Book review: 'Crossed' continues 'Matched' story with adventure, survival story

When she was growing up in the Southern Utah community of Cedar City, Ally Condie's family would go camping practically every weekend.

"There is a lot of geography people are super-familiar with," Condie said of The Narrows and the other canyons in an interview with the Deseret News. But there are many other features that people don't know about.

Most of "Crossed," the second in her young adult dystopian "Matched" trilogy, is largely set in the Carving in the Outer Provinces, which was inspired by the canyons Condie loved growing up. "Crossed" (Dutton Juvenille, $17.99) will be released Nov. 1.

Even though it's a rugged place, "you can sustain life," she said of the canyons. It's part of the area's pioneer heritage, as many of the pioneers came across the plains and then were assigned to settle rugged and untamed areas.

"They were very resilient," Condie said of the pioneers.

In "Matched," the first book in the dystopian trilogy which was released last November, 17-year-old Cassia lives in a suburban neighborhood with her family and goes to work and school like many of the other teenagers she knows. Through research, Society has figured out the parameters of a pleasant, healthy life, including that everyone should dress similarly, be provided with food for optimal nutrition, and be told how long to live and whom to marry. Extras like music, poetry and art have been narrowed down to an approved 100 in each category.

Cassia is matched with her classmate Xander, but when she sees someone else in the information she's given about her match, she starts to fall in love with Ky and realizes for the first time that she possibly has a choice.

However, someone from Society is always watching. Ky, who is from the Outer Provinces, lives with his aunt and uncle in the neighborhood from the Outer Provinces and is labeled an "aberration," so many people steer clear of him.

"The first time I typed 'Outer Provinces' I knew where that was," she said Ky's home.

In "Crossed," Ky has been sent back to the Outer Provinces for what appears to be certain death in skirmish with some unknown enemy. He manages to survive and escape with friends to the Carving. Cassia goes looking for him and manages to track him down to the Carving.