Matched and Crossed by Ally Condie
Grade: 7+ (very clean overall)
Pages: (Matched): 366 (Crossed) 367
Description: (from Goodreads)
Matched: 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.
Crossed: In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake. Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever
Thoughts: Eh.
I liked Matched okay. I read it just before or just after (I can't remember which) Delirium by Lauren Oliver and they had a very similar plot lines which means that the writing just had to be phenomenal to rise above one or the other. I wish I wasn't comparing the two, but I can't help it, I read them together and really, they have the same plot-line - how can you not compare them?!
Matched was decent. It was entertaining and didn't take me too long to finish. I enjoyed reading about the world. I enjoyed Cassia and Ky's relationship, it developed naturally and was interesting. I even think the dreaded "love triangle" was done well. It made sense, it didn't feel gimmicky. That's about all I have to say about Matched. Which is the problem. It's several weeks later and I can barely remember it. There was nothing that stuck with me, other than it was a lot like another YA dystopian book I read around the same time.
When I started Crossed I was actually confused. That's how little I recalled from the end of Matched. I gave Crossed 150 (very slow) pages - about 50 pages more than I normally would have (I already felt committed to the characters because I had read Matched). It was so slow to start with. It shouldn't have been either. There were tons of action and a really scary scenario, but it just did nothing for me. It took forever. I just couldn't get excited about reading it at all. I finally gave up.
Bottom line: there are A LOT of dystopian (romances) out there so you have to stand out from the crowd. Matched and Crossed just don't (for me). They aren't bad, but they aren't stellar and with so many great dystopians out there, I just couldn't justify finishing Crossed and I won't be reading the next one in the series (trilogy? is it a trilogy?) either.
Matched was decent, but didn't stand out from the crowd (2.5-3 stars) and I didn't finish Crossed. This series just isn't spectacular enough to compete with the dystopian heavy hitters currently out.
