Title: MatchedSeries: Book 1 in the Matched trilogy
Author: Ally Condie
Release Date: 2nd December 2010
My Rating: 3/5
Blurb:
Watched by society.
Trapped by rules.
Freed by love?
On her seventeenth birthday, Cassia meets her match. Society dictates he is her perfect partner for life. Except he's not. In Cassia's society, officials decide who people love. How many children they have. Where they work. When they die.
But, as Cassia finds herself falling in love with another boy, she is determined to make some choices of her own. And that's when her whole world begins to unravel.
My Review:
Cassia is the kind of girl who has always followed the rules, always done whatever society has deemed best for her. But all that changes when she starts to rebel and question parts of her life. While this is a story set in a dystopian society where someone has decided to go against the rules, this is not an action based story (although I can't speak for the sequels). Rather, it focuses on one girl and her moral/internal battle that she has over what she has always believed is right, and what happens when she starts to question it and think for herself. It is the kind of story that you get caught up in and you find yourself feeling so angry at the society on behalf of the characters. They are so oppressed and I found myself hoping for more and more instances of rebellion but it just didn't really happen. I think I wanted Cassia to take more action rather than her just worrying about it. I think the ending has set up the sequel for more aggressive action but I'll just have to wait and see.
Obviously the main focus of the story is Cassia's relationship between her match, her best friend Xander, and Ky, the quiet outsider. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into either of the relationships. I felt Xander's feelings for Cassia but her feelings towards him didn't feel real. Neither did Ky and Cassia's feelings towards each other. They just kind of suddenly decide they are in love. There wasn't really an in-between and it didn't feel real enough.
I do like each of the characters individually; Cassia's parents, her grandfather, her younger brother Bram, her friend Em and, once separated from their romantic entanglements, Xander and Ky. There is a lot of potential for her family in the sequel because, as you will find, their lives take some dramatic turns as well.
In some ways this story is reminiscent of The Hunger Games but only on a small level. I don't feel Matched will appeal to boys. It is a love story, a story of secret rebellion but without much action. I am very interested to see what Condie does with the sequel, but I guess I now have quite a while to wait.
But, as Cassia finds herself falling in love with another boy, she is determined to make some choices of her own. And that's when her whole world begins to unravel.
My Review:
Cassia is the kind of girl who has always followed the rules, always done whatever society has deemed best for her. But all that changes when she starts to rebel and question parts of her life. While this is a story set in a dystopian society where someone has decided to go against the rules, this is not an action based story (although I can't speak for the sequels). Rather, it focuses on one girl and her moral/internal battle that she has over what she has always believed is right, and what happens when she starts to question it and think for herself. It is the kind of story that you get caught up in and you find yourself feeling so angry at the society on behalf of the characters. They are so oppressed and I found myself hoping for more and more instances of rebellion but it just didn't really happen. I think I wanted Cassia to take more action rather than her just worrying about it. I think the ending has set up the sequel for more aggressive action but I'll just have to wait and see.
Obviously the main focus of the story is Cassia's relationship between her match, her best friend Xander, and Ky, the quiet outsider. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into either of the relationships. I felt Xander's feelings for Cassia but her feelings towards him didn't feel real. Neither did Ky and Cassia's feelings towards each other. They just kind of suddenly decide they are in love. There wasn't really an in-between and it didn't feel real enough.
I do like each of the characters individually; Cassia's parents, her grandfather, her younger brother Bram, her friend Em and, once separated from their romantic entanglements, Xander and Ky. There is a lot of potential for her family in the sequel because, as you will find, their lives take some dramatic turns as well.
In some ways this story is reminiscent of The Hunger Games but only on a small level. I don't feel Matched will appeal to boys. It is a love story, a story of secret rebellion but without much action. I am very interested to see what Condie does with the sequel, but I guess I now have quite a while to wait.
