When I read Matched for the first time back in 2011, I fell in love. I fell in love with the characters, the setting, and especially the breathtaking voice that Cassia has. Same thing happened with Crossed. Reached hooked me in just the way the first two did, but this book was so different from what I expected. Maybe that's a good thing.

Dystopias are generally an easy to predict sort of book. They all have vaguely similar outlines. We've got the iron-fisted Society and all the suffocating rules, varying depending on situations. And then there is the Rebel. Maybe it's the love interest or maybe it's the MC, but there is aways the group or person that stands up. Then we've got the Outside, or that safe haven where the rebels go to plan and plot leading up to the Revolution. The big fight and clash back up against the Society.

The last of the four key points is where Reached begins. It's the end and the beginning of the books. That moment when they revolt. However, this book took me in a very different direction then the one I expected! It was more of a quiet revolution. We have this sub-plot of a plague that seems to BE the revolution. It's hard to explain, but this felt like a slow quiet and easy fight. The hard part is getting over the effects of the plague.

It was a very interesting take on the coming down of the society, but I felt like it was too vague. We don't ever learn too much about the workings of the Society. We never learned a huge amount of information about how the Society just “gave up the ghost” of sorts. It felt like we were getting all this talk about how the Rising was slow and steady and then the we hear that the Society is finished. Something was missing for me.

However much I thought stuff was missing, I still found this Plague intriguing. I thought it was neat how this was able to be such a prominent point of a Revolution. It was for sure a very unique ending to a ruling society, and it was very interesting to watch it play out, with them searching for the cure and all.

Another big aspect of this book is the romantic triangle. In the first two books we've had a good base built for it. We've got Cassia stuck with the most impossible choice between Xander and Ky. Both are fantastic characters and have been developed so well. Both could be with Cassia, and it's quite a dilemma honestly. Though in truth, my heart belongs to Ky.

In the previous installment we got to see the story from Ky's point of view for the first time along with Cassia's. In Reached we have Xander's perspective added in. It for sure added this new aspect to the story that was really interesting. I love Xander. His character goes through so much anguish in the love aspect, even though he's so well off. But he's strong and it's hard not to love him. He's Cassia's best friend and you can tell he cares about her so much. Ky, on the other hand doesn't have that great of a life, and he doesn't know Cassia as well. But it's his character that just draws you in. He's really thoughtful and with Cassia they connect in this deeper more poetic way than I think she does with Xander.

Now, as with all Love Triangles you get a little anxious to find out how things end with that. And I was pretty confident that I would get my boy, er that Cassia would get the boy I want her to be with. And I'm not saying ANYTHING, but there was a pretty crazy roller-coaster that made me fidget a lot as the book progressed. It was almost agonizing waiting for the final end. But then the end came and well, you'll just have to read the book to find out.

I really only have one other thing I'd like to mention. The writing. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Ally's gorgeous writing in this book. It's like poetry. And not only is it gorgeous but she weaves in poetry. Real poems that are simply gorgeous are a big part of the story. They are signals they are stories and they have MEANING in the book. I loved that. It gave such a unique feel to the book. It was fabulous. Thumbs up.

So...now that all those thoughts have tumbled out of my head, what did I think overall? This book was fabulous, despite the questions I had. It ended well, and even though I'm sad that Cassia's story is over, I'm glad it ended on a good note. Bravo Ally. And now I'm excited now to see where she goes next in her writing.

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