Source: Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group

I received this book for free from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Kristen Simmons' fast-paced, gripping YA dystopian series continues in Three.

Ember Miller and Chase Jennings are ready to stop running. After weeks spent in hiding as two of the Bureau of Reformation’s most wanted criminals, they have finally arrived at the safe house, where they hope to live a safe and quiet existence.

And all that’s left is smoking ruins.

Devastated by the demolition of their last hope, Ember and Chase follow the only thing left to them—tracks leading away from the wreckage. The only sign that there may have been survivors.

With their high profile, they know they can’t stay out in the open for long. They take shelter in the wilderness and amidst the ruins of abandoned cities as they follow the tracks down the coast, eventually finding refugees from the destroyed safe house. Among them is someone from Chase’s past—someone he never thought he’d see again.

Banding together, they search for a place to hide, aiming for a settlement a few of them have heard about…a settlement that is rumored to house the nebulous organization known as Three. The very group that has provided Ember with a tiny ray of hope ever since she was first forced on the run.

Three is responsible for the huge network of underground safe houses and resistance groups across the country. And they may offer Ember her only chance at telling the world her story.

At fighting back.

I used to say that there was nothing worse than reviewing sequels, but I officially take that statement back because reviewing the third book in a series is definitely worse. There are people who can manage without spoiling anything and I just don’t get how they do it. So be prepared, there will probably be spoilers up ahead. Note: Scratch that, I actually managed to make this spoiler free!!!

What can I say about Three that I haven’t already said about Breaking Point and Article 5 hmm… Well, I can say that the action in this one is pretty constant just like the first two books in the series. The pacing of these books is always a highlight for me because it just never lets up. Even in the calmest of moments there is always a dark cloud overhead that has you anticipating what will come next. Three also maintains the solid world building that I have come to expect from the series. We explore much more of the red zone and see how different colonies of rebels are living their lives.

The best part of Three for me is the way that Ember and Chase’s relationship really grows a lot. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love how solid the relationship between these two is and how it never becomes the sole focus of the series. You know, through the small moments they get with one another, that they are 100% with each other but it never becomes what they are about. They are still independent and go about their business with others just as they would if they were single. It seems like most romances in YA these days are all consuming and end up defining the characters but I never get that feeling from these two.

Stepping back and looking at this book as a finale is what leaves me a little less than impressed. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the book, but I feel like the culminating action was a little rushed after all of the build-up that we went through. While reading I remember checking the page number when all the finale stuff started being put into play and I was shocked to find that there were a mere 40 pages left. The action of those last sequences were sped through really quickly and some of the motivations for the things that happened were left largely unexplained. I would have liked a bit more of a wrap up here but in the epilogue we do get a sense of finality that I was happy with.

This is by far one of my favourite dystopian series and I am so sad to be saying goodbye to these characters. If you haven’t started this series I think you definitely should. Simmons has a way of snaking her characters into your heart and a way of keeping you on the edge of your seat at all times.

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