Crossed

By Ally Condie

Genre: Science fiction, dystopia

My rating: 3 stars

Summary: "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."

Hmm.  I debated between two and three stars to  be honest.  I was so enthralled by Matched (in fact, read my review of it here) that I had extremely high expectations of this book.  And they fell short.  Maybe I expected too much of it.  

It's not that I didn't enjoy it.  In fact, I couldn't put it down, I read it in two days.  But the entire time I read it, I kept thinking "please let there be more, please let there be more."  And there wasn't.  Now, I realize this is the second book in a trilogy, so I'm guessing the "more" is in the third book.  But come on, there should be plenty of good stuff in the second, right?

The things I liked:

• Condie switched things up this time around--instead of everything being in Cassia's first person POV as in Matched, Crossed switches back and forth between Ky and Cassia's POV.  Weird at first, but then I grew to like it, especially because the majority of the book they are experiencing their own adventures and if we only followed Cassia, wow would it be boring.
• There is a secret about Xander that is partially revealed that kept me turning the pages, eager to learn if the secret is what I thought it was.   And though hints were given verifying my idea, I'll have to read the third book to find out for sure.  Way to keep me hooked until the third book, Condie!
• It's not just the secret that makes me want to read the third book.  It's the characters.  Condie has successfully made me more connected to the characters than I already was and rooting for them. And there's character growth and development, which is awesome to see in a dystopian trilogy.  I have to see how the characters continue to grow as they finish their journey!  And I MUST know how it ends.

The things I didn't like:

• Too much poetry!  Now, I happen to like poetry.  But jeez louise, enough is enough.  Get to the story Condie!
• The ending seemed really rushed after dragging us through the desert for half of the novel.  I realize this is a trilogy, but are you seriously going to make me read through 367 pages and then leave me with that, Condie?
• Now, I know I mentioned the cool factor of the POV switches between Cassia and Ky in the positives above.  They were necessary to the story.  HOWEVER, their voices were exactly the same.  When I'm reading Ky's perspective, I wanna hear a guy's voice as he struggles to survive.  Not a guy spouting poetical nonsense.
• It dragged on.  If Condie wanted us to feel like we were dying in the desert with the characters she was successful.  There were a few beautifully written and suspenseful scenes, but they were few and far between.

Oh my goodness, I think I should stop.  I didn't hate this book.  I was just highly disappointed in it.  But like I said, I will be reading the third book.  I'll just make sure my hopes aren't too high this time.

Anyone else read it?  Or have I scared you off from reading it?  If I did, I apologize.