Crossed by Ally Condie

It is easy to tell from the cover that Crossed is a continuation of Matched. For those who don't remember what has happened so far, in matched we were introduced to 17 year old Cassia on the eve of her matching banquet. It is the future and a very dictatorial government controls everything including what jobs its citizens will do and who they will marry. The matching is all supposed to be done by a very sophisticated computer system, but when Cassia's turn comes there is a problem. Just for a second, someone else's face flickers on the screen rather than her intended match. It is the face of someone she can't marry, in fact someone who has been outcaste, Ky.

Cassia becomes obsessed with finding more about Ky and can't help wondering if there was actually no mistake and he really is her perfect match. She is also determined to find out the real truth about the society in which she lives.

Crossed picks up shortly after where Matched left off, with Cassia searching the unfamiliar Outer Provinces for the man she loves with some help from the man she is matched to. Ky was supposed to have been taken by society to his certain death, but he has escaped, leaving a trail of clues. Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, plus a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and to Cassia's heart - change the game once again.

This episode primarily focuses on Ky and Cassia. It also adds some new characters and new alliances while leaving some of those characters featuring in the first book without mention. One of these characters is Indie, a girl Cassia teams up with and who it is clear can't really be trusted. Unlike Matched, the narrative rotates between Cassia and Ky and includes flashbacks into Ky's past, which unfortunately makes the book rather hard to follow, as both narrative voices are so similar.

Unfortunately Crossed seems a bit pedestrian, although still more fast paced than Matched, which I forgave for having to set up a rather complicated and different world. Where the first noel gave real promise for a series about free will and fighting an inherently unfair system, Crossed doesn't live up to the promise. There is far too much poetry, storyline about longing to be with a lover, and not enough revealed about the society to really hold my interest. I hope the third book in the series will hold more of the promise of Matched and less of the almost contrived love story of Crossed.

RRP $26.00
Published by Penguin Group under the Razorbill title

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Matched by Ally Condie

Set in the future, Matched occurs in a culture and civilisation that seems possibly as alien to us as things from our world seem to the inhabitants of Ally Condie’s creation. It is a world where cufflinks and compacts are treated as treasures though people don’t seem to know the exact purpose of them. It is also a civilisation where marriages are arranged by the local authority and where teenagers are matched at a ceremony at City Hall some time during their seventeenth year.

The society in Matched is a bit reminiscent of the one in George Orwell’s 1984 in that everyone lives in a very controlled society. There are curfews, people’s sleep and dreams are monitored, and the days are carefully mapped out with rules on what you can and cannot do with your time. Even things like music, poems, paintings and stories have been whittled down by committee to the best 100. It is even a society when death is pre decided by society. It is a society lacking freedoms, and for what purpose? Is it really a better society? Are people really happy living under the controls placed upon them?

It is also a society where people learn only what they need to and one that holds a mistrust of technology because it is apparently what failed the last society.

Enter Cassia Maria Reyes. On her seventeenth birthday she has been selected to attend her Match Banquet and also attending is her good friend Xander. While Xander is calm about the process, she is both nervous and happy. Neither will have met their match before, and their matches will also be waiting with no doubt some interpretation in another City Hall. The pictures of matches appear on a screen and each match is given a box giving information about the person they have been matched with. The boxes will later house their marriage contracts. It may not seem very romantic to us, but Cassia finds it very romantic. Then again, a lot about this society doesn’t seem romantic, the way matches are chosen, the way they get married at 21 so they can have children near the age of 24, the optimum age for fertility and the way most get to know their matches by memory cards.

It is unlikely that a perfect match is ever found in the same city, but For Cassia, he is. Her perfect match is selected to be Xander. She is the only one that has a selection from the same town. She is a bit distressed by a comment someone makes to her father though. Also she has the sense of loss in her heart because some of the anticipated mystery is taken away because they already know each other.

When Cassia puts the card in the port to read it though, something strange happens. At first it shows Xander as her match, but then the screen goes blank and it shows someone else. What could it mean? She has been led to believe society doesn’t make mistakes but how could she have two matches? She then finds out that the other boy, Ky should never been in the system. He is an Aberration and not eligible to be a match.

Cassia can’t help but think of the mysterious Ky, then when Ky sees Cassia reading forbidden poems her grandfather gave her on the night of his death, the two share a secret and are drawn closer together. Was the card right after all? Is Ky her match?

As can be expected with this type of novel, it takes a while to get into as not only characters but the civilisation and its rules must also be set up. It is well worth the wait though as it is a thought provoking novel about social engineering wrapped up in an intriguing love story. Some will see that many of the controls that form the basis for the society in this book are actually themselves based on and extrapolated from ideas expressed by some now. It makes the reader appreciate freedoms and the world we live in. Everything might not be planned for us but that is the enjoyment of life, to make your own way. Can Cassia make her own way in such a controlling and controlled society? As the poem she read asks, will she ‘rage against the dying of the light’ or will her words fork no lightning?

Matched is also a love story about a girl torn between two men she loves in different ways. Xander is her match, the one she is supposed to be with, the one she has known for-ever and the one she knows as well as she knows herself. Ky, however is mysterious. Before the mistake with the card, she hardly knew him at all. Now Ky reveals his story she finds herself falling for Ky too and longing for his touch. It is more thought provoking than a normal love story and readers will find themselves asking many questions about freedom and choice. It is an excellent, intelligent read.

RRP $26.00
Published and distributed by Penguin Group under the Razorbill title

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