Crossed by Ally Condie

Title: Crossed
Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Released: November 1st 2011
Pages: 367 (Hardback)
Buy: Amazon

Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky--taken by the Society to his sure death--only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life and the enthralling promise of a rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices every thing to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game once again.
Narrated from both Cassia's and Ky's point of view, this hotly anticipated sequel to Matched will take them both to the edge of Society, where nothing is as expected and crosses and double crosses make their path more twisted than ever.

I loved Matched. I'd heard about it at a book group I was going to at the time, and when I bought it I practically read it immediately - and fell in love with it, too. So when Crossed came out, I was super-excited and bought it within the first week or two - yet it has taken me this long to get around to it! And you know what? I like to give fair reviews, but for this novel, the wait wasn't just worth it.




I don't even know where to begin. I love the initial plot to the whole trilogy; in the dystopian future, everything is ruled over by the Society, who are pretty cunning and controlling. At the end of Matched, Ky gets sent away, so Crossed is basically about Cassia going to find Ky - which is virtually impossible! See, this was the first plot hole. Well, not exactly a hole, but it just made it unrealistic. America is a huge, huge place, yet Cassia found Ky so quickly and so easily. He could be anywhere, absolutely anywhere - yet conveniently, she finds him almost immediately. And whilst the book was really boring without the both of them together, in some ways it was even worse when they were eventually together. All they went on about was kissing and poetry and art and arguments and Xander and ugh! (You know, I was going to rate this book 3/5 stars, because I didn't think it was that bad...but now that I'm going over it...). I was just sat there like, Okay, I get that you both love poetry and this particular poem. But honestly? You are in the middle of a war! You have plenty of time to whisper sweet nothings to one another after all this mess has been sorted out.

I also didn't like the boys. In Matched, I loved both Xander and Ky, and couldn't choose between them. But now? I don't like either of them. Xander is desperate, jealous and lovesick, whilst Ky is over-protective, moody and jealous; all of which are attributes that don't made sexy book guys. However, despite all my complaints, I still do love Cassia. She is a bit gullible and stupid, but she is a very brave character, who will stop at nothing to get to where she wants to be, which means I think a lot of readers will idolize her. So I think her characterization is probably one of the best parts of the book, if not the best.

Actually, no. There was one part I really liked - I nearly cried over it! Even though they are insanely annoying, Cassia and Ky's reunion was adorable. In that chapter or so, I did see the spark of what made Matched special. It's a shame that spark didn't turn into a fire that continued to light up the rest of the novel.

I honestly cannot explain my frustration over this. Matched was utterly amazing, and I completely stick to that. Read Matched. But do not read Crossed. I'm all for finishing series once you've started them, but in all honesty, all you really get from Crossed is that Cassia finds Ky, then they find the Rising, then they get split up again. It's safe to say that I was really rather disappointed. Condie is such a promising author, but this book definitely was not up to scratch, especially with such a storyline that Matched started. With one more book, I'm really hoping Condie's former amazing writer ability shines through again. If she gets it right, then the overall trilogy will be amazing. Fingers crossed; bring on Reached!
Rating: 2/5