Author: Ally Condie
Series: #1
Genre: YA/Dystopian/Sci-fi
Rating: ★★★★ (3.5)
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 with complete certainty that 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.
When I first read this book, it was soaring with the spirit of femininity. The main protagonist, Cassia Reyes is blazing with it. In a Society that's controlled, full of rules and regulations in belief of achieving a perfect lifestyle, Cassia becomes a little rebellious here - All because of one slight malfunction in her Matching card
It's so hard to review this book without having to say any spoilers. It's your typical perfect-boy-loves-perfect-girl-until-perfect-girl-meets-mysterious-boy-and-decidedly-falls-for-him kind of flick but added with hints of your average sci-fi and dystopian themes. Xander has been described as a handsome teen usually being fallen for by the other girls their age, and is Cassia's bestfriend and unexpectedly (though cliche-ingly) her match. Cassia then meets Ky, an Aberration and a childhood acquaintance. She gets curious of what Ky's past was so her curiosity leads her to know Ky better. And I'm probably not the only one, but I kind of found it similar to The Hunger Games series with its characters and setting.
All I can say is that I really smell the scent of a Peeta-Katniss-Gale kind of love triangle here! And the further you read the book, the further you'll hate the Society. (Similar to how you'll hate/have hated the Capitol). The way the Society was run wasn't that all original, but I guess it was somehow interesting.
I've also been hearing a lot of mixed reviews on this book, and somehow I'm in between because I've found a lot of good points and bad points of it. I kind of hated how undecisive Cassia was, regarding her feelings and whatnot. Though I've got to admit that the scenes between Cassia and Ky and Cassia and Xander were pretty sweet, so that's a plus.
I also hated how strict the Society was just so the plot could continue. I felt that during the first half of the book it was so slow paced, like everyday Cassia would just do, talk, and wonder about the same things over and over again; and then in the latter half of the book everything was happening so fast that they started to be messy.
Matched was a fun read but then again I didn't enjoy a few aspects of it. I'm still however looking forward to reading its sequel, Crossed.
