Synopsis: In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.
Cassia’s quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia’s heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.
Review: Crossed is the second installment in Ally Condie’s Matched series. Crossed picks up where Matched leaves us where Ky has been sent to the Outter Provinces sentenced virtually to die, and Cassia is determined to break out of The Society to try and find him to be with him once again.
I was really excited to read this book - I had even pre-ordered this a month or so prior to it’s realise. Which is why it saddens me to say that this book (which promised so much) delivered so little. I was really expecting a lot more from it. Now people on Goodreads are either saying they loved it or hated it, it doesn’t appear there is too much in between - however I am going to be one of those in between people, because there were parts of it I loved and parts not so much. So to be fair, I wanted to discuss what I liked and disliked about the book itself.
So one of the things that I really liked about Crossed is Ally Condie’s ability to just create a whole world in front of us. She litterally has a map in the start of the book panning out The Society, The Carving and the Outer Provinces which is fantastic, because you really get a visual understanding of what she’s created in her mind.
I also am still enjoying the alternating narrative from Ky and Cassia’s perspectives. It was something I liked about Matched, and this has carried over to Crossed, which I think helped the reader to understand what was happening in the minds of both Cassia and Ky.
I DID enjoy the story line itself. I can see that Ally Condie has all three books clearly mapped in her mind and it seems she has a clear directive of how she wants them to go and knows what’s going to happen from start to finish. I also really quite enjoy her writing style and find that easy to read and it flows quite well.
What I didn’t love about Crossed though is whilst she has this clear directive in mind in regards to the story, Crossed just for the most part didn’t have a whole lot going on. For the majority of the book, Cassia and Ky as well as the people they met along the way Eli and Indie were just walking through the canyons known as The Carving. They were trying to survive and trying not to get killed, but they were walking.. walking.. climbing.. walking. It just moved very slowly for me personally, and for me to take over two weeks to get through a book is unheard of. But everytime I picked this up it just moved too slowly for my attention span (which to my defense is normally very good).
Also, something which I enjoyed about Matched but just wasn’t feeling in Crossed is the connection between Cassia and Ky. The words were all there, the idea behind them ruiniting was there too.. but I just didn’t really feel the electricity that I have felt reading other YA books with a romance in it. And that disappointed me, because I had such high hopes for Cassia and Ky!
That being said, the book picked up near the end and I am interested in the direction it now seems to be taking with the third installment, so I am definitely not going to be giving up on this series, I will be reading the third book upon its release.
For those of you who have read Matched, I still think you should give this book a try, because SO many people have said that they did love it. I personally wasn’t really feeling it, but I am rating this a 3/5 because overall taking all things into consideration I can say I liked it as a whole.
Rating: 3 out of 5
