Title: Crossed (Matched #2)
by Ally CondiePublishing Info: November 1, 2011 by Penguin
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: May 7, 2012
The highly anticipated second book in the Matched trilogy! Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky--taken by Society to his certain 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 rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices everything to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game. On the edge of Society, nothing is as expected, and crosses and double crosses make Cassia's path more twisted than ever.
Ah, another sequel that I just don’t know where to place on the rating scale. I keep finding that especially with novels that follow this pattern (once utopian society, realizations occur and image shattered, commence breakaway from society), I get so wrapped up and enthralled by the first book that once the whole setting/tone/goal changes in the second book, it’s just so different that I don’t know how to compare (I felt the same way about Pandemonium and connecting it back to Delirium and on a smaller scale with The Hunger Games/Catching Fire/Mockingjay). It was definitely an interesting story and I thought it really picked up in the middle once it was a little more than Cassia and Ky playing catch up with each other and there were bigger obstacles ahead. Overall, I felt like it was a good story, but I didn’t feel like the characters were developed as much as I wanted. I still felt like they were a little flat, a lot more so than in Matched, and even though their history was revealed a bit more, I didn’t feel a lot of personality coming from Cassia or Ky.
3.5/5 stars
Close to 4 stars, but still just not as good as I wanted it to be. It just felt too disjointed from the first book to me.
Delirium (Book #1)/Pandemonim (Book #2) by Lauren Oliver – Almost exact same story lines and feels in both the first and second books for these two series. I think if you liked Matched, you’ll like Delirium. If you liked Crossed, you’ll like Pandemonium. Almost eerily similar!
…OR…
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau – This was a quick and easy read with a similar structured society and until that society is disrupted. This is more of a younger audience (I think it was maybe around 11 or 12 year olds?) with a little bit of age-appropriate crushes, but not quite the romances that are developed in Matched/Crossed. I enjoyed this one though! Interesting concept.
1 thought on “Crossed (Matched #2) – Ally Condie”
I must admit when I started Matched I had really high hopes and I was totally drawn in by the storyline, it was also the first ever dystopian novel I had ever read. But after the first sort of half I felt it really drifed off and I ended up being very disappointed with it. I’m still not sure whether I will pick up Crossed. But from what you’ve said I must admit it doesn’t sound much better, which is such a shame!
Great review by the way! 🙂