Review: Matched

Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Genre: YA Dystopian


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. --Goodreads



There is no question that I am a huge fan of dystopian reading. I am immensely fascinated in the worlds and characters the authors create for this genre, often finding many of them scarily realistic to what I hope would not be our own future lives.


I had a lot of conflict with Matched though. It was good and I read through it rather quickly--engaged and interested in what was to happen next. But what led to this world? What made this society as it was from the first page I began reading? I felt letdown in the fact that I didn’t get a glimpse of an explanation to this, and it made it feel a bit unrealistic. Normally, I find answers through wars and climate issues, or some other explanation, but with not a bit of this kind of backstory to explain how the society “came to be”, I felt left in the dark and detached unfortunately. Just too many unanswered questions for me at the end as the reader is what I’m saying.


Overall, the characterization developed was particularly nice. I adored the growing romance between Ky and Cassia, as well as the bonded friendship between Xander and Cassia. Yes, there’s a love triangle… but it wasn’t done annoyingly and by the end, I felt a strong pull that there really was only one man Cassia was truly interested in anyway… so I didn’t really get the sense of the triangle too much. The idea of the pills are interesting and scary at the same time. The thought of having the government make you carry around three pills all of the time, one in particular that you have to take if you are ordered but unknown to its effects, is a bit frightening. This made me think a lot about our own problems today with constant pills getting shoved at us for every little problem and issue and I admittedly may have symbolized it a bit with that.


Matched is not a Dystopian that is high-action/action-packed like you may expect or would see in something along the lines of The Hunger Games or Divergent. I wouldn’t even compare it to those. It’s entirely on its own, with its own style, appeal, and unique story.


Entertaining and engaging. I look forward to reading Crossed in the near future to see what happens next!


3.5 stars!