Title: Crossed
Author: Ally Condie
Series: (Matched #2)
Published: November 1st 2011 by Dutton Juvenile
 

Crossed is the highly anticipated sequel to Matched, one of my favorite dystopian books of all time. I was dying to get my copy of this book, so I can curl in a corner and immerse in, as I continue the journey of Cassia and Ky. But I’m bit…underwhelmed. I liked Matched better, that said it wasn’t really a bad follow up. Just a bit weak. Nevertheless, I still loved this book, and still love this series.

A lot of readers say sequel is a tricky business. Especially if its predecessor was something people loved, something people enjoyed. How can you compete with that? How can you surpass it without losing your track. It is indeed difficult. So while I did not fully enjoy this book, I still liked that the book attempted to give more details about the Society’s true color (the more ugly side of things) and the people against this particular government. While it wasn’t a full disclosure, perhaps because this is just a sequel saving it for the big finale, I found it tad disappointing that little details that should’ve been revealed were still not. For example, we now know that Xander is a key player in the story, but we still don’t know how and why he is. I find it just unacceptable.

But there were the things I truly enjoyed. One of them was that this book have two POVs, one for Cassia, and one for Ky. It was absolute pleasure to know more about him. How this guy thinks. When Matched end, he still an enigma to me, despite the stories he gave to Cassia. It was just Cassia’s interpretation of his story. So I was delighted to read his story, his thoughts coming from him.

I don’t know if people noticed it, but for me Cassia’s tone (the way she narrates the story) sort of changed. And I’m uncertain if she matured or what, but she’s a bit different from the Cassia I knew. And it’s kind of complicated because I’m not sure if I find it as an improvement or not.

As for the romance part…well, it’s kind of complex too. I was really happy when they finally reunited. They liked—loved each other. I wanted them to be together again. But once together, they’re having doubts about their feelings—at some point. What I fell in love the most in book one was the genuineness of how their relationship had come to be. That element still present, I’m sure it. But somehow it was less than what I remembered. So I’m a bit sad. I hope they work things out. Especially now that they’re once again separated.

Some sequel works, some not. Crossed falls somewhere in between. It is no doubt a good book. I enjoyed most of it. But it didn’t blow my expectations out of the water. It didn’t leave me craving for more. But it didn’t completely leave me disappointed. Just average. Maybe my expectations were steeply high.