I recently finished reading Crossed by Ally Condie, it is a sequel to Matched. This was about a brave, warm hearted girl named Cassia, who was born in a close to Utopian Society. She didn't know anything besides this life and didn't think to look for it, until she met Ky. He was an aberration, or a person in a lower social class than Cassia. Ky was from the outer provinces and very intelligent. They fell in love, though Ky was sent back to the outer provinces to fight the Enemy. Cassia fearlessly followed, and eventually found him. Together they joined a rebellion against the Society called the Rising. Though Ky did not want to because his parents were killed a while ago when attending / orchestrating a meeting about rebellion when a firing occurred, he still did it because he loved her. They had their ups and downs, but they stuck together and participated along side the Rising.
In the beginning of the book, Matched, Cassia was a perfect Society girl. She did what she was told and didn't cause trouble. Everything she did was average and perfectly normal. Though once she met Ky, her character began to change. She began to become very curious. She even fell in love with him, even though she was matched to her best friend, Xander. Cassia and Ky started breaking rules without the Society finding out, which was very unlike the early Cassia. Though I think her curiosity got the better of her. Then in Crossed she took this new, brave attitude to a whole new level by sneaking her way to the outer provinces to find Ky. This shows a ton of character change over a gradual period of time. I think that Cassia took such a big risk to rebel against the Society because she was extremely mad at them for lying to her, her whole life. She was also scared of what they might do to her if she returned to her home after had running away. She also wanted to prove to herself that she was not the little Society girl that everyone she met along her journey suspected her to be.
I think that the author's lesson, or purpose, is that we can't let the government take control of everything we do. We cannot let our freedom be taken away from ourselves for 'the good of the country.' I also think that Ally Condie was trying to prove that utopias are impossible, as well as 100 % agreement on everything is impossible. So to even try to achieve a perfect world is not going to work out. There will always be people who rebel, or people who disagree. They help keep everything balanced. I truly think that Ally Condie is an amazing writer. Her use of description is truly unbelievable. Every time I opened Crossed I felt like I was transported to the Society. She used amazing sensory details. For example, "A feeling of unreality settles over me like the light of late afternoon that spills over the canyon walls." I also loved how she alternated perspectives of Cassia and Ky every other chapter. Condie is a beautiful author and I adore reading her books.
I think that one of the themes of Crossed is to think for yourself, and don't always do what people tell you to do. Make your own judgements and to not be afraid to do something against the flow. You only have one life, so might as well make it last. This was shown when Cassia completely rebelled to find her love and fought her way through tough conditions, mentally and physically, to do what she thought was right, join the Rising.
I greatly enjoyed reading this book, and I am sad that it ended so quickly. I would also definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a good romance and science fiction.
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