Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie

Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie 

Released November 30th 2010

Spoiler Free Review by Krystal

"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. "

It's a nice teen dystopian story...and has big potential...but I was disappointed! Maybe because I loved Hunger Games and I wanted for this one to be the same...I don't know!

Cassia lives in a perfect world. The Society controls the lives of the people. What they read, what they eat, whom they love. Everything. In the past horrible things happened. The people lived in disorder, but the Society arranges everything now. Cassia is happy with her life, with the Society. She does not think a lot about the rest and she does not ask herself many questions. But only until her Matching-ceremony. She knows her ideal mate, but when she sees a different face on her chip her world is turned upside down. 

Cassia starts to ask questions, she starts to doubt and to think. Seriously. Finally, she sees, that Society has its own dark secrets and that the life the people have is far away from being perfect...

Matched drew me in with it's unique summary and beautiful cover, unfortunately that is where my fascination ended.

I wanted to like this book.... actually I wanted to love it, but I didn't. I had a very hard time getting though this novel. I even had to take a break from it completely, and I only kept reading because of the encouragement from my cousins, insisting that it would get better. It didn't get a whole lot better for me.

Cassia lives in a dystopian world where marriages are arranged, because somehow, the people in charge have been able to find other peoples’ soul mates by plugging in information into a computer. Does anyone find this as improbable and ridiculous as I do? Nothing and no one can predict human nature, especially not unfeeling machines. The author attempts to convince us that they can, but instead, leaves a neatly hidden plot hole.

For example, let’s look at the logic in this situation.
For her Matching event (or whatever it’s called), Cassia chose to wear a green dress. According to the society:

“That’s the one you were most likely to pick,” she said. “Your personal data indicated it, and so did general psychology. You’ve picked things outside of the majority in the past.”

From this, we can conclude that Cassia is listed as “picks things outside of the majority”. Picking things outside of the majority has to do with personal taste, and not just for the sake of being different. Cassia doesn’t know what the rest of the girls have picked, so how can she choose the dress that it outside of the majority? 

…

Exactly. She can’t. In real life, it would only be a matter of time before she picks something that corresponds with everyone else’s choice. It is not possible to be outside of the majority every single time, unless information has been provided beforehand (which in this case, has not). Therefore, the author’s claim is not valid unless Cassia knew of everyone else’s choices before she made her own. If you pay close attention, you can find lots of small details that don’t really make sense.

Also, as many other have pointed out before me, the concept of being matched means that there cannot be any homosexual people. I find the author’s discrimination offensive. 

The Society wasn't explained very well. Why is The Society there? How did it come to be? Why the current precautions? Why are there people that live in The Society and others that don't? There is a war going on? Why? Where? With who? I had more questions than anything.

On the night of the Match Banquet...we learn that Cassia's match is her best friend, Xander. Ok, so this is a friends-to-lovers romance. But something happens the next morning that throws everything off.

"Ky shows up on Cassia’s microchip and therefore Cassia endangers her life and the life of everyone around her to be with him."

She has barely talked to him, yet when his picture shows up, she’s suddenly all excited to know him and kiss/stalk/cuddle. 300 pages are all about Cassia trying to talk to Ky (and failing miserably most of the time). 

Cassia disregards Xander’s feelings and just runs off. Not that Xander is much to begin with, but it was incredibly selfish and stupid of Cassia to do such a thing. She’s the epitome of selfishness. Cassia is actually warned by the society to stop doing whatever she’s doing with Ky, but she ignores them even though they threatened her family. As for Ky, I have no idea why he likes Cassia and why Cassia likes him. Their relationship doesn’t develop overtime, and their whole relationship is based on “special looks filled with meaning” that are exchanged between them. 

Speaking of Ky, I have absolutely no idea why he’s shunned out of the community. I remember some explanatory paragraph, but it made absolutely no sense to me. Just like many other things in the book didn’t make sense to me. 

Finally, the writing. It was extremely bland and average. The author made no attempts to make the prose beautiful or appealing in any way to the reader. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. It’s right there on the mediocre line; just good enough to pass inspection, but that doesn’t mean that the reader will enjoy it. It could have been much better if the author put more work and effort into it. 

Don't get me wrong, I love Dystopian reads––this is not a bad book. I liked this well enough, but feel that it's a little slight in plot and structure; I also wasn't enthralled by any of the main characters. . I liked some aspects of it (like the thing where everyone has three pills ... I'm too tired to explain it, but if you've read it you know what I mean. That was a cool idea.) Overall, it's a quick, entertaining read, but not a particularly deep or memorable one. This is one of those rare occasions when the film might actually be better than the book.

"Once you want something, everything changes. Now I want everything. More and more and more."

To answer the unasked question…

Will I be reading the next one?
Maybe? I do not like to not finish a series.

Purchase: Amazon