Last December I read a book called Matched and wasn’t impressed. Here is its sequel. I was hoping that the author would find her purpose and her voice and the series would become stronger. Instead, the author tried to add another voice and another purpose, neither of which distinguishes itself from the original. If anything, the second book comes off as bipolar.
In Matched, we meet Cassia, a girl who decides to leave behind the life she has known because of a mistake in her Matching Assignment. She is matched with not only her best friend, but also another boy that she has grown up with. Choosing her best friend means to continue to conform to Society’s laws. Choosing the mistake, Ky, the Aberration, means becoming an Aberration herself, or worse, an Anomaly. Apparently, Ky is the love of her life and therefore, Cassia is willing to become a criminal in Society’s eye.
Crossed takes on a different format. We get to hear both Cassia and Ky’s point of view in alternating chapters. It is unfortunate, but they both sound alike. Despite the fact that each chapter is headed with the name of the voice you will be following, each chapter took a few pages to settle into who was speaking. Numerous times, I found myself turning back the pages to make sure I was listening to the right character.
Cassia is searching for Ky and looking for an opportunity to escape the Officials to join him in the Outer Provinces. Ky is in the Outer Provinces looking for an opportunity to escape the Officials and return to Society to find Cassia. It is amazing, that with such cross purposes, they actually run into each other in something as large as the Grand Canyon, if not the actual Canyon itself. Once they find each other, Cassia wants to go further and find the Rising, but Ky doesn’t. Ky has no desire to join the Rising. So after they finally find each other… they’re going to split up?
To add to the confusion, Xander, Cassia’s best friend, may not actually be who we have been led to believe he is. After all, it isn’t really a romance without a love triangle right? Xander seemed to be safe whereas Ky was the rebel. But once long-kept secrets are revealed, Cassia might realize that she had them mixed up. Does she have the wrong rebel?
It feels like the author hasn’t already mapped out her story. Perhaps she doesn’t have the answers yet. Nothing is concrete. Everything is vague. If everyone were as wishy washy as these characters, nothing would get done. And certainly no one would be galvanized to reach beyond their comfort zone to strive for greatness. Granted, the story would be done if the main characters were satisfied to have found each other. Turns out, they need more than love.
After all of their travels, both characters pretty much end up right where they started. Seems we could have skipped this middle book.
She gets one more chance.
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