Poudelivre

Dystopian young adult novels seems like a never ending category with more and more books of the like for ever passing month. Ally Condie is one of the many authors who has written a dystopian trilogy, with Matched as the first book and Crossed its sequel. I read Matched a few months ago and I was interested but not really intrigued. Though I couldn’t help to pick up the second book, for no other reason than simply wanting to find out what happens do Cassia and Ky. In retrospect, I’m glad I did.

In Matched we met Cassia, Ky and Xander and was introduced to their world, called the Society. In Cassia’s world there are three way of living. As a citizen, an aberration and an anomaly. Only citizens gets the perks of life in the Society and one of those things is getting the chance to be matched with someone. Cassia is matched to one of her childhood friends, Xander, and is so very happy when she sits down to view the micro card she’s gotten, with information about Xander, only to see another boy’s face on the screen. Ky Markham, a guy who lives on the same street as her and who happens to be an aberration, thus not being allowed to get matched. But his face is on the screen in front of Cassia and as the days pass by, she realizes that she’s falling in love with the wrong boy.

Matched ended with Ky being taken away from Cassia’s life to be sent out to the Outer Provinces by the Society. Cassia decides to do what she can to find him, knowing it will be practically impossible and that he's probably dead but not giving up either. Because you don’t give up on true love. In Crossed Cassia starts her search for Ky, working in the Outer Provinces herself, but without a clue as to where Ky might be. On the last day in her work camp, Cassia escapes with her friend, Indie, to continue searching for Ky. She soon realizes that he is indeed alive and has even left clues which she follows, trying to find a needle in a haystack but certain that every step she takes is one toward Ky and not from.

While Matched seemed almost dull and even got me tired of Cassia and her almost blind way of seeing the world, Crossed was anything but. For me, it was a giant step up. The novel focuses on Cassia trying to find Ky, and since every other chapter is written out of Ky’s perspective there’s a lot of insight in his character as well, and you get to see the Society in a different way. Cassia does no longer seem blind and ignorant, she seems compassionate and determined  to get exactly what she wants. Even though things seems impossible, she never gives up. And that’s very different from the Cassia in Matched. She got everything served on a platter from the Society; her food, her job, her husband. She didn’t have to work for a single thing because as a citizen, she had every right to have all those things. But in Crossed Cassia is leaving the Society behind, trying to solve the mysteries surrounding her world. And, all of a sudden alone out in the real world with no Society to protect her, Cassia is forced to take care of herself. And out of the shell of that ignorant girl in Matched steps a brave, powerful woman who sees something and goes after it instead of waiting for someone to give it to her.

Crossed was, I won’t call it action packed, but rather filled with things happening. Comparing the first and the second book and I would go so far as to say that Matched is just the book where the reader gets to know the characters and the story in itself. Crossed is the one where things really starts to move forward. There’s the obvious question of Where is Ky? followed by Will Cassia find him? But also others like What is the Rising? and Who is the Pilot? and What’s beyond the border of the Enemy? These are question I asked myself while reading and questions Cassia asked herself as well. The end of Crossed leaves everything hanging in the air, a great way to set off the final piece of the trilogy, Reached.

The two reasons that made me dislike Matched was that the story seemed dull and that Cassia was ignorant. I still read the second book, to give Ally Condie and Cassia another chance and I’m glad I did because Crossed was all that I was hoping Matched would be. Now there’s no question whether to continue reading or not; I want to find out what’s going to happen and I intend to do it soon. I just really hope Reached is a step up from Crossed and not a step down to Matched.