Saturday, September 18, 2010

Book Review - Matched by Ally Condie

MatchedMatched by Ally Condie
Release Date:November 30, 2010
Pages:384 pages
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Summary:Cassia has spent her entire life trusting the Society. When she attends her Matching ceremony and her perfect mate turns out to be her best friend Xander, Cassia puts her trust into the Society again. That is, until she gets home and pops in the infocard on her Match, and another face shows up. Society blames it on a glitch in the system, but Cassia isn't sure. Now she must choose between the Society she's always trusted, and the guy who she might truly love.

I was lucky enough to win this book on a contest on Shannon Messenger's blog, and, let me tell you, this is one of the best books I've read all year.

First, let's talk about the world building. Ms. Condie has such attention to detail, down to the type of flower planted in front of the school. Even though it seems impossible that anyone would ever want to live in a society where all of your choices are made for you, even who you eventually marry, Condie made me believe that all these people liked it. She had me convinced that an entire group of people were willing to give up their basic freedoms just so they could live a comfortable life without worry about how to put food on the table, if they'd get a job, and if they'd get married.

Next, I want to touch on Cassia. She is a very strong character, and if she didn't have a natural curiosity, I think she would have just accepted the Society's explanation of the error and moved on. But no, Cassia starts to wonder about why such a glich would happen when in her previous 16 years nothing like that has ever occurred.

Last but not least, you have the guys. First there is thoughtful, dependable Xander. Then there's mysterious Ky. Both boys have their positive traits, but I think I ended up liking Xander better.

Matched is an excellent book with a dystopian theme. Fans of The Hunger Games and Uglies would most likely enjoy it.

RELATED LINKS
  • Preorder Matched on Amazon
  • Add Matched to your goodreads shelf.
  • Some more reviews of Matched: See Heather Write, Anna's Ramblings, Frankie Writes
  • 2 comments:

    1. I don't think I could be more excited about his book. I love Condie.
      Thanks for the review!

      ReplyDelete