Crossed by Ally Condie

Rules Are Different Outside The Society...

Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky--taken by the Society to his sure death--only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life and the enthralling promise of a rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices everything to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game once again.

Narrated from both Cassia's and Ky's point of view, this hotly anticipated sequel to Matched will take them both to the edge of Society, where nothing is as expected and crosses and double crosses make their path more twisted than ever.

I hated this book.  The first one was ok, but this was just literary torture.  From bad poetry to repetition of the obvious this book lacked everything a dystopian novel should have to keep the reader interested.

I'll start with things I liked so this review doesn't turn into a rant.  The cover was pretty, who doesn't like blue?  And the backround characters...well just Indie really.  She seemed the most real out of all of them but even that was a stretch.  I just admired her I'm-leaving-with-or-without-you attitude.  She was the only one with survival on the brain, and ultimately the reason the book kept going.  She kept them all alive. 

Now for the things that I was not a fan of:  the plot, the main characters and the poetry.

Plot:  There wasn't one and yet it still managed to be slow.  It was like the author tried to free-write and figured a story would just appear and she could work with that.  Ky and Cassia have to find each other, then the Rising.  That's it.  They meet some people along the way and read some bad poetry.  But essentially no one is chasing them.  They keep mentioning how Society is going to find them through tracking devices and such, but no one ever comes.  So there's no rush.  No reason to keep the story moving.  No one told Ms. Condie that a threat isn't a threat if it's not enforced.

Characters:  I wasn't a fan of Cassia in the first book, but Xander and Ky were alright.  I take it back now...Ky is made into a sissy in this book because Ms. Condie decided to do a double POV.  Ky, Cassia, Ky, Cassia--it was too much and they had the same voice anyway so I don't understand the need for the change ups.  They love each other, we get it.  MOVE ON.

And lastly,
Poetry:  I don't like poetry to begin with but I have respect for it. I hesitate to call the crap in this book poetry.  People that can express themselves through only metaphors and rhymes would probably love this book because it doesn't go much deeper than that.  I would put an example here to illustrate my point but that would mean opening up and re-reading this terrible book.  I just can't do it.

I read this book 2 months ago and I was wondering how I forgot to review it...then I remembered how awful it was.  I warn all of you who enjoyed Matched...this is not even close to that level of futuristic intrigue.  It is a step back into the stone ages.  So unless you enjoy reading a dystopian book that could have happened at anytime in REAL history don't pick this up.  Seriously...don't.

***SPOILER***

Cassia and Ky find the Rising and they just send Cassia right back into Society!!  So essentially this entire book was POINTLESS.  They found each other just to be separated again.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!