{WARNING:  This review contains spoilers for Condie’s first book, MATCHED.  Read at your own risk!}

Reading YA is a fairly new habit for me, and I’m pretty picky about the books I’ll enjoy.  I have high standards for good writing, plot lines and character development.

I just finished CROSSED, the second book in Ally Condie’s MATCHED series.  I really liked her first book; she established a credible post-apocalyptic world, peopled it with real characters and created situations that drew readers into the life and death decisions.

So I was eagerly anticipating the second volume in the series.  CROSSED picks up a few months after the close of MATCHED.  Cassia is in a work camp, preparing to be moved to her next assignment.  She is desperate to find Ky, who she knows has been sent to the Outer Provinces, ostensibly as part of the army fighting the enigmatic Enemy. Cassia also knows that she will eventually be relocated to Central, to take her position as a Sorter.

As she schemes to find Ky, Cassia is still torn between her love for Ky and her loyalty and friendship for Xander, her childhood friend and official Society match.  Her confusion increases when Xander visits her at the work camp and helps her.

Meanwhile, as we follow Cassia’s adventures to smuggle herself into the Outer Provinces, we also are with Ky as he struggles to survive what is essentially a suicide mission along with other Aberrations and Anomalies. Ky wants to escape so that he can somehow reunited with Cassia. His love for her is the only thing that keeps him focused on life.

Do they find each other?  And what about the other people who join each of them along the way? Can they be trusted?  What is the Resistance, and who is Pilot? What secrets are being kept by each character?

I found aspects of this book very frustrating.  I was anxious to see Cassia and Ky reunited, and waiting for that was tough.  Condie builds the tension and creates an interesting dichotomy between the quest for love and a passion for freedom.  Are the two mutually exclusive?

In the end, it is impossible to completely judge this book until the third installment is available. Like most other middle books, its resolution cannot be understood in a vacuum.

There are parallels here between the MATCHED series and the HUNGER GAMES trilogy.  Both take place in a society that has taken the place of our own world, and both tell the story of oppression of a totalitarian government.  And of course, like Katniss, Cassia finds herself in the center of a love triangle.

However, there are some key differences. Unlike Katniss, Cassia begins the series blithely ignorant of any troubles within her well-controlled world.  Her story is not unlike one that might have been told of a girl living in the Capitol in Katniss’ world; there is no daily struggle for survival, no perceivable danger. While neither of Katniss’ love choices offers safety, Cassia could follow the direction of the Society and be matched with Xander, if she would agree to turn her back on Ky.

The elements of art and literature and their roles within any society (or Society) are also a fascinating aspect of the MATCHED series.  Condie uses them to demonstrate the complete domination in which the Society holds its people.

It will be very interesting to see how the final book wraps the loose ends and brings the characters to closure. Until then–whenever it may be–I will reserve final judgement on CROSSED.

http://tawdrakandle.com/when-writers-read/review-crossed-by-ally-condie/