"Why are some things easier to write than say?" -Matched by Ally Condie

I honestly did not like Matched and would give it 2 jellybeans. No, I didn’t hate it, but I really did not like Matched. Some people really enjoyed this story, though, so don’t let me scare you away. Keep reading for reasons why I wasn’t a fan of Matched by Ally Condie.

Centuries have passed since the people living on Earth were allowed to pick what food to eat, sing songs, paint pictures, or even write a poem. Cassia only sees perfection in the world she lives in. All decisions are made for her by professionals, statistics, and calculations. Her spouse will be chosen for her. The time when she dies will be chosen for her. Her occupation, free time, and everything else under the sun is not up to Cassia. And since all decisions are made using statistics, they cannot be less than perfect, right? On the day of her Match Banquet, the event in which her husband will be shown to her for the first time, Cassia is thrilled. And maybe a little nervous. But when her childhood friend Xander is Matched with her, Cassia cannot be happier. At the first available opportunity, Cassia goes to look at the information on Xander. Only, another face also appears. Ky. But when one love is perfection and the other is forbidden, Cassia must find out if she finally has a choice. Or if she’s being manipulated.

The premise of Matched isn’t bad. It definitely reminded me of the Giver by Lois Lowry. The book is set in a “utopian” society ruled by…the Society. And everything that the people do or have is chosen for them. Similar to the Giver, everyone is totally chill with not having their own choices. The clothes they wear is a specific color, so no color blindness like in the Giver. The thing that I really didn’t like was how obedient Cassia was compared to Jonas (did I get that name right?) from the Giver.

Cassia. Okay. When I first heard her name, I got a little excited. I know a lot of characters named Cassie (the 5th Wave in particular) that are absolutely amazing. They are super strong and smart and fight a ruthless society for the people they love and it’s great! Cassia is not like that. She honestly frustrated me because she is apparently really smart and really analytical, but she’s reckless and stupid and not even for the right reasons. This book reminded me more of the Elite due to its love triangle that seems pretty weak but spends the entire book to get worked out only to crumble towards the very end.

The plot was also really annoying. It didn’t go anywhere. I kept waiting for Cassia to do something or a bit of conflict to arise, but it felt more like a dystopian romance story than I expected. Usually when I think of dystopian, there’s some society that clearly needs to be overthrown. Check. And the main character gets really hyped to take them down sometime in the near future. Yeah, no. Cassia doesn’t seem to have anything wrong with the Society other than she thinks they’re slightly unfair for their treatment of Ky. Not even the other workers. Just. Ky.

And the entire book is very poetic and the writing is beautiful, but it goes nowhere. I’m not going to read the next two books because I don’t really think I need to. I did not enjoy reading Matched as much as I had hoped based on other reviews and recommendations I have seen.

Don’t let my sour attitude towards this book stop you from reading it, though. If you liked The Selection or Twilight or The Hunger Games, there’s probably something in this book you’ll enjoy. And Cassandra Clare (amazing author of City of Bones) seemed to definitely enjoy Matched if that helps.

Formula: Dystopian + Indecision + Love Triangle + Freedom = Stolen Artifacts

#katie #scifi #death