Reached (Matched Book 3)

Matched Series Website

Book Details:  #1 New York Times best selling series, written by Ally Condie. Publication November 13th, 2012. 512 Pages. You can purchase a hard copy or digital copy at Amazon.

Synopsis of Reached: Crossed, book 2 of the Matched series ends with Ky and Cassia again being separated once they reach the location of The Rising. They are each given their own personal assignment to help further infiltrate The Society; Cassia in Central and Ky in Camas.  Reached begins in Xander’s point of view this time and jumps between him, Cassia and Ky. Xander in an Official medic working for The Rising supplying the citizens with a pill that gives you immunity to the plague that has been slowly spreading throughout The Society.  The Rising informs Xander that as soon as the plague is no longer controlled by The Society they will swoop in with the cure and immunizations to save the citizens, effectively taking control. 

While this is all happening Cassia and Ky are still separated and due to the plague no one is allowed to leave the cities they currently reside in.  Ky has become a pilot for The Rising working in Camas, Xander a physic working on the cure also in Camas and Cassia in Central working for an underground trading group called the Archivists.  The Cure is effectively administered into all its citizens and it has been a few months since The Rising took over.  As soon as it is believed that the plague is under control a mutated version of the plague starts showing up that The Rising has no cure for. Xander is the physic who admits the first group of the mutated virus and is effectively quarantined with his patients waiting and hoping for a cure. Cassia is finally able to make a trade for transportation to Camas to be with Ky and Xander. 

Cassia, Ky and Xander are eventually chosen by the leader of The Rising to be piloted out of the affected areas to join a group of individuals discovered to be immune to the plague and its mutation to help work on a cure. Ky comes down with the mutated form of the plague once they arrive in this village and is hospitalized.  Xander quickly goes to work with the others meticulously working on possible ingredients needed for the cure. Meanwhile, Cassia is working on sorting information based on the immune individuals and what common denominator they all share that would cause them to be unaffected by the plague and its mutation. The three conquer their obstacles and discover the necessary ingredient needed for the cure.  The cure is administered but some people were sick longer than others with this mutated plague and there are large casualties. The series ends with the citizens coming together and rebuilding the world they once knew.

  

My Thoughts: I really liked this book the most in this series, it actually kept me entertained and wanting to know what will come next and how it will end. Xander is my favorite so I was really glad he had a bigger part in this book. Cassia and Ky, finally, end up together at the end, but it really doesn’t happen until the very end of the book.  Xander ends up meeting someone new, Leah, and the book concludes with the possibility of them ending up together. Thank goodness!! I was really rooting to have something positive go Xander’s way.  It was very upsetting that the cure wasn’t ready in time to save everyone and Cassia losses someone close to her. Overall really enjoyed this book, but the majority of the series was pretty slow.