Book 29: Matched

TITLE: Matched
AUTHOR: Ally Condie
STARTED: June 26, 2012
FINISHED: July 2, 2012
PAGES: 369
GENRE: Young Adult

FIRST SENTENCE: Now that I've found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night?

SUMMARY: [From BarnesandNoble.com] 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 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.

THOUGHTS: In my continuing quest to read all the Hunger Games bandwagon books, I started the new(ish) series by Ally Condie. So far, it's tolerable. This book did not have the action of Collins' books, but the world building was very interesting.

Where Hunger Games is all about physical action, Matched is far more subtle. Its about motives and society. The interesting part of this book is not the love story... which I am still very wary of, but how Cassia fits in The Society. It's almost a book of motive - why do people act and react they way to do according to society's dictates. In that regard, this book is very readable. I could take or leave everything else. I'm just not won over by the love triangle, writing, or secondary characters. There is just nothing that special about them. I am, however, still intrigued as to how this world evolves and plays out in the rest of the series. I want to know how this Society came to be, why they acted as they did in the past, and why things are heating up now.

Will I still keep reading the series? Of course.

Do I think that's a good idea? I'm not sure...

RATING: 5/10 [Meh]

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