Review: Matched by Ally Condie

Book: Matched by Ally Condie
Pages: 366 Pages
Publisher: Dutton

Date Released: November 30, 2010

Grade: A
Source: Bought

Synopsis:

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.
The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

My Thoughts:

  I haven’t read any of Ally Condie’s previous novels so Matched was basically an introduction to her writing for me. Let’s just say I’ll definitely be reading more of her books in the future.

  Matched is a dystopian novel so I found it interesting to learn about the future in the book. All people were skinny, healthy, beautiful, and most of the time happy. Also, if you’re eligible, when you die you have the chance to be reborn (they take a sample and save it until they find a way to bring people back from the dead). In the beginning of the story, the main character Cassia believes what the Society tells her is true. Then, she goes to her Match ceremony and finds out her Match is Xander (her best friend). While looking at his data card, she sees a picture of someone other than Xander as her match (Ky Markham). I like how she starts to question if the Society really knows best.

  Xander and Ky are so different and yet so much alike. It’s a love triangle, but not really because in this first book, Cassia spends most of the pages getting to know Ky and (maybe) falling in love with him. I’m definitely team Ky for this series. He’s smart and he’s willing to risk it all to be with Cassia. SPOILER He even shows her how to write in cursive. Sweet huh? SPOILER OVER One thing I didn’t like about the romance in Matched was that Cassia was always obsessing over Ky. In her tests for her job placement, she’d screw up because she was thinking of Ky. It got a little annoying after a while.

  Overall, Matched is a beautifully written book that shows that nothing/nobody is perfect and that everyone/everything has some flaw to them. I really suggest that everyone reads this book.

 Grade: A