This has been one of the best young adult trilogy conclusions I have read to date. Each of these books got progressively better (as opposed to the norm) and I am impressed by that. The way the story concludes for the general plot (Republic vs Colonies) as well as the love triangle situation is both as realistic as possible and satisfying. There is none of the perfect ending sort of thing going on here and I loved it. There is a peace treaty, but no "happily ever after" right away. The is an "out" so to speak for June and Day (which gives a chance to try and reject the Anden thing without hurting anyone's feelings irrevocably) and also moves us past the 16 year old young love stuff. PLus, a chance for some extra emotion. Starting again at 27 gives both June and Day a chance to grow without each other and if they still find themselves searching for the other, well, then it really is fate. And I am very happy with the relationship cultivated by June and Tess, how it grows, and how Tess is the one who makes the step to bring Day and June back to each other. Lovely symmetry. I still had a few issues with the inner dialogue the characters have (so many rhetorical questions/spelling out of things; no one actually thinks like that). And while I was able to put this out of my mind while reading, I still do not understand why the country was making plagues. The rest of it was explained, more or less, but the plague thing just never made a lot of sense to me. And I don;t really understand the title here, it just doesn't make sense for the story, like the first two did. All in all, a fantastic ending.