Reached (Matched Trilogy Book 3) (edition 2012)

Fantastic! A rare case where a trilogy gets better as it goes, and this one takes the cake. With all the hype over Hunger Games, it's amazing to me that this work seems to fly completely under the radar. I'm guessing many potential readers go in (or stay away) based on a stylized cover with a girl on it- there have been too many of those of late, and it's so hard to look beyond the cover and the bland-sounding synopsis. In the end, this is all a good YA fantasy should be: heart warming, thought provoking, fast paced with a good balance of romance and action. The female protagonist is strong, even fierce, but also thoughtful and vulnerable, a real person from beginning to end. The male characters are also well done, not just as props for the love triangle, but each with their special strengths and failings, their world not limited to the central romantic story. The plot gets more complex as the story progresses, some obvious assumptions becoming less so until the reader is left with one central two-pronged message, needed now more than ever: the power of love and the supremacy of individual choice. ( )

This was a satisfying ending to the the series - though like good fiction, the happy ending is not completely happy. Each of the main characters has faced loss and pain and their happiness is somehow made richer because of the sacrifices they have paid. I liked the overarching theme of security vs. choice. How much are we willing to give up in freedom in order to have security? It's a question that never seems to lose it's relevancy. ( )

The Good: I was highly impressed with how much Cassia has grown up since Matched. I suppose a lot of that was caused by the happenings in Crossed, which proves that the book was slightly more then filler after all. I loved that Reached returned to the society we learned about in the beginning. That the inevitable battle, The Rising, was happening from the inside - sort of bringing the trilogy full circle. I found myself wavering back and forth between Ky and Xander, sort of wanting Cassia to pick both but knowing she couldn't. I really liked that I had trouble deciding.

The Bad: It's over and I'm sad. I wish Cassia had wavered as much as I did in choosing which guy to be with. And the ending - while more realistic than most, it didn't really give a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. ( )

Huge disappointment. It was very superficial, all about one thing and nothing about the relationships between the main characters. All we got from Cassia and Ky is "I love you." What a relationship! ( )

Cassia, Xander and Ky all have different roles in the Rising, the rebellion that finally makes it move in "Reached." A Plague is decimating the Society's population and only the Rising has the cure--that is, they do until the Plague mutates and kills even more people. When one of the trio falls ill, the others must race against time to find a cure. I really enjoyed "Reached" which had more action and plot twists than the sometimes-plodding "Crossed." This was a great end to the the trilogy and I was happy to see a resolution for the characters' story lines. ( )