Reached

Gr 7 Up—In this gripping and richly satisfying final book in this dystopian series, Cassia, Ky, and Xander recount in alternating chapters how they secretly find themselves working for the Rising, the group that's trying to overthrow the rigid and oppressive Society. In Crossed (Dutton, 2011), Cassia found Ky, the boy she's in love with but who's not her Match, after he disappeared into the Outer Provinces. He is now a pilot with the Rising. Cassia's back in Central working as a human computer algorithm sorting people into their Matches while secretly trading snippets of forbidden poetry with the Archivists and working to create a forum where people can openly share their art. Xander, Cassia's official Match, is an Officer and Physic in the Society, trusted with making sure that babies receive their immunizations but secretly replacing these pills with others that prevent disease and memory loss. When a plague created by the Society spreads out of control, Ky is asked to help fly cures into the impacted cities. The Rising is using this plague to show that they can save the people. Not everyone is immune to the plague and soon a pandemic breaks out, sickening many, including Ky. Unless Cassia, Xander, and Oker, a 90-year-old doctor who escaped being killed by the Society at age 80, can figure out a cure, the Rising will fail and the Provinces will fall apart. Fans who want closure will love this last book in the series that effectively combines action, romance, science, philosophy, and the arts.—Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library, Trenton