I was fortunate enough to be able to read Matched and Crossed straight after each other and I'm so glad that I did. Having been left with a major cliff-hanger in the first book, I was very anxious to continue Cassia's story in Crossed. With good pacing and a lot of action, it's the perfect sequel, complete with yet another annoyingly tantalizing cliff-hanger!
The story continues straight on from where Matched left off, which I liked because there was no guessing as to what had happened between each book. Cassia and Ky are separated from each other at the end of Matched, and Crossed is all about them finding each other as well as themselves. Both characters change and grow immensely in this instalment of the trilogy and that was just as exciting as their expedition through the canyons, on their way to find the rebellion against The Society (known as The Rising).
Crossed is written from both Cassia and Ky's perspectives in alternating chapters. This technique doesn't always work in novels but here it fit in perfectly with the story. We get to fully discover Ky as a character but still have Cassia's side of the story too, which is an aspect that I enjoyed.
Throughout the story we meet new characters that are completely different to those in Matched and each brings a new dimension to the story. I liked the mystery of Indie, the innocence of Eli and the darkness of Vick. The setting of the story also takes a drastic turn compared to the setting in Matched and it showed that there were some dark parts of the seemingly 'perfect' world in which the characters live. The pacing, overall, was good. It did slow down in the middle but soon after it picked up again. The writing was very descriptive and all the characters were engaging and evolved throughout the book.
Be warned though, there is yet another cliff-hanger at the end and I cannot wait to read the next instalment of the series. Crossed has made me an even bigger fan of Ally Condie and I look very much forward to discovering how she wraps up the trilogy.
(Stephanie reads and blogs about YA books here)