Review- Crossed (Matched #2) by Ally Condie

Title: Crossed

Author: Ally Condie

Series: 2nd (Matched)

Pages: 384

Published: November 1, 2011 by Dutton Junvenille

ISBN: 9780525423652

Source: Around The World Tours

 

Description: 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. 

I Give This ...

When I finished this book, I honestly didn't know how I felt about it as a whole.  Writing this review, I'm still not sure.  It's not that it was a disappointment.  I think so much of it fell flat for me.  It wasn't what I was expecting at all.

Cassia is determined, and really I like that about her.  But, I think sometimes it makes her blind to what is really going on around her.  I admired that she would go to such great lengths to find Ky.  She endures a lot and treated well beneath her station in this society.  But, then she doesn't want to be treated any differently than the people she works with.  I also think it is a way of punishing herself for sorting Ky to this life in the first place.  But, there is a part of me that isn't sure she's really in love with Ky.  I feel like she's more in love with the idea of him and what he represents.  He's her chance to buck the system.  And if following him to the ends of society is what she had to do to get that, then she will do it.  But, what does Ky have to do to keep her attention?  I don't think she was tuned in to his feelings as well as she should have been.

I found that I liked Ky quite a bit more in this story.  He may be bitter, but it's not overwhelmingly so.  He's trying to survive and hold on to the hope that he might see Cassia again one day.  I liked that he found people to trust in, and it was sad when society once again found a way to reap those people from him.  I also felt like we learned a lot more about his past.  This is what made him become more real for me.

Despite all this, I still like Xander the most.  I think he will go to any length to keep Cassia safe, even when she doesn't realize that he is the one pulling the strings.  He's willing to sit back and watch her come to him.  There's just something about him that I love.  Especially when we learn the truth about what he has been hiding from everyone.

It's the plot and ending that got to me the most.  I never felt like the story was really going anywhere.  Even when Cassia and Ky find each other, it felt anticlimatic.  There's very little action and lots of  information to process.  It has a very middle book of the series feel to it.  Plus the ending was just off.  I think I would have liked a cliffhanger more than what we actually get.  We go through all this trouble to trace the rumor of uprising, and this was all we got?  I felt cheated of a real ending.

I'm still curious as to how this might play out.  And of course who Cassia might actually choose in the end.  So, I'll read the next one in the series!

Matched by Ally Condie

Title: Matched

Author: Ally Condie

Published: November 30, 2010 by Dutton

Pages: 384

ISBN: 9780525423645

Source: ARC from Around The World Tours

Description: In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die. Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.  Matched is a story for right now and storytelling with the resonance of a classic.

I Give This ..  

I'm probably not the first not the first to say this (and won't be the last), but Delirium by Lauren Oliver and Matched are to similar to be released so close together.  But, I'm sure publishing companies think that dystopian fiction is the next big this after the huge success of The Hunger Games series.   And I've noticed that how much you enjoy them seems to depend on the order you read them.  I still really enjoyed Matched.

Condie does a fantastic job with world building in this novel.  So much so that it was my biggest problem with the story.  I honestly did not like the world she created.  I think my reasons revolve around the fact that I'm not sure why it was this way.  Both The Hunger Games and Delirium (and even Uglies) gave reasoning behind the government in place.  I wanted to know what happened that it was this way.  It might have helped me accept that people had to die on their 80th birthday.  Or that a person was only allowed to learn what was in their skill set and nothing more.  I also didn't like the 100 items things.  I can't imagine only knowing 100 specific things from history, or having only 100 classic books, poems, music, etc.  As much as it bothered me, it also intrigued me.  I thought it was a terrifying idea.

The characters are outstanding.  It's amazing how much Cassia changes throughout the book.  It also interesting to see how the little seeds of rebellion are all ready planted all around her.  All this slowly comes to the surface as you (and the characters) realize how diabolical the government really is.  And, how low they will stoop to keep everything in control.  I like Ky.  But, I wasn't drawn to him the way Cassie was.  It's really hard to enjoy a story when the entire time you want her to pick the other guy.  I loved Xander.  He may not have anything more than her best friend until they were matched, but he proved time and time again how loyal he was to her. 

But, I don't think dystopian fiction fans will be disappointed in this novel.  I wasn't.