It's unusual, but the second book in the series is better than the first. Not that Matched was bad, but Crossed was much better. The first book was slow-paced and took its time to unravel the characters, of what we know about them, anyway.

Crossed was fast-paced, action-focused, romance-driven, and revealed a lot about Cassia and Ky, and Xander for that matter. Xander had a very little role in this book, but we learned a lot about him from the other characters. Crossed is broken up into point of view changes; we see the story from both Ky's and Cassia's perspectives.

Not all the information in the book is new, which is good for a sequel as a reminder of the main events of the first book. However, Condie shows this previously mentioned information from the opposite perspective, making it interesting. I loved when she brought in old scenes, but showed them from Ky's point of view instead of Cassia's. We see much more of the story line that way and it's a great window into Ky's personality.

I rated the book 4/5 stars because, while it's a strong book, it still seems to lack the depth of a higher-caliber young adult book. It's still a light read, considering the nature of the book. It came a long way from the first, so I'm excited to see what Condie has in store for us for the finale.

This book is focused on adventuring through a series of canyons called The Carving to find the rebellion. We learn so much about the characters and get introduced to new ones that we learn to love. As with the first, the descriptions of the settings are vivid and I feel as if I'm there with them. Ally Condie has an amazing writing style and she uses dialogue to her advantage. I love the way she doesn't put in unnecessary scenes. Every line she writes has a distinct purpose.

Onto the next one!