Crossed by Ally Condie

Crossed (Matched, #2)

by Ally Condie

The hotly awaited second book in the dystopian Matched trilogy

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.

Reviewed by Amber (The Literary Phoenix) on

1 of 5 stars

Share
Cassia is going to find Ky.  Nothing will stop her from finding Ky.  She's been touring the outer provinces, trying to make up for her mistake, but so far, no sign of him.  In a last ditch effort, she seeks help from an archivist.  One thing leads to another and suddenly she finds herself out in the wilderness of the carving, and Ky is here in the canyons somewhere, so if she just keeps walking long enough, she'll find him.  And, maybe she'll find the Rising, too.

For myself, I was so relieved when Cassia found something because while I have no problem with quests (I LOVE LOVE LOVE epic fantasy) I do have a problem with mindless walking.  There are typically pitfalls and adventures!  Ky's storyline is a little easier, although the scenes are kind of clunky and each one feels like a setup for one character or another to share a little backstory.

Mostly, the characters here are dramatic.  Three out of five of them keep going no matter what, because of LOVE.  It's all very cheesy and romantic and totally not my thing.  One of the characters served no actual purposes and contributed nothing to the story other than being small.  Then, there was Indie.

Indie is the closest thing we get in this series to a complex character.  She loves, but it doesn't consume her.  She's practical.  She's passionate.  She isn't fawning over a pretty face constantly - such a big factor to me liking a character.  She lies and steals and is imperfect.  Not a leader-type, not the smartest girl in the room and a bit bitter about it if we're being honest.  As I'm listening to this, I kept thinking about how much more INTERESTING the story probably would have been if it was from Indie's POV instead of Cassia's.

Small audiobook nitpick: the narrator pronounces "Cassia" like "Kesha" which isn't strictly wrong, but definitely confused me at first.

Crossed definitely comes across as a filler book.  I didn't like Matched all that much (I liked the cliffhanger ending) and I definitely don't feel any need at all to continue on to Reached.  If you read Matched and loved it, I'm going to warn you now: Crossed is 40% walking, 55% pining after boys, and 5% plot... don't expect too much from this one.

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 18 December, 2017: Finished reading
  • 18 December, 2017: Reviewed