Title: Crossed
Author: Ally Condie
Series: #2 - Matched
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: November 1st, 2011
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Rules Are Different Outside The Society
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.
My Review:
I am still mixed about why I am rating this book as High as I am, and that mainly has to do with the fact that this book is far, far better than Matched. However, the glaring issues of a world that just didn’t seem to be completely built or frankly the story really wasn’t told the best it could have been.
I don’t think going with the alternating Ky then Cassia route for the chapters was the best alternative. I’ve read books that have done this sort of varying chapter orientation; however here in this case I don’t think it was the right place to do that sort of swapping characters. I felt this sort of switching left me wanting more from the character, losing track of the timeline at points, and even wondering why Ally even thought this would be a good alternative.
Now back to the book, which picks up almost right after Matched, maybe a few days/months missing but that’s not too bad. Cassia has took it in her hands to go find Ky and rightfully, in a good romance, that would be the only option to go, so I applaud the lack of originality here. Throughout the book I was pretty much guessing what was going to happen next, okay in a few spots there was that new
The love triangle seems to disappear almost completely here in this book, and I enjoyed that. Xander nearly dissolved in the pages; the more you read he disappeared. There were a few points where he crept up, “Xander has a secret…” After a while I got the picture, and yet it was reminded to me over and over. Overall though, Xander just seemed to dissolve and go away, and I never liked Xander to begin with, so it didn’t bother me.
My biggest problem with this series is the lack of character involvement. I feel no attachment to the characters, and frankly in the second book of a series I started to get involved and want Cassia and Ky to be safe and sound, but in the end when the book pretty much leaves them all in exactly the same place the first book left off.
I can’t tell you how disappointed I was at this book, and I enjoyed Matched. I barely say this is better, but not by much at all. The lack of originality, the lack of pulling me or any reader in for that matter, the poor world building that didn’t seem to entice me… I wanted much more out of this book, and the hype was there again. Here’s to the third book and we’ll see if it fixes a lot of the glaring errors in both books.
