ Eco fiction
New social expectations, almost a caste system

I had a hard time following what was going on, but that's a me thing. Sci-fi is not my favorite to read.

CW: profanity, memory loss, missing person, death of parent mention, vomit, racial micro aggressions, natural disasters, violence, medical content, implied suicide, drowning, implied sexual content

I loved this book so much. I read it in one day during two long flights, and it kept me entertained and engaged the entire time. Joan writes two flawed, believable protagonists in an authentic dystopian world.

DNF @25%

1.25 stars

Damn, I really tried to carry on but I lost complete interest on it. What I read was pretty boring and I don't even care about the ending. I really liked Descendant of the Crane by the same author, but it seems that this one was a complete miss for me.

The Ones We’re Meant to Find is a story about two sisters, one of them is on an abandoned island and other lives in eco-city, one of them is introvert, loving science and another is extrovert, partied like there was no tomorrow, but for years she has been living alone. They are looking for each other, but it's not an easy thing to do. Step by step, floating device by floating device they get closer to meet, but it will not be the meeting they expect.
They live on this bluegreen ball, that is depleted of its riches and now the ground is starting to cave in and megaquakes are destroying the last habitable places. Some of the people are living in eco-cities, high above the ocean, some live on the lower rings of eco-cities and on the few habitable places on earth.
The sisters' search is closely entwined with the situation the earth is in and with the humans values. Even if the story in the beginning can be somewhat confusing, it's because we are just getting acquainted with the sisters, the environment they are living in, the persons they are connected to and we also find out the reasons why they are in the situations they are in. The farther you go with the story, the deeper you get and the more enjoyable the story gets.

The Ones We’re Meant to Find is a new kind of young adult dystopia, where the problem is not some despotic leader but the occupants of the earth.

Fascinating read.

this was a beautifully done scifi story, I really enjoyed getting to go on this journey and getting to meet these characters. It was a beautifully done story and I really enjoyed reading this.

Dreamy and ethereal, yet also grounded in a fearsome future reality, The Ones We're Meant to Find takes science fiction into a world of climate change and very human struggles.

I liked the overall feel of the book, it's very atmospheric and brimming with an overall feeling of dread and the two character perspectives offer a nice environmental juxtaposition between a deserted island and a bustling eco city. There's an underlying plot within the eco city regarding class and the hierarchy of people allowed in, which I found intriguing too. However, unfortunately that's about where my interested ended.

I just found the overall plot and world building to be too sparse and confusing. The two perspectives of the sisters done in alternating first and third person, which comes across as quite jarring. Kasey's narrative, because she's such a logical and removed individual comes off as particularly emotionless - and this made it very hard to connect with her. Because we don't see their relationship play out on the page, I also couldn't really get to grips with their connection to each other and I genuinely couldn't find myself really caring all that much about the two reuniting and they're just too underdeveloped as a result.

The pacing is also a little off. With minimal world building involved, I wanted a strong plot and quick pace to pull this through and unfortunately this just doesn't deliver on either of those points. The writing, although beautiful, meanders a lot. By the time the story starts to get interesting, I found I wasn't interested anymore.

Beautiful writing, and an interesting premise but this one isn't for me.

I had big hopes for this book but I'm afraid it disappointed. I tried reading it multiple times, because I really wanted to like it, love it even, however, it just didn't match up to everything I had hopes for, and everything the cover promised. I loved the promises of the book, but sadly the realities of it were a let down.

The story itself is told from both sisters' perspectives. The part with Cee was interesting for me. There was a mystery element, she tried to survive on the island and had no idea what's going on. Meanwhile, Kay lived in an eco-city and tried to understand what happened to her sister.
I was a bit bored with Kay's part. The setting was really good. All the new technologies, environmental issues, how they tried to deal with them, and the whole concept felt very intriguing, I just don't think it was explained very well. I had a feeling I should have some scientific knowledge to fully understand it.
So maybe we can conclude that it's all my fault I didn't enjoy this book to the fullest. I had a hard time picking it up and continue.

I received this digital copy in exchange for an honest review, thanks Text Publishing!

This book is undeniably odd and the marketing team are not wrong when they say it has major Black Mirror vibes. The Ones We’re Meant to Find is twisty and so beautifully written, and just like Descendant of the Crane it takes a while to get going but that last third is so worth it.

The Ones We’re Meant to Find explores life after we’ve destroyed the ecosystem with most of the population living a third of their lives in a VR style stasis, and you explore it through the eyes of two very different girls. The ocean is toxic, the earth is plagued by earthquakes and a myriad of other natural disasters, so I’d stay away from this one if you suffer with climate anxiety, but it is a fascinating look at how the human race responds to a situation like this.

The two perspectives that you’ll be following are very different, but I loved the contrast between Cee’s survival story and Kay’s more technical sci-fi chapters inside the eco-city. I did end up loving Cee’s chapters more, I think this was probably intended though as Kay often talks about how well-loved her sister is, but it was also an escape from the rather confusing technology in Kay’s chapters. This is a book you’ll need to be paying attention to, it’s twisty, mysterious, and not to use the metaphor from Shrek but this book is a bit like an onion…it has layers. It might take you a while to get into the rhythm of it all but this mystery is so worth uncovering and a fantastic example of an intricate slow-burn thriller with an ending that will leave you wanting.

There are a few negatives though and first up is that slow pace in the first half or so of the book as it definitely won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and this paired with the complex world-building happening makes the first 50% a challenging read. It can also be a rather confusing read at times with a whole heap of new technology being dumped on you at once, alongside the understandable element of confusion that comes along with an unravelling mystery.

The Ones We’re Meant to Find is a challenging read but for your hard work, you’ll get a complex thriller filled with tragedy and clever twists. Joan He is the master of the morally grey and the second half of this novel is so engrossing that I’ll definitely be picking this up for a reread at some point.

Recommend: If you’re a lover of a slow burn sci-fi thriller or enjoyed Joan He’s masterful debut novel Descendant of the Crane then this one’s for you.