(SPOILERS) Matched by Ally Condie - Review

Book Synopsis:

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 one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

Matched is a story for right now and storytelling with the resonance of a classic.

My Review:

3.75-4/5 stars. I really enjoyed this book! It was similar to The Giver and The Hunger Games, other books I love, although I like them more than this book. There were a few parts that were kind of slow towards the beginning that prevent this from being a five star rating, and I have a few other complaints but overall, it was a great book and a fun, engaging story. I will definitely read the next book in the trilogy.

I didn't have super high expectations going into this, because I had seen a lot of negative reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised. I really like dystopian books and romance books, so this was a great combination. The synopsis of the book was also really interesting, so it made me want to read it.

I thought the setting of this book, The Society where they all live, was cool. It was very similar to the setting of the Giver, except with more color. I also think that this Society is more futuristic than in The Giver, because it had air trains and everything was automated. In comparison, the setting in The Giver just felt more old-fashioned and rundown. The setting of this book gave it more of a sci-fi feel.

The characters in this story were fun. Our main character, Cassia, was pretty interesting. I wish, however, that there was more character development for everyone else who wasn't a main character. Even one of the main characters, Xander, didn't have too much about him. Some of the characters just felt bland and didn't really have much of a personality. Characters are one of my favorite parts of books, so I would've like to learn more about all Cassia's friends and family, and for them to have more flaws and quirks.

As for the romance, it follows a lot of tropes. Love triangle, friends to lovers, and forbidden love. Cassie had to choose between her best friend for life, or this boy she only knew a little bit about. As much as I love the best friends to lovers trope, I'm fine that she didn't end up with Xander in the end. There's also not much of a love triangle. It's pretty obvious throughout the whole book who she's going to end up with in the end. I feel like it would've been a better, more engaging story if Cassia had a lot of chemistry with both guys and had more of an internal struggle about them, that way it wouldn't be apparent who she prefers right away.

The plot was fairly exciting. It started off kind of slow and didn't pick up that much until towards the middle, but it was still fun reading about every day life in the Society before the plot really got going. All the chapters at the beginning where not too much happened were still good because I liked seeing all the rules of the Society and how much the Officials control and how little freedom everyone has.

The ending of the book wasn't very predictable, which I liked. I thought it was going to end with Cassia finding Ky and them fighting back against the government in the Society, but it didn't. It ended with Cassia being sent away to find Ky all on her own, with a little help from her now supportive family. I assume the sequel to this book will be about Cassia and Ky trying to find each other, which will be fun to read about.

When it comes to my age rating for this book, it was super clean and wholesome. For it being a romance, there wasn't really anything bad. There are a few kisses but they aren't described in any detail, just how Cassia feels about them. There's no bad language and nothing gory or violent, unlike some other dystopian books. The whole stuff about the Society making mistakes and not actually being as perfect as everyone thinks isn't super deep so I think a younger person might understand it. I'd say this is good for a 10 or 11 year old and older.