Search - Matched (Matched, Bk 1)

I got an advanced reading copy of this book through Librarything's Early Reviewer program. The cover of this book is just stunning and caught my attention immediately, when I found that is was a dystopia I was even more intrigued. This was a very good book. Think of it as Brave New World for the teen crowd.

The book starts with Cassia going to her Matching Day. Matching Day is where all the seventeen year olds are presented with the picture of the person that they are a genetic match too; this is the one and only person they can marry and raise a family with. Cassia's Matching Day is unique instead of being matched with someone from a different city she is matched with someone she knows very well; this is something that almost never happens. Then when she gets home to look at his datacard she sees his picture and then up pops a picture of another boy she knows. It appears she has been matched to two different boys. When the Officials claim it is all a mistake, Cassia is shaken. In a society where they predict the dress you will pick to wear, the order you will finish in gym class, and your vocation ahead of time and with great accuracy, how can they make a mistake this big? As other strange things start happening in the City Cassia begins to question the perfection of the world she has always believed to be utopia.

This was a very creative and well thought out book. Cassia is easy to like and it is interesting to follow her path from happy innocence to inquiring unease. This book reminded me a lot of Aldolf Huxley's Brave New World; although not as crazily strict as the society in Brave New World, there are similarities. People's vocations are predicted early on, no one is allowed to live past the age of 80, and beneath the polished exterior of the City there are many dark secrets. Some people have been comparing this to the Hunger Games; but I don't see a lot of similarity between the too. This book doesn't have much action or violence (Cassia is a peace loving girl at heart) and the people here are living in happy ignorance not destitute conditions. The only similarity is an organized government controlling every aspect of these people's lives.

Of course there is the teenage love triangle going here. Cassia is stuck between her original Match (Xander, a boy perfect in just about every way and a good friend) and the accidental Match (Ky, a boy who is dark, moody and tortured, who draws her in a way Xander doesn't). Ky was a wonderful character full of depth and intriguing. I felt like Xander was neglected though, he kind of fades in and out of the story and doesn't have a ton of depth to his personality.

The book is very engaging and hard to put down. Condie gradually introduces more and more events that are a bit off; as a reader you can see things coming to a head slowly but surely. The writing was very easy to read, it was a bit simplistic at times, but overall I enjoyed it.

I am not sure if a sequel is planned for this book. The story is fairly complete at the end but there are things that could be further expanded on in a future books. I would love to see another book where the City starts to crumble and things come to a head between the Outer Lands and the City.

Overall this was an excellent read. It was like Brave New World, but with romance and aimed at a teen audience. If you like dystopias you will love this one. There isn't a ton of action but the plot is suspenseful, intriguing, and though-provoking. If there is a sequel I will definitely be picking it up.

Cassia's Society is perfect. The Society's Officials calculate all the data and give you what's best for you: your job, your food intake, and most especially your Match, the person with whom you'd be perfect and raise a family.

At Cassia's Matching ceremony, she feels glad when her best friend Xander's image appears as her ideal mate. However, a glitch in the software reveals another's image: Ky, a reserved boy in her neighborhood with an unusual history. Cassia can't help but feel all the more attracted to Ky as she learns more about him. With things starting to crumble all around them--tense, missing Officials, mistakes that should not have been made--what does the future hold for Cassia and the two most important boys in her life?

MATCHED is quite possibly the most highly anticipated YA novel of late 2010. While MATCHED does not quite live up to all its hype, it is still a relatively powerful dystopian work that will keep you up late reading.

The most stunning part of this book is its world-building. It is all too easy to do a half-assed job of creating a frightening believable future world. Thankfully, Ally Condie is no fool, and the world of the Society is one that thrums with realistically nervous energy. The world is laid out for us from the first chapter, told with an almost hypnotic narration. I don't think I've seen kind of dystopian worldbuilding this convincing since Lois Lowry's The Giver.

While the writing was fantastic, I felt like there were pieces missing from the characterization and plot. I enjoyed Cassia's relatable wavering between being the perfectly obedient citizen, the way she's been her whole life, and daring to question and doubt. However, I found that I wasn't able to connect with the developing romance between Cassia and Ky the way I wanted to, the way the story needs readers to in order for everything to be justified. Ky is an interesting character, to be sure, but neither of them did much throughout the story. I understand that under such a heavily surveillanced Society, it would be almost impossible for Cassia and Ky to develop love the way we know it, but still. That was what the story needed to do in order for everything else to fall into place, whether it's near impossible or not, and unfortunately that aspect didn't pull through for me.

MATCHED is a highly accomplished work of literature. Ally Condie quite obviously has a wonderful way with words, though the story part feels slightly lacking. I will hope that future installments in this series up the stakes in order to grab on hard to me and never let me go.

This book is amazing. After reading it, I recommend it to everyone. Even those who are not normally drawn to post-apocalyptic or dystopian. If you are ever in a swap with me in the games forum, and have this on your WL, rest assured I will get it for you! If it is on someone's WL, I feel like I would be depriving them, if I didn't pick that book to send. It is that good. Like others said, you start reading to see what its all about, then next thing you know its 2am!

Matched is a dystopian novel reminiscent of Lois Lowry's The Giver. We meet Cassia on her seventeenth birthday. She is heading to her match banquet to find out who her perfect match is going to be. The society has perfected these matches to ensure healthy offspring. The matches are done in the year of the person's seventeenth birthday. The courtship lasts until twenty-one. At that point in time, the matched couple can perform a commitment ceremony. Children are expected before the age of 31. Only matched couples are allowed to have children, but people can choose to be a single and not be matched. The Society seems to be in control of everything. Officials destroy everything from the old ways, ensure that only sanctioned plants are grown, control how food is prepared and sent out to citizens. They even control when people die (at 80). Anyways, Cassia's matched, but there seems to be an error when she looks at her data card. Her match shows up, but then another face shows up. This is when things get strange. We follow Casia threw her journey of learning about the Society, and both of her matches. We see her fall in love and learn about the sacrifices that she is willing to make for it.

We overall opinion of the book was that it was good, but just not gripping to me. I kept thinking back to The Giver and it just can't compare to that. There were too many similarities, so it was really hard for me not to compare. I just didn't like Cassia. I never felt like I was within her character like I usually do. I'm very fickle I suppose. I usually love very plot driven stories, but I noticed through this that I love very plot driven stories with relatable characters. I didn't ever feel like Cassia. Going through her whole journey of love, I never cared that much about her feelings. Everything about her seems too superficial and she is supposed to represent the awakening character. It's sad that I never really felt her development because I really like this idea. I wonder if my students that have not read The Giver would like this story better than I did. From a teacher perspective, this is a great book to have in my library. It has no bad language or sexual situations. It questions society and starts to show someone how to keep their eyes open to what could happen. Just like any dystopian novel, it focuses on the warnings of being too compliant. I think that is a good thing for teenagers, they are starting to form their own opinions about life. I would like to encourage that questioning, and dystopian novels are a good, safe way to do that. Even if I didn't particularly connect with Cassia, hopefully someone else will.

Read my review at http://bourg.info/2012/04/04/matched-by-ally-condie/

I really enjoyed this book it had me hooked from the begining and wanting more as I went on. I would have given this book 5 stars if it wasn't for the ending. I won't go into detail so that I don't giveaway anything. :) Definately a good read and I'm glad I decided to venture out of my comfort zone to read this novel. I really related to Cassia on all levels and I think that most anyone can find at least on character in this book that portrays them.