Matched

Today's post is on Matched by Ally Condie. It is the first in her Matched trilogy and is 366 pages long. It is published by Dutton Juvenile. The cover is gray with a girl in a green bubble pressing her hands on it. The intended reader is young adult but if you like dystopian stories then you will like this book. There is no sex, no language, and no violence in this book. The story is told from the first person perspective of the main character Cassia. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the book jacket- In the Society officials decide. Who you love, Where you work. When you die. Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one... until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no ones else has ever dared follow- between perfection and passion.Matched is a story for right now and story-telling with the resonance of a classic.

Review- I went into this story expecting one thing- a dystopian YA just like all the others in the market right now. That is not what I found. Matched is more like The Giver than Hunger Games and I love that. The story is slow to build. In terms of action not much happens but I liked the slow burn. Cassia slowly goes from happy Society dweller to someone who will not go gentle in that good night. The two love interests are both good characters and likeable. Xander is nice and understanding. Ky is trying to survive The Society but be himself. Both do things for Cassia's character over the course of the story. The character growth that happens is slow but it feels so natural. I believed in Cassia's changes because they were not over night. I liked that it took time for Cassia to see the cracks in her Society. She just did not wake up one morning and see everything wrong with the world. It took her time so that she could see more and more of the wrong. It took time for her to feel frustrated that she could not do anything to change it. If you are looking for a fast-paced, high action book this is not for you. But if you want something that is natural, interesting, and different from the fast-paced then you need to read this book.

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this book with my own money.