Matched (Matched, #1)

by Ally Condie

[jeannamichel]

Does a futuristic world ring a bell? Is it time for the Hunger Games? Of course not. Most of the reviews I have read on this novel all seem to have the series by Suzanne Collins in it. I just needed to add the title so I wouldn't feel left out. Sorry, folks, but it doesn't even come close to making the cut to the extraordinary trilogy by Collins.

Cassia lives in the Society (which may seem very close to the sort of Districts mentioned in Hunger Games but that is where the similarities end). The Society is good, great, wonderful- well, that's what the citizens are supposed to think. When Cassia gets caught up in an "experiment" with the so-called "great" Society and then gets a taste of the past with some forbidden written words- she finds that it seems so much better than the stuff the Society is feeding their citizens with.

Matched is a debut novel by Ally Condie. There was all this hype surrounding the book for awhile. There is even a few entertainment industries interested in the book. I do not understand it, because I was highly disappointed with this novel.


There was absolutely no character development. I had to imagine my own. Books are supposed to be movies in my head, I'm supposed to create the character in my mind according to what I read on the page. I could not do that with this book. Half the time even, except for the Matched ceremony, I didn't even know what the characters were wearing. Xander, one of Cassia's friend and Match (which I liked how "Match" was capitalized throughout the book), had no character development. He acted like a class clown one minute and the next, he was all serious and brooding. His character reminded me of the character, Xander, in the TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (Xander from Buffy is the picture on the right).

Condie's writing style was very common- there was nothing really special about it. Yes, it was a debut novel, so hopefully her style will improve on next works, if there will be more books. Personally, the flow of the novel went very slow for me and I found myself, on numerous times, dozing off, or picking up other books to read because I just could not pick up Matched.


The cover is the only thing that I like about the entire novel. The cover is amazing- probably, only because my favorite color is green. (And you would have thought my favorite color is purple or pink...)


What do I suggest if you think about picking up this book and reading it today: Go read the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins and then try to read through Matched. You'll understand what I mean when I say they should not even be compared.