Review Detail

I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy Crossed in lots of places, but it's not one of those books where you scream "OH MY GOD I LOVED IT!" at the end.

I would have probably given it a 3.5 star rating for the plot, instead of 4, but I can't do that so I'll just stick with 4.

In fact, this is the second time I am trying to read it, because the first time I got so bored and out of it I just couldn't keep reading. But, I've never left a book unfinished, so I dredged up my courage and sat down to attempt it again. Maybe if it had had more action and A LOT less poetry and obsessing over Ky/Cassia (depending on whose POV it is during that chapter), I would have had enjoyed it a lot more. As I said, there were lots of things to like about Crossed, but I preferred Matched.

Ky has been sent to the Outer Provinces with other Aberrations, and Cassia has been sent to a girls' work camp. They spend a lot of their time thinking about each other and what to do when they are finally reunited. After a while, Cassia manages to sneak on board an air ship bound for the Outer Provinces, to look for Ky, and Ky escapes his work place in the Outer Provinces to go into the Society to look for Cassia. Along the way, Cassia learns more about the rebellion called the Rising, and Ky wonders how far he will go for Cassia.

I got a little annoyed at some points, because it felt like Ally Condie was dancing around the part where they could meet each other, as they kept being so close and then someone takes off and they have to keep searching. (A FEW SPOILERS AHEAD) Like Ky was at the Outer Provinces, but just before he was reunited with Cassia he took off into the Carving, a canyon. Then Cassia was sent to another work camp, where she went to the Carving, but then Ky was in a DIFFERENT canyon, so they had to get out of their canyon and go into a different one, only to go BACK into the other one and... well you get the idea. (END SPOILERS)

In Matched, I think that the poetry theme worked well with the story. I liked the "Do not go gently" kind of thing in that book and all that, but I didn't like it as much in this one.

I also liked how we got to see different POVs in this book, Ky's and Cassia's, but it didn't work too well for Ally Condie. Their voices were just way too similar, I actually had to keep flipping back to the start of the chapter because I couldn't figure out who was talking.

Most of the time, I liked the characters.

Cassia travels with a girl called Indie. I really liked Indie at first, she seemed much more out there than Cassia and not waiting for her Prince Charming to come and rescue her, and she was bold and brave and determined. So I quite liked her at the start, but then during the course of the book she just got a bit too sneaky and dishonest for me to really like her. And Cassia kept thinking of her as a friend, because Indie stuck by her, but really? I was like "Ummm... Cassia? Someone who steals and lies to you does not sound like a friend."

Ky travels with two: a young boy named Eli and Vick. I liked both of these characters. They were probably what gave the character rating a 4 and not a 3, or even a 2. They seemed to be the only two characters in this book that were realistic and not obsessing over an idea. Eli asked questions that should have been asked and Vick got angry at other people's indifference.

(SPOILER) I didn't like how Condie killed Vick (END SPOILER)

I mean, I get why she might do that, to attempt a realistic reunion for Cassia and Ky, but I didn't like it. It seemed very forced.

Cassia and Ky irritated me SO MUCH. For one thing, Ky knew about the Rising since Matched, and he knew how Cassia wanted to know about it, but he didn't tell her. I accepted this fact until he still tried to hide that fact after their reunion. He was so selfish in this book. And his explanation to why he didn't want to join the Rising just didn't ring true for me. It was a stupid explanation, and he should have gotten over it. The explanation just doesn't make sense, and it nearly breaks them up. All that time endangering their lives for each other, and they nearly just throw it away.

And Cassia is no better. One, she should KNOW not to take the damn tablet if she doesn't know exactly what it does and why people never want them. Rule number one with evil people DON'T TAKE TABLETS FROM THEM AND EAT THEM!!! And she doesn't confront Ky and Indie until the very last possible moment. Unbelievable. Another complacent heroine. Great.

Condie still manages to keep Xander in the picture, despite how little we actually see him. I like Xander. He seems honest and genuine, and really cares about what is best for Cassia, rather than for him (I'm looking at you, Ky). Cassia and Ky have
regular flash-backs of Xander. And it seems that a love-SQUARE might be in the forming. (feel free to roll your eyes here).

I think Condie can write some wonderful passages. Wonderfully beautiful passages even, once in a while. However, when these passages are in a book where every few pages a character is just sitting on a rock/staring at the stars and reciting/making up poetry,, I'm sorry, my patience flies out the window.

I'm not usually side-tracked when reading a book. I usually focus on what's happening and forget about the rest of the world. This book though, did not hold my attention very well. It probably took me three times as long to read it because I kept drifting off while still skimming the page with my eyes. You know how that happens? And then a couple of pages later, I would realise, "Right, I'm supposed to be reading," and be like "what just happened?" because I missed like three pages, and would have to re-read them.

I also would have preferred more world-building. After this book, there are still so many unanswered questions about the world, like, who runs the Society? How do the rebels get in and out so easily? Why is "the Enemy" bombing the Outer Provinces instead of the Centre? Is the Society over the entire world, or just America? What is the Warming, and how does it connect to the Society taking over?

I recommend this book to those who felt that Matched was an absolutely, totally amazing book (I'm sorry, but I did not.) If you thought that Matched was just "okay", then chances are you will be disappointed with Crossed. I hope Reached is better.