18 March, 2016

REVIEW: MATCHED by Ally Condie

Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Series: Matched #1
Genres: YA, Dystopian, Romance
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Source: Library Physical copy
Pages: 369

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BLURB: In the Society, officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one…until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

Matched is a story for right now and storytelling with the resonance of a classic.

 
I know there are as many different opinions about this series as there are people who read it but I saw a hardcover of it in my library and thought I will give it like 50 pages try. Ended up consuming it very fast. To the end.


 
THE WORLD: So the world in this book is as dystopian as dystopian gets. It actually reminded me of Delirium in many ways but I prefer this world so much more. To me as a scientist it kinda makes sense. Now, what is so special? Well people here are literary matched. Like based on mathematical probability your life partner, your career and so on are given to you as your optimal choice. Makes sense, right? That is what I loved so much about it. This book is not evil, the society and the way it is done are not evil. It is just that mathematical probabilities may be correct on paper but not always work in real world. People can be unpredictable.

CHARACTERS: Our main character is called Cassia and is a teenager about to finish high school, get assigned a work position and is recently matched to the person she will marry in a few years. However, at some point instead of her Matched she sees another boy names Ky and well...hell or lets say hearts break lose. So okay, I actually really liked Cassia. I know she is this typical dystopian lead character we are so used to but after all the whinny characters who have to find their destinies this actually felt refreshing. Cassia is super smart and she starts seeing things that are not right. But she is not whiny. Oh my oh my how much I love characters who are not whinny. Plus I really liked the way author ended the first book and the way Cassia's character developed so far. Go Cassia! Alright, now the boys. So there are two here: Xander is Cassia's Match and best friend. He is actually pretty nice, not annoying goody boy too in love with our main character. And he is also not Gail. Plus! Ky on the other hand...I loved Ky so much, he just has something about him that makes me want to read about him and Cassia more. Basically yeah, give me the next book!

LOVE: As I mentioned and well the title of the book says...Cassia is matched with Xander but the mistake happens and she starts noticing Ky. Love is in the air basically, me liky liky.



PLUS: I am not sure what was it about this book but I really liked it and I cannot wait to get to the next one. I mean I get it is not perfect but I do not care, I am a fan of dystopian books. Plus, this is not exactly some stupid idea, mathematical probabilities ain't exactly fantasy.

MINUS: As of right now the only minus I can think of is that I don't have the second book.

OVERALL: So I read this like a month ago and more I think about it more I am sure I will get these books, like not just library copy but I actually want to own them. At least after book one so far.



 


What did you think of MATCHED?