Matched by Ally Condie

 

Matched by Ally Condie

         Condie, A. (2011). Matched. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780142419779

          🚨Content warning: death of loved one, tyrannical government🚨

         The Society is known to be perfect, ever-knowing, and never making mistakes. That's why when 17-year-old Cassie is Matched with her best friend, Xander, she's ecstatic; until another face appears on her screen. Confronted with the mistake, Cassie is forced to reevaluate everything she knows and must make a choice, Xander or Ky?          

         Matched was published at the perfect time. Published in the high of YA dystopian novels, the year after Mockingjay, the year of Divergent, Matched fit right in. Readers couldn't get enough of the dystopian setting, and Matched was no exception. In Matched, readers get to read about the love triangle, the controlling government, the chosen one, and a character with a dark and twisted past.; all tropes add up to the perfect dystopian novel.

Reading Matched brought up many fond memories because I read it when it was published in 2011, and I remember loving it. Between then and now, 12 years have passed, and hundreds if not thousands of novels have been read. My reading style from then and now has changed because while I loved the book in 2011, it was more of a "like" book now. Despite my change for the book, Matched is still a perfect novel for a younger reader to pick up! Cassia is a chosen one character, where she is the special one to have not just one but two matches. One of them was her best friend, Xander, and the other was the shy and mysterious Ky. Encouraged by her grandfather to look more into Ky, Cassia does, and she unknowingly begins to fall in love with him. The romance between Ky and Cassia is slow building but definitely worth the read.  

Plot-wise, little is happening in the book, making it feel slow. The main plotline is that Cassia has two Matches. One is her intended, and the other is an outcast and a mistake. The book consists of Cassis exploring her relationship with Ky and figuring out why his face has shown up on her screen if the perfect Society is never supposed to make mistakes. The government, also known as the Society, was truly the villain in this story. From controlling their clothes to the music they can listen to, to what they can eat and how much they can eat. It was revealed at one point that the Society was purposefully starving Cassia to see how much stress she could endure before breaking. The atrocities committed against the citizens of the Society are well-written because they are mentioned sparingly in the book. It's not until you think of the all that you realize the government is twisted. Thankfully, Cassia has a Eureka moment about that and says   

 "They are giving us pieces of a real life instead of the whole thing. They have perfected the art of giving us just enough freedom; just enough that when we are ready to snap, a little bone is offered and we roll over, belly up, comfortable and placated like a dog."

Readers will be shocked at the plot twist; I know I was, considering it was a reread for me. It was revealed that Cassia was purposefully Matched with Xander and Ky and that Ky was sent away, but not to a better job as we thought, but rather to fight in a war. At this point, Cassia decides that she needs to find out if there could be a possibility of her and Ky, and will stop at nothing to reunite with him. The book concludes with her parents sending her away to find Ky and Xander helping Cassia find him as well. With a cliffhanger like that, it's easy to want to go and pick up book number two!

Kirkus Reviews called Matched " a fierce, unforgettable page-turner in its own right"  and TikTok user @melissajmay rated the book 4 stars and said that "[Matched] was a strong example of this genre field."  If you enjoyed reading Matched, then make sure to finish the trilogy with Crossed and Reached.  More books in the YA genre field you make enjoy are The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Selection series!

Sources

Condie, A. (2011). Matched. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780142419779

Condie, A. (2010, November 1). Matched. Kirkus Reviews. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ally-condie/matched/

Melissa J may on Tiktok. TikTok. (n.d.). https://www.tiktok.com/@melissajmay/video/7096223458207550725?_r=1&_t=8dvutm1UcuY