seriously romantic: crossed by ally condie

crossed is the second novel in the matched trilogy. narrated by both ky and cassia we see the world beyond the confines of the society. as both ky and cassia navigate life in the outer provinces, where the society is barely fighting a war that never ends, using the endless bombings to eliminate the aberrations and anomalies present in society.

when ky sees a chance to escape into the carving, a canyon where anomalies, who actually go by the term farmers, are said to leave he does. his only goal is making sure he has a chance to see cassia again. cassia has been sent to a work camp, but when she sees the chance to get to the outer provinces, she does. even though she has to pretend to be an aberration to do it. and once there, she learns of ky's escape into the carving, so she follows him there.

and even though it takes a while, they do meet up again. and though they still love each other, they are not necessarily on the same page. one thing cassia has learned is that there is a rebellion, and she wants to join it. but ky grew up with a father who was part of the rebellion, and he doesn't trust them to save anyone. he only trusts the love he has for cassia. everything else is ephemeral.

cassia lives on hope in a way ky doesn't. he sees reasons to be skeptical, but cassia looks for the good in people. this is part of the push-pull of their relationship. cassia sees the good, and ky sees where it can all fall to pieces. but they love each other so much still. no matter what it is clear that they will do anything, go through anything to be together. and so wherever cassia goes ky will follow, and wherever ky goes cassia will follow.

the expanded world is interesting, and once ky and cassia make it to the rebellion it is clear that the next part will deal with how they will take everything that the society stands for apart. and i can't wait to see that.