Crossed

I really loved the first book and while the pace slows down I still really love the world building. I actually liked that each of the main characters are on there own journey in this book. I am a little worried about the romance taking over in the next book when the character's meet again. Still love Xander, I hope things work out for him.

I wanted more depth of character development following the first book, but I just didn’t feel it got there. It’s a decent story, decent characters, but there is also something distant about the characters that meant that I just failed to really connect with them.

I think if you can get into the characters and really make this connection, then you would really enjoy the book and the love triangle, but it wasn’t quite working for me. Perfectly readable and enjoyable enough, but without the emotional connection I just failed to care on what was happening to the characters.

The ending did feel rushed, and the whole swiftness of their inclusion seemed very off to me, as did the whole Rising thing.

I Loved this book!<3

In a society that dictates every aspect of a person’s life - what they eat, where they work, who they should marry, even when they die - Cassia, made her first non-society choice between a boy that society has chosen for her (her best childhood friend) and the boy that society deems an aberration; untouchable, but suddenly desirable to Cassia.

Ally Condie’s Crossed, written from the point of view of Cassia and Ky, follows soon after Matched. Setting-wise we are introduced to different districts and lands outside of Society’s rule. Ally isn’t very descriptive in her writing so it’s a little hard to imagine the setting unless you’re filling in the space on your own. This isn’t usually a problem for my imagination, but some readers might be put off by this.

The narrative, from Ky’s point of view, illuminates aspects of his personality that we didn’t necessarily get to see though Cassia’s rose-tinted glasses in Matched. It makes him more three dimensional and highlights flaws that were easily overlooked in the first book.

Xander hardly makes an appearance, however, more is revealed about his personality and background through the other characters. I enjoyed the layer of complexity this brought to the story.

The story was well-paced; I was hoping that Cassia and Ky’s paths would intersect early in the narrative and found the timing for this to be just right. Still, I wished there was more Xander, I’ve always found his character to be more interesting than Ky’s - from his introduction in Matched, Xander has always been the one I viewed as the bad-boy/risk-taker due to his citizen status.

While Crossed did a good job in setting up the final book of the trilogy, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. I’m curious to see how Ally Condie will tie them all up and am looking forward to the conclusion of Cassia’s story.