Title: CrossedAuthor: Ally Condie
Series: Matched
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publication Date: November 1, 2011
Source: purchased
Links: Amazon | Goodreads
Rating:
From Goodreads:
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.
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| Review: |
If I was going to sum up my feelings on Crossed with one statement, it would be this: I didn’t hate this book, but I also didn’t love it, though I appreciated the background story and seeing the characters in ways I didn’t expect. There was less actually happening in the storyline, but the characters faced harder choices than in Matched.
Normally, I’d like my pulse to be racing throughout a good majority of the book, but being the second installment in the series, I expected it to be more of a history lesson than an action-packed novel. Such is the way with sophomore entries. Crossed started off very slow, and I had a hard time staying focused on the story, but it picked up about half-way through, thankfully.
I am so wishy-washy when it comes to split POVs. It’s really all in how an author handles the transition, I suppose. In this particular instance, I believe having both Cassia and Ky’s points-of-view really helped the reader understand the characters better. Reading Ky’s POV really changed my opinion of him, I think. Not that I like him less, but he’s not as innocent as one was led to believe in Matched. And some of his insider knowledge really helped form a different opinion of Xander for me. I’m sure this will lead to inner turmoil for Cassia, as well, but that’s yet to be seen.
My biggest beef with this sequel, besides the slowness of the first half, was how much coincidence was needed to propel the story along. It just seemed at times that if coincidence didn’t exist, we might never have attained any real resolution. Though, being the second novel in a trilogy, maybe we weren’t supposed to. Either way, I am not a proponent of coincidence, of events happening for the sake of happening. I am a creature of reason.
That said, I’m still kind of excited for the final book in the series. The way the author left the ending? Well, I’m more curious than ever. Ever the romantic, my final question to myself upon finishing Crossed was, “Which boy?”
Hmmmmm. I really liked Matched because of the prose and the story, even though it was slow. I don't mind character driven things. I'm still on the fence about reading Crossed because I'm so worried that I'll be bored or just not like it. I do have a copy though, so I guess I'll find out at some point.
ReplyDeleteI liked Matched a lot, too...the prose was beautiful. I didn't find Matched all that slow, but compared to other novels with similar circumstances, I could see why you might. However, the first 1/2 of Crossed was almost snooze-inducing. But once you get past that, it was worth it to me. It is definitely character-driven...you find out so much about them. Even Xander, though his POV isn't presented. It was good enough, and it paved the way for the final novel, which looks to have promise.
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