Crossed (Matched #2), by Ally Condie

I adored Matched, the first book of the series, and when it finally arrived I was stoked.  I started reading it as soon as I could, and I was pretty riveted by the suspense.   I loved how Condie kept me on the edge of my seat and the agony that I experienced in those pages reminded me of the second book of the Earth's Children series, Valley of the Horses.  Just like Valley of the Horses, although you can see it coming from the beginning, it still seems like Jondalar and Ayala are never going to find one another.  Crossed has that same feeling, you can see it coming from a mile away, but it feels like it's never going to happen.  

I was excited that we got to see into Ky's mind a little more in Crossed.  We were fed bits and pieces of his story throughout Crossed, and by the end of the book I felt like I knew him better, although I still wasn't sure if I truly understood him or Cassia.  Condie's characters seem to have this strange lack of commitment to any particular way of thinking.  I feel like I can't quite trust any of them, because I don't really know what is in or out of character for any of the main characters, despite being 2/3 of the way through the trilogy.  We also were introduced to several new characters in Crossed, but I don't feel like I'm really any closer to knowing them either.  We did learn some unexpected and very interesting things about Xander, that I hope are explained in the final book.

Condie did manage to surprise me a few times throughout the story, but I have to admit that I felt letdown once the suspense was over.  It was sort of anti-climactic, after the stellar lead in.  Despite the lack of excitement near the end of the story, I still hold out a lot of hope for the final book in the Matched Trilogy.  I'll definitely be tuning in to read Reached, when it comes out next month.  I'm hoping that Crossed just fell into that difficult "middle child" slot that often plagues trilogies, and that the "baby" will be as amazing as I thought Matched was.  

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