Book Review of CROSSED

     Since I read Matched about a month ago, I have been excited to read Crossed, the next in the series by Ally Condie.  I literally read it cover to cover while on a flight to Maui.  It passed my flight time quickly and I hardly noticed the near 6 hours sitting in an airline seat since I was enjoying the book so much.
In Italics is the except from the book cover, the rest of my review is NOT a book spoiler for those who haven't read this yet.

"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 rebellion.  But even as Cassia sacrifices everything to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game once again."

I have to say when I looked at the map at the beginning of the book, it reminded me of some red cliff area's in Southern Utah where I once lived and spent many of my day's exploring.  I had to laugh later on when I read the "About the Author" portion that said she was inspired by Southern Utah for this book.  Because of this, as I read the book I used pictures of canyon's I have hiked, rivers I have rafted and slot canyon's I have done canyoneering in.

This is what I envisioned
As they went through the
Canyon's and sandstone caves:)

A few things I enjoyed about this novel, was finding out a little more about Ky and Xander's past.  I also loved the continued love triangle, particularly because in my opinion each of these guy's Cassia could choose are both completely different but equally great guys.  Although I will admit I have been a Ky fan since the beginning:)

As for the novel itself holding up against Matched...  Well I must admit although I enjoyed it, mostly because Matched was one of my favorite novels of 2011.  I didn't feel it held up to what I had hoped it would be.  Although it is always hard for a sequel to hold up against a previous best seller.  But with that said, I STILL highly recommend it and you will enjoy the read!

Plus, if you've done any hiking in the red canyon's of Southern Utah, then you'll have several places to reflect on as Cassia and Ky make their journey's through the canyon's, caves and desert plains.  And if you haven't been to these places, well I've attached a few pictures of places that I have been to that came to my mind as I read, feel free to think of these as you read Crossed to bring the pictures a little more vivid in your mind.

This area may or may not be what the author had in mind for the river
in the novel.  But for some reason this is the area I pictured.