We left Percy Jackson and the Olympians with Percy using his gift from Zeus to ensure that all demigod children would be claimed. It’s a promise that would definitely help a lot of their kids to, you know, not die. However, Zeus does not promise anything more than that. So, while there’s the added benefit of all demigods knowing their parentage, they are now at a disadvantage by not having any support from anyone’s godly parent. This is a huge withdraw, especially when you look at someone like Percy who seems to communicate more than average with Poseidon. However, it feels a little more like the ancient myths where the gods would only sometimes intervene in behalf of their offspring.

Like I said in my review of PJO, Riordan takes care to intentionally write characters of color into his stories. It stems from his beliefs that kids deserve to read stories about themselves. There are some critics to his efforts, though I wonder what they would think of Riordan introducing a more colorful main trio in The Lost Hero. More than that, their identities are going deeper this time. Their race becomes more influential to their personality like with Leo’s relationship with his Tia who’s not his Tia and Piper’s experiences with being Native American. 

While Riordan continued to expand the kinds of kids who present as demigods, he also fleshed out some of his previous characters. I was particularly pleased with Aphrodite. We saw how she has a bit of strategy locked in her brain, but Riordan didn’t sacrifice any of the shallowness that we expect of someone who is a goddess of beauty. I also enjoyed meeting Hephaestus. All the other gods we had previously met seemed to be pretty confident in themselves, but then Hephaestus get nervous talking to his own, mortal son.

I also think meeting his dad was really important to Leo’s own growing confidence.</spoiker>

Out of the main trio, I think Leo was my favorite. I think it’s because he seemed to have the most complex thoughts and world view. I’ve spoken with a few of my friends who have read the series and they found Leo’s humor grating. I can admit it was over the top, but I’ve got a soft spot for the jokester with a tragic past.

Besides, I was 100% more interested in Leo’s struggle with losing his mom to the Dirt Lady than Jason’s amnesia. Mostly because Jason never seemed out of place enough to make recovering his memory worthwhile.

As much as I loved Leo, I can see why Jason is the main character in this tale. He has that sort of hero charisma that Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and Katniss Everdeen have. Though he might not have remembered it, there was veiled notions that Jason was a leader of some kind back wherever he was from. Add on the fact that he’s been specially chosen by Hera, Queen of the Gods, as she’s been trapped (and maybe even before that) and you got the makings of a boy wonder. There were a few times throughout the book that alluded to Jason’s last name being “Grace”. Which can’t be a coincidence that Thalia’s last name was also Grace. Though, if they were to be siblings then it would throw the whole “don’t apply DNA to the Gods” thing for some kind of loop. It would be interesting to see how the two consider themselves related if they technically have the same parents.

The Lost Hero was a good setup for the new world Riordan was trying to introduce. It wasn’t so different from PJO that readers had to waste time learning an entirely new mythology and method. The story itself wasn’t all that impressive, but I understand it was all necessary as a means of introducing a new world and new characters. It existed in the world of the original series, but, like the characters, I think the story has grown up. 

After surviving the barren wasteland that lays in the outer provinces, Cassia, Ky, Indie, and even Xander have taken up their place among the resistance. They wait for a signal from the mysterious Pilot to begin the overthrow of The Society. But, when the rebellion seizes control, they will find out everything is a lot more complicated than they would have imagined.

There is a bit of an undefined time jump between Crossed and Reached. We left our mains at the home base of the resistance, off the coast of The Society. We rejoin them in the various places they’ve been placed to aid in the rebellion. Ky remains with Indie on what I called Pilot’s Island, where they themselves were training to be pilots. Cassia and, surprisingly, Xander are at work within The Society. Both of them used the functions of their jobs to help the resistance’s plans. We join them in their wait for the rebellion to begin, for a signal from the Pilot.

And then it happens. And there’s havoc. And then it’s over.

The good news is: this book definitely felt like a conclusion and it offered some more twists within the subgenre that I saw why it stood out as a book to recommend. The bad news is: there were still parts of this book that felt like they fell short of what would’ve made a really good book.

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.

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.

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.

Matched by Ally Condie started off in an unexpected way. I felt like readers weren’t properly introduced to The Society. We’re introduced to Cassia and Xander on their way to the Matching Ceremony, which is the story’s initiating event. I kept trying to get into the world Ally Condie created, but it wasn’t deep enough to immerse myself in it.

While the narrative was quick to go to it’s catalyst, it took an unusually long time for readers to meet Ky in person. The strange slowburn had me questioning if Ky had any feelings towards Cassia at all, or if it was just in her head. That would’ve been a delicious wrench to throw into the classic YA Love Triangle, but alas, Ky had always been sort of in love with Cassia. The fact that Cassia and Ky knew each other from childhood also had a weird dynamic. In the early stages of the book, it seemed like they knew about each other but weren’t close, but later it felt as though he was a part of the core friend group. It made it even weirder that we learned about Ky from an Official, instead of Cassia going over her memories of him.

Even after we met Ky, it took a second to see his personality. It took awhile for me to warm up to his character, though I continued to dislike how Cassia described him. Out of everyone introduced, he was the one most connected to the past (our current day), probably from his outer territory upbringing. However, what he shared of that always seemed to be connected with his adoration for Cassia. I found that such a basic, boring schtick to assign to the most realistic character of the novel.

This was in contrast to what we saw of Xander. Readers met him immediately and you picked up on his personality quickly. However, despite being best friends, we didn’t see much of him in this book. It made the love triangle awfully lopsided. While love triangles always have an element of predictability, this one was obvious just because Cassia never really had a romantic connection with Xander. Don’t get me wrong, Condie tried to write one, but it leaned too heavily on the “Safe Nostalgia of Childhood Friends” Factor. Cassia just seemed hesitant to give up her life as she knew it in general, not that she was choosing between two boys.

Given less “screen time” than Cassia and Ky, Cassia’s family make for an interesting mix of characters that I hope become bigger players in the story to come. From her grandpa to her little brother, each member of Cassia’s family that we meet performs small, silent acts of rebellion. None are outright disobeying, per se, but they rebel in unexpected ways. My favorite is Cassia’s grandpa gifting her the words of two forbidden poems. Condie sets up a world where poetry is the language of radicals.

As I encountered the watery world of The Society and characters that I wish had more meaningful depth, I almost considered abandoning the series. However, Condie kept me intrigued with the promise of more intricate elements. The biggest point of interest for me was the red pill, and how the Society told them never to touch it unless told by an Official. I assumed it was something deadly, but instead it wiped your memory of the time leading up to taking it. The three pills - for sustenance, calm, and memory loss - were already interesting. Then, Condie shows that some people are immune to the red pills and can remember what the Officials don’t want them to remember. I believe that to be quite deadly, actually.

While I had many issues with the characters and world building, there was just enough intrigue included that I didn’t want to abandon the series altogether.