Allyson Braithwaite Condie

Seventeen-year-old Cassia sacrifices everything and heads to the Outer Provinces in search of Ky, where she is confronted with shocking revelations about Society and the promise of rebellion.

Crossed

Very different from Matched. It was in an entirely new setting, with the characters changing and new characters are introduced. There was so much more poetry and less action. But it was somehow refreshing from the perfect, dependent life Cassia lived in the Borough. 

I actually liked the new characters. As Ky takes part in the Rising, he teams up with Eli (who reminds him of Bram) and Vick. I liked them a lot because they were both really brave, especially Eli who tried hard not to be a burden to the adults. I think Eli is going to play a huge role in the next book and I'm very excited. Cassia also makes a friend (?) along the way, Indie. They escaped together from camp, but I really dont think Indie qualifies for a friend. Along the way, she steals from Cassia and feeds her lies, at the same time helping her survive in the wilderness and actually having some concern for her. I still havent made up my mind about her. And, OMG, her love interest is really unexpected. 

Now, let us talk about Cassia and Ky. I was very disappointed with both of them here. There were lies, selfishness, insecurity, and so much uncertainty between them to the point that they almost broke up. Of course, every pairing should go through tough times once in a while.

I also missed Xander very much, because he is still my favorite character okay. Although he was mentioned quite a lot of times in flashbacks and random scenes. There is also A HUGE REVEAL about him, totally mind blowing and surprising. I hope we'll see a lot more of him in Reached because I was really unsatisfied.

I was impressed by Ally Condie's prose. She makes amazing prose, seriously. They are the most beautiful things ever, very inspiring. This is one of the reasons why I adore her very much. I cannot wait to read the third installment, but I really shouldn't get my hopes up.

Stefanie  Uwah

Reading Crossed made me forget why I even liked Matched in the first place. I'm confused as to how Ally Condie could go from a 4-5 star author (in my opinon) to being a 1 star author. Yesh. 

Characters: I don't see Cassia as a rebel. She hardly even knows what she is fighting for. She wasn't spunky enough for me and I really didn't see anything special about her like Ky did. Speaking of...I thought he was kind of a jerk/dick/selfish human being. Now I know I'm being a bit harsh, but really? He lied and kept things from Cassia and that just wasn't cool. At. All. I didn't understand his relationship with Indie. He liked her but didn't like her. It was weird. And I didn't get why Condie made Indie turn out the way she did.(Spoiler Alert!!!!! Read At Own Caution!! Why oh why did she have to fall "in love" with Xander? I put quotes around that because there is no way I can believe she truly loves him. She didn't even know him! Only knew about him through little facts. made no sense.) I liked her in the beginning but in the end...not so much. 

Plot:lolol. There isn't one. Like, seriously. It is nonexistent. The story is just how Cassia and Ky will make their way back to each other and, once they do, what they should do next. They are not fighting against anybody in particular, just Society, which is really vague. I thing Condie should have taken a hint from Suzanne Collins and made a bad central character, like Collins did with President Snow. That way, there would be a specific person to actually be afraid of, somebody that actually makes the calls and controls things. Because The Rebellion or Rising (whatever it was called) seems to have no focus. What, really do they plan on doing? But this problem could just be because of the writing, which I will get to next.

Writing: I strongly disliked the writing. It was anticlimactic and INCREDIBLY BORING. Condie did not make huge difference between the voice of Cassia and Ky. The seemed, pretty much, to be the same person. The inner dialogue with Cassia and Ky was one huge epic simile/analogy. It was overkill. I didn't like all the flashbacks nor did I like all the poetry. And I could not picture the world around them. How big did The Society's influence reach? Was this just one small section of the world or was the whole world controlled by society. Where and Why did all the provinces come about? How did Society even manage to gain power? 

Other Stuff: Because I became so detached while reading, I began to notice miniscule things. Like when Ky and Cassia first meet up, Ky says/thinks, "Her hair smells like sage. Her skin smells like home." Ummm no it doesn't. She smells like sweat, garlic, and onions--and not in a good way. She has not washed for days and there has been not one mention of deodorant usage. Funky is her scent. There is no reason to deny it. Lastly, Cassia is talking about how she loves seeing Ky wake up. Ky then proceeds to open up his oh so gorgeous eyes and leans over to kiss Cassia. Umm sir? You didn't brush your teeth yet. Get thy mouth away from my lips. Please.

Verdict: 1/5 Stars. Don't even bother. Really. Just don't

Ofelia

** spoiler alert **
           
Devo avere qualche problema perché trovo che l'unica cosa interessante di Cassia sia che abbiamo lo stesso colore preferito (il verde) per il resto è anonima e sopratutto noiosissima. Ky non mi ispira niente, preferisco Xander a lui e questo la dice lunga dato che la scrittrice fa di tutto per far preferire al lettore il personaggio che ha già destinato alla sua protagonista (infatti Xander in questo libro c'è per due pagine).
Ammetto di aver trovato questo libro di una noia mortale, tanto che ho dovuto abbandonarlo per un po' e riprenderlo. Cosa che ammetto non mi ha aiutato molto, quando l'ho ripreso quasi me lo ero dimenticata tutto ed erano passate solo un paio di settimane questo la dice lunga su quanto mi abbia preso.
Il personaggio a mio avviso più interessante, Vick, muore subito ed in maniera assurda cosa che non mi ha fatto alzare l'amore per questo libro.
Forse è anche colpa del fatto che "Matched" mi era piaciuto davvero tanto e questo seguito non è affatto alla sua altezza. Poi non mi piace che si sveli pochissimo della trama, in pratica è un'allegra scampagnata questo libro. Ogni tanto si nomina il segreto di Xander, che poi non svelano se non prima della fine del libro e che non è la bomba eclatante che uno si poteva immaginare vista l'attesa e visto quante volte è stato nominato (insomma cose come "xander è una donna!" avrebbero fatto molto più effetto XD).
Comunque ho faticato a finirlo, non so se leggerò mai il finale della trilogia.

Tracie McMurray

Not as good as the first one. But still worth reading if you want to continue with the characters.

Sean Valencia Monte

This book was pretty much a let down. There was so much potential and it was definitely thrown in the trash. The events that took place was good but it felt as if the book was dragged. The suspense was not really as frequent as the previous book and fell short of 3 stars. I got bored towards the end and just skimmed through the last few pages.

Leah Patton

I liked this, but that's it. It was ok. I loved Matched but this didn't follow through. Another character is added and is transformed from a minor character to a major character; it seems, in one page. Also, this character is mean and rude and conniving but everyone seems pretty ok with her, attributing it to her personality. This annoyed me to no end because being rude is not a personality trait. Also, this book seems to allude to a love square in the next book, and this might be a personal thing but I absolutely hate love squares. Ally Condie, why did you have to turn a perfectly entertaining love triangle into a perfectly horrible love square? I mean, it's all up to you, it is your book and I respect your writing abilities, but I really hope there is no square. I am perfectly fine with whatever boy cassia doesn't chose to be left to mourn and cry forever. In fact, I prefer it this way. Adding another girl just invites a tone of petty fighting and cattiness.

Amy Grieve

I have always loved the idea of the world Ally Condie has created and add the fact that lately I have had a yearning to go dystopia crazy. It was a good read.

I liked this book but it didn't feel like it didn't have enough content. The entire book wasn't as plot driven as I would have preferred it to be and was totally driven by the characters. There's nothing wrong with that it just made the book go a lot slower a various points.

One thing that also really surprised me about this is that I don't have any opinion about who she should end up with in the end. I would like her to end up happy with Ky, but either way as long as there is at least a mildly happy ending for Cassia I'm all good. 

I can't and am not disappointed with this sequel but I do feel there was still a lot of improvements to be made. I hope that the final book in the trilogy will have a dramatic conclusion and bring me more excitement.

Jeni Enjaian

I succumbed to the temptation and checked out the final two books in the series. As frustrating as the negatives I'll discuss below are, I found myself fascinated by the book, drawn in, almost unable to put it down. That rarely happens for me, thus the fourth star.
The biggest negative for me was Condie's lack of connection between some of the events (Cassia's relocation to the work camp for example.) While Condie's "vagueness" is what has drawn me in, it's extremely frustrating. At times I wonder if she's purposefully keeping it this vague because her own conception of this world hasn't been fleshed out entirely and she's making it up as she goes along. (If that's the case, she's doing a pretty good job.)
I have a feeling that I might ultimately be let down by the finale. Regardless, I have enjoyed this series and rank it as one of the better young adult distopian fiction series.

Danielle H.

ella

How is this the sequel to Matched? 
This book was so bad compared to Matched, it took me a while to finish it. I probably won't read Reached, because Ally Condie's writing style is not my favorite.
When I read her books it feels like I'm reading something for school. Her writing style is kind of boring and it doesn't keep me reading. 
No more Ally Condie books for me.

Wren Hardwick

** spoiler alert **
           I want to start by saying how big of a fan I am of dystopian worlds. Anyone that can come up with a different way of living, believable or not, and make it interesting has my respect as a writer. Even if I personally don’t find it interesting, I give the author props for sticking their head out there and letting the world read their mind-baby

I have completely the entire series and plan to rate all of them accordingly.

I am not a fan of this series, though it does have some aspects that I do like.

There is so much poetry in this series. I am not a huge fan of poetry, but I do like small doses of it. This series does not give you small doses of it. I’m pretty sure it is half of the book. Which may be something you’d like, but personally I am not that big of a fan.

I am sad to say that sometimes I would get bored. In my down time, I like to read. When I had downtime while reading this book, I dreaded it. That’s what it got me to/

I know young adult books are big on the “love at first sight” thing, but Cassia didn’t even really look at Ky until she saw that they could be matched. And now she is traveling the world to find him even though she doesn’t really know who he is? All she knows is he knows how to write and he likes poetry too. 

What this story tells me is that if you love someone, you should give up all principles and do whatever they are doing. Cassia wants to join something and Ky doesn’t because the thing she wants to join did something terrible to his parents and he isn’t sure that they are good. So what does Ky do? He decides to drop everything because being with Cassia is the only thing that matters.

Is that really the message we want to send out to young people today? I hope the rest of the world realizes that isn’t what you should do and sticking to what you believe is more important than forming yourself to fit with something else.

Basically, this series is about how love is quick and you should do anything to keep it. 

As I said: not a fan of this series (personal preference). If you like it that’s phenomenal and I am happy for you. I hope it brings happiness to some people out there!

Crossed

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