Find my reviews on Blogger ~ Reviews by Bookish Sarah 
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 *Beware! This review may contain spoilers for Matched!* 
 Crossed picks up pretty much right where Matched left off. Cassia and Ky have both left Oria. Ky, along with other Aberrations, are fighting for their lives in the Outer Provinces, while Cassia is biding her time in the farmlands. All the while, Cassia is missing her home, family, and Xander. 
 Both Ky and Cassia have one thing in common: they want to find each other. When the time is right, both of our main characters make a run for it and end up in the "Carving" - a network of mountains and crevices, a maze in which they can hopefully find safety from the Society as well as a way to get back to each other, all while searching for the answers they both so desperately need. 
 Throughout their separate journeys, they each meet new people that aid them along the way and become new additions to the plot. This journey also brings up more questions than ever, and when secrets that may be unforgivable arise, Cassia and Ky wonder if they can ever be together at the end of this mess. 
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 Ally Condie has an amazingly beautiful, and poetic writing style. If I had to rate this book on that alone, it'd be an easy 5 stars. Unfortunately, this is not the case.. and I wasn't very happy with the sophomore novel in the Matched trilogy. 
 This book is very much just a bridge from book 1 to book 3. None of our questions were answered, and the book left me with a huge question mark over my head. 
 It's slow. Slower than death from the right from the start. We get a little surge of power through the middle, but it fizzles out again toward the end. I spent almost the entire book waiting for something big, but it never came. I think, in part, it's because this book is from the POV of both Cassia and Ky. Whenever I was reading from Ky's POV, I was bored to tears. It was 80% inner dialogue and blasts to the past. It was like an entirely different story was going on. There was so much inner turmoil to slog through that it took away from the issues at hand, and it became info-dumpy and bored me. 
 My other complaint about the alternating POVs is that they weren't distinguished enough. I sometimes found myself having to check whose POV I was reading from. They didn't have distinctive voices and I found it annoying. 
 My likes? 
 As I said before, Ms. Condie is a truly truly talented writer. Her style of writing gives this story life and character, and I felt the true meaning and beauty of the story right down to my bones. The message is clear and crisp: Fight for your freedom. It matters, and it's worth the fight at any cost. 
 I love the plot, even without the love triangle. The romance, though, is definitely something that draws my attention. It's a little bit different from any other YA romance I've read. When I read Matched I really wanted Ky and Cassia to beat the odds, struggle through the diversity, the whole idea of "matching"... and end up together. After reading Crossed, my views changed. I found myself disliking Ky with a passion, and I am rooting for Xander and Cassia. I won't tell you why, because it'd be a total spoiler, but you'll see. :) 
 The parts of the book that weren't sluggish were amazing. The reunion was beyond all the expectations I had, and I even cried. It was beautiful and glorious. The book is adventurous and has deeper meaning than just three teenagers looking for love. The whole idea of the Rising has me intrigued and by the end of the book it was multiplied tenfold. 
 The plot twists were a surprise and definitely had me picking my jaw up off the floor. I didn't see any of it coming and I find myself waiting, with bated breath, for book 3. I have high hopes for it, and even though I didn't enjoy Crossed as much as I'd hoped, I don't think Ms. Condie will disappoint with her finale. 
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 Book source: Purchased 
 Publisher: Dutton Juvenile/Penguin Group USA