Hello my literary comrades! I'm excited to be reviewing my second book ever for my blog!It's Matched by Ally Condie. My god is this book amazing. I stayed up very late last night in order to finish it, it was that addictive and page turning. Quite the read. Anyway get on your glasses, sit in your comfortable chairs and away we go. :) Remember, this is spoiler free.
Matched takes place in a dystopian world where the government is called The Society. Everyone wears the same types of clothes, have a set job for life, a set mate, a set death, etc. Everything is rigidly controlled by The Society, and no one questions it. That is until the day of Cassia Reyes' Match Banquet. In this world, when people turn 17, they are matched with their prospective life mate. Cassia is surprised when she's matched with her best friend Xander. The next day when she is looking at the micro card to learn even more about him, the face changes and shifts to another boy she knows. That boy is Ky Markham. This sparks a chain of events in which Cassia begins to question everything about her life, and the government that controls it.
I thought the plot was fantastic. It really had me addicted. I hated leaving the book each time I had to leave my Nook. I love the pace of it. The way they played out Cassia's romance was lovely and full of danger at the same time. It feels at times Hunger Games-esque, but it's a more romance centered novel. And there's nothing wrong with that. The romance was very realistic. I also love how Ms. Condie played out the government and their role within the novel. At first everything seems fine, but you quickly find out that The Society's kindness and benevolence is just a thin veneer for something more sinister. You start peeling back the layers and see the world as it really is and it can anger you at times the lengths people will go to.
In terms of character, I will fully admit that I am a Ky fan-girl. He is my favorite character in the entire book. He has that Fang-esque swoon about him, and his way with words is intoxicating. I love his character and how sweet he is. If he were a real life person I would try and snag him in a second ;). Not that Xander paled in comparison, he is a great character too, brave and smart, and very sweet. Cassia, the protagonist, has to be my second favorite character. She's that perfect heroine of a dystopian genre, starting out a blind sheep in the herd, and slowly becoming a confident rebel. I love her determination, and the love she has for those she, well, loves, fuels her actions. She is a strong character that the readers can root for.
Condie's writing style worked in this book. I loved her way with words and the way she treated the poems. I loved the world she built up and became deeply invested in the world and it's inhabitants.
I can see that all the hype is very well deserved. A quality novel that happens to be the first in a trilogy. I thoroughly can't wait for the sequel, Crossed, to come out near the end of the year. I highly recommend Matched for fans of Dystopia, romance, drama, anyone really. A 5 star book.
Until next time my comrades.
Viva la literature!
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