Book Review: Matched (Matched #1)

Matched by Ally Condie

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Synopsis:

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 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.

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~SPOILER ALERT~

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I am very intrigued by this Society that Condie has created. I really like this world. Not like it in the sense that I would interested in living in such a world, but it makes for a good read. I find it interesting how they believe that they have everything planned out so perfectly, including the age at which people die. I can’t help but find it cruel to kill everyone on their birthday, but maybe that’s just me.

From the first book I guess you can have one of four statuses in society:

• Match – where you are paired by the Society
• Single – where you can choose not to be matched
• Aberration – which occurs when you or someone close to you commits an infraction. This prevents you from the ability to be matched
• Anomaly – considered dangerous. So how does someone get qualified as this and what do they do to them?

I like Cassia and her parents. I like that she’s open minded and that both she and her father are a little rebellious.

Ky seems like a good person. He’s obviously had a hard time but is still a great guy. I’m interested to keep reading because the second book looks like it will be duel perspectives and if you know me, you know how I love multiple perspectives.

I don’t know how I feel about Xander. I appreciate that after everything, he is still helping Cassia find Ky but I do kind of feel bad for him as well. I’m interested to see what role he plays in the rest of the story and if he starts to fall in love with someone else.

I also want to know if Em shows up in the rest of the story. Maybe she ends up with Xander?

I predicted that someone was purposely messing with Cassia but I didn’t think that all of the Officials were in on it together. It makes me wonder why they would do it as an experiment and why they didn’t think that it would harm them by encouraging her to rebel.

Overall, I liked the story but I’m interested to see how it ends (other than the overthrow of the government) but for now I still have a few questions. Why don’t the red pills work on Ky and Xander? What happened before that caused the Borough to have to take them? Where is Ky?

I give this one 3 out of 5 stars

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Next I will be reading Crossed.