Crossed by Ally Condie

First things First: Cover Art!

I really like the symbolism in the cover art. This one is Cassia, again in a bubble but this time a part of her has broken free. Shes going to get out of the bubble. I like the blue background with the bubble, it makes it simple and beautiful at the same time. 

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Summary:

"Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky--taken by Society to his certain 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 rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices everything to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game.  On the edge of Society, nothing is as expected, and crosses and double crosses make Cassia's path more twisted than ever." 

*******

My Review: 

Okay, I'm going to tell you a term that I coined a couple months ago because it's something that I've noticed happens with the second book or middle book of a series... 

Yes, it is second book syndrome. And boy does this book have it, and it has it bad... Second book syndrome is when the middle book of a series just isn't as good as the first. For this one the reason I think it has second book syndrome is because it's the middle book! Condie is trying to keep all the details for the last book and so this one is just more the characters getting from point A to point B and it left me without a lot of questions that I doubt will be fully answered in the last book. Now this book was good, don't get me wrong it just was not my favorite at all... I think my biggest problem with it is that Condie introduces both Ky and Cassia's point of view. Now I'm guessing that this is Condie's first experience with trying to write from two characters points of view. As an author who is working on a book with points of view from two characters I know how challenging it can be. In this case Condie just does not separate their personalities enough. Yes, Ky's point of view is more poetic and deeper than Cassia's in some cases however for the most part I found myself having to look back to the chapter heading to see whose point of view it was. I have already started the third book as I write this review and that one is from three points of view, so I'm hoping that that book improves this issue. I like the character development in this book it's interesting to get more back story on Ky and some secrets in this book were revealed that i thought were interesting but again, second book syndrome! To many revelations and not enough analysis of them done by the author for the reader. Sometimes the third book makes up for it and the first book in this series. In my last review I talked about how I wished we got more of Xander in this book.. We really didn't I want to hear more about him! It's to much of Ky... I mean this love triangle that is going on between Cassia, Ky and Xander just seems very lopsided to me because we don't have enough Xander and way to much of Ky. This book is beautifully poetic in some places, I like how the poetry mixes in with the story. I liked this book, however I just think it was to complex too soon. 

Rating: 7 out of 10. It suffered from second book syndrome, and I didn't like how similar the two points of view were. 

Content Rating: 2 (12-18). Some kissing, violence, and some content that is a bit to mature for younger readers.