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Crossed by Ally Condie
3.0
Most of Crossed details the separate journeys Ky and Cassia take across the desert landscape of the Outer Provinces. However, we do get a glimpse into the different places the two started. Cassia’s place isn’t dealt with as much as Ky’s. I was left with the impression she was in some sort of detention camp. We knew Cassia was there under false pretenses to find wherever Ky had been shipped. However, I couldn’t determine the exact purpose for the camp outside of general punishment. It didn’t seem to sit well within my concept of The Society’s government, so I wish we had gotten a little more explanation.

Where we find Ky is much simpler in concept, so it didn’t need as much explanation; he and other young men were sent to the Outer Provinces to act as though they were still inhabited in order to fool some nebulous enemy. While there, we see how Ky is uses his middle-of-the-road talents to survive. From my reading, some of the kids looked up to him, but I read that as more as a result of him being one of the older people there than his leadership ability. One almost unspecific detail we get is that Ky is not fighting the enemy. Not that any of the deportees can, but we don’t see Ky as a perfect soldier. I’m glad about it because that would’ve made him too much of a Renaissance man, considering we’ve seen his drawing ability and his smarts.

We meet some new characters in this book that I wasn’t sure about to begin. For example, Cassia is joined by Indie, a girl from the work camp that manages to sneak off with her. At first, I thought she wouldn’t be with the story more that a few chapters, but I found heer being a contrast to Cassia and a diverse female character to include. In fact, she reminded me of Ky in a way. It was nice to see a female character exhibit these knowledgeable/capable traits and abilities we had only seen in some of Condie’s male characters up until this point. I severely hoped she wouldn’t be a childhood friend of Ky’s, sent to add more drama to their love triangle with Xander.


Speaking of Xander, he wasn’t featured much in this story, though this time there was a reason whereas the first book had none. He does get referenced, though, and I found myself wishing we got a larger look into the relationship Ky and Xander had. There isn’t much detail, but they do seem to be relatively close friends. One of the only real memories we get of the two of them involves Cassia and leads me to believe they’ve always had a rivalry when it comes to her affections, which is just boring and doesn’t even make sense when they know they’ll get matched.

As much as I wish the love triangle was a more level playing field, Condie did include a tidbit from Ky’s POV that I wish more authors of YA love triangle would take note of: “This isn’t a game. He’s not my opponent and cassia’s not a prize.” I sense a change in the relationship dynamics coming once the three of them are reunited.

Additionally, Condie has little moments throughout the survival story where she paints Cassia and Ky as equals. As much as modern YA couples are equals, there always seems to be a shift in power from one side to the next depending on the situation. However, now broken out of the shell of The Society’s making, Cassia has shown that she can do all the things Ky can and Ky doesn’t feel like he has to stretch to provide for her.
Counteracting this complex development, is the most 2D move from the most 3D character, Ky. Towards the end of the book, the group is deciding if they should continue out of the territory or try to locate the rebels offshore. Ky is against it from his experience with his dad desperately wanting to be The Pilot, the rebel’s leader turned mythological figure. This was a great backstory based plot point for Ky, but he changes his mind to whatever Cassia wants to do not a handful of paragraphs later.


I ignored his poor arguments in favor of theorizing who The Pilot was going to be. At first, I thought it would be nice for Vick to be connected, given his leadership qualities and thought it might’ve been one of his parents. Then, Indie - not a childhood friend - seems dead set on the idea that Ky is The Pilot, which kind of made me want her to become The Pilot instead. I think I ended at wanting Xander to be The Pilot in some twist of folklore. Mostly, I wanted The Pilot to not be a real person, a real leader of the rebellion. I wanted it to be a myth to inspire a single person to take the actions needed to change the story.


Overall, I like this book more than the first, which I guess is a good thing for a series. The pacing was better timed and there was actual stakes to the plot. Cassia’s and Ky’s not-actually-forbidden romance is not the main focus of Crossed, rather their story of survival and budding rebellion is the point. While not stand-out, Crossed has gotten me re-excited for the final novel.