Crossed - Review

Crossed (Matched, # 2)

By: Ally Condie

Published: November 1st 2011 by Dutton Children's

367 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction

Source: Borrowed from my local library

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*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--The Society chooses everything.

The books you read.
The music you listen to.
The person you love.

Yet for Cassia the rules have changed. Ky has been taken and she will sacrifice everything to find him.

And when Cassia discovers Ky has escaped to the wild frontiers beyond the Society there is hope.

But on the edge of society nothing is as it seems...

A rebellion is rising.

And a tangled web of lies and double-crosses could destroy everything.

So I really enjoyed Matched, right? But it was very similar to Delirium which I liked better. I went into Crossed knowing that a lot of people didn’t enjoy it as much as Matched. Having not read any reviews of Crossed before starting it, I didn’t know WHY people weren’t enjoying it as much. I grabbed this from the library on audiobook because I really enjoyed hearing the writing style of Matched spoken out loud. I thought the narrator, Kate Simses, did a really good job. Having said that, audiobooks can be tricky. I find that I can listen to audiobooks and multitask only when whatever else I’m doing doesn’t require much thought from me—housework, imaging (a mindless work task), cleaning the pool, etc. But that wasn’t really the case when I started Crossed. I apparently needed to devote more brainpower to work than I thought and thus I had some issues with Crossed in the beginning. I had to restart it twice because I had no clue what was going on. And when I finally made it to the 50% mark in the book, I forgot to renew it and it was returned to the library only for me to be put on the waiting list to check it back out. *sigh* Oh well. I finally finished it.

I can see why people weren’t as into Crossed as Matched. Although describing why feels more difficult. I guess because in Matched you have the excitement of first love and a slight tinge of danger and rebellion. But Crossed is out and out rebellion against Society and our relationship between the male and female lead is pretty cemented even if they’re currently physically separated. Like many other dystopians before (or at least that I’ve read before: Requiem, Allegiant, Pawn ), the Matched series appears to be falling into the trap where our heroine seeks to fix a broken society. It’s the broken society that we love to read about. While the fixing of what is broken is important and we need to read about overcoming obstacles, I’m just not really a fan of these worlds that I fall in love with in book 1 turning into an all-out political war. It’s one of the biggest downfalls of the dystopian genre—at least when it comes to a series within the genre.

Cassia and Ky both narrate in Crossed and I’m thankful for the dual narrators in the audiobook version as well. While Cassia and Ky are separated, Cassia thinks about Ky way too frequently for my tastes. He completely dominates her thoughts. Seriously every third sentence mentions him. And one of my biggest frustrations was that Cassia and Ky’s chapters mirrored each other. They would often be thinking the same thoughts at seemingly the same time. And while I know some of that is possible and probably true—couples often do this I’m sure—it was a bit overdone for me. I’m really big on couples having a distinct voice if both are going to narrate. And they did have a distinct voice (especially because two different people did the narration for the audio version), but the thoughts were very similar even to the point of dreaming similar dreams at the same time.

The biggest plus for Crossed was Ally Condie's writing style for me. Like Matched, Crossed is very poetic at times. Here are my *favorite quotes:

-I’m only afraid of dying wrong.

-It is looking at something without being watched, without being told what to see. That’s what the picture has given us.

-Because in the end you can’t always choose what to keep. You can only choose how you let it go.

-It was brave of them to love again.

-And then I reach the plain and wish for nothing but what I have.

-”You need to choose. I don’t think you see either of them clearly.”

-Is this what Ky feels? Like no one wants the whole? That his truth is too heavy to carry?

I had some frustrations with Crossed, and I can definitely understand why people may have enjoyed it less than Matched but it was still a pretty good read listen. Crossed gets 3.5 stars from me. Have you read Crossed? What did you think? Let me know!

*It's extremely difficult to quote from an audiobook. I do my best to get punctuation and all of the words correct. Any mistakes are my fault. If you see any mistakes, please let me know in the comments and I'll update. It's near impossible to get it all right when I can't see it in print.

Matched - Review

Matched (Matched, # 1)

By: Ally Condie

Published: November 30th 2010 by Dutton Juvenile

369 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction

Source: Borrowed from the Public Library

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

You guys Matched is so similar to Delirium by Lauren Oliver. They both have societies who have deemed what is acceptable and what is off limits, limiting books, music, and just about every other aspect of the citizens’ lives. There are Officials (Regulators in Delirium). And at a specific age each citizen is Matched (cured and then matched in Delirium) to another citizen. In Delirium, love is a disease that must be eradicated. In Matched, love is allowed, but who you love is forced upon you—essentially free-will is eradicated. In both books our protagonist falls in love with a boy that she is not "meant" to be with, and then she must decide if love is worth fighting for or if surrendering to the society is what’s best for everyone. Between these two books, Delirium is my favorite, both in story and in prose. Lauren Oliver has just a little extra something in her writing style, and Lena has a little bit more to lose in striving to escape the cure from the “disease” amor deliria nervosa and losing her ability to love at all. However, Matched and Delirium were just different enough for me to enjoy them both.

Where Delirium fascinated me with the concept of love being considered a disease, Matched fascinated me with its society entirely dependent upon statistics. The future is almost predictable based on figures and stats, even what we know to be the most unpredictable—the human element.

The description tells you that Cassia and Ky fall in love, so that’s not a spoiler, but I will say that there was something about Cassia’s relationship with Ky that I wasn’t buying. While I did feel a connection between the two of them, I wasn’t convinced they’d made it to the love stage yet. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that holds me back, but it just feels too soon. They share a connection, they share secrets, they would fight for each other, but I don’t feel the intensity that I wanted to in order to be convinced. For a book that’s about defying an entire society and culture in order to be with your true love, the whole true love concept better be well done, and this felt lacking to me.

Probably the best thing Matched had going for it was Ally Condie’s writing style. My favorite quotes*:

What is it about your voice that makes me want to hear you speak?

They’re different when you’re different. - Speaking of songs/music.

It settles on a point, but I still spin, wondering where to go. - Reference to a compass.

Everything I dream of is simple and plain and every day.

My heart will always fly his name.

Do not go gentle into that good night…Rage, rage against the dying of the light. (Dylan Thomas)

Because the language was the best thing going for Matched in my opinion, I’ve got to give props to Kate Simses who narrated the audiobook version that I listened to from the library. She’s one of the better narrators I’ve ever listened to. Ironically enough, also very similar to Sarah Drew who narrated Delirium. She was easy to listen to without spacing out (meaning she wasn’t monotone). The inflection and emphasis in her voice was used at just the right moments. She was intense when she needed to be, and quiet and somber when appropriate as well.

Matched gets 4 Stars for being well written even if all aspects weren’t as well done as other books I've experienced. Have you read Matched? What did you think? Let me know!

*It's almost impossible for me to quote an audiobook correctly. I pause and play, pause and play, trying to get the words correctly. But punctuation and such is impossible to be 100% about it without seeing it in print.