MATCHED (Book Review)

 

This morning, I finished Matched by Ally Condie. I thought I would post a review of it.

Title: Matched, the first book in the Matched trilogy.
Author: Ally Condie
Genre: YA Fiction, Dystopia, Romance

Back Cover: In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die. Cassia has always trusted their choices, but she begins to question just how perfect her world really is when she notices things are not what they seem. As Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s infallibility, she 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.

What I liked: Unlike other popular Dystopia novels, Matched wasn't action and adventure. It was mostly quiet, but interesting. I loved Cassia's character change. At first, she was a pushover, never questioning anything. But then she changed. I loved the idea of the forbidden poems and cursive writing. It made Cassia and Ky's love story even more intriguing.

Cassia's parents love each other unconditionally, promoting and showing the beauty of traditional marriage. For a romance novel, it was clean. Cassia had a great relationship with her parents and younger brother. I loved the connection between Cassia and Ky. Ky was very thoughtful and sensitive. Even though they didn't know each other well at first, their love was believable.

What I didn't like: Cassia claimed she loved Xander, but I didn't see it. She was falling so hard for Ky. To make it worse, she hardly thought of Xander when she was loving Ky. Technically, Cassia was "cheating" on Xander with Ky. (though was never really chose him) She mentions that her and her friends played love games, despite the fact that they knew they were just games since they didn't have a choice on marriage. She said it involved kissing.

The dialogue was extremely telling, instead of showing. Some of the things were hard to understand. Cassia kept things from her parents.

Content: Cassia kissed Xander a couple of times... and Ky once or twice. In a video they watch, a man gets shoot. Blood is mentioned.

Conclusion: I've wanted this book for awhile now and didn't get around to until now. It showed me how you could write a romance without getting too sexual. Besides that, it was very clean. More than that, it showed how two people don't have to be like each other to have a successful marriage. I read that the second book is a little more on the sexual side. I'll have to think about reading that one, but I recommend this book!