Matched by Ally Condie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I bought this book on Kobo after some discussion about the YA dystopian fiction trend, as a friend recommended it to me and although I initially was unimpressed my opinion quickly changed.

This is one of those novels where it’s almost hard to get a handle on the other characters because of the POV. We love Cassia’s grandfather and parents because she loves them. We love Ky because she does, but characters like Xander remain unfulfilled because we only see one point of view. I think this develops a bit of weakness in a plot that is supposed to be about a love triangle. Ky is preferred because he seems like the only choice. This is fantastic in terms of us wanting to be in the characters shoes fully, but not so good if you’re a reader who likes to pick their own path.

The character of Ky though, is simply fascinating. An aberration who is nicely flawed in his jealousy, but passionate in his maintenance of his own person, and not giving in.

The world in Matched is one that scares me, with food moderated so heavily as to manipulate a population, which in the history of the world is not unheard of and while history does repeat itself in reality, it made this plot more real. The restriction on knowledge and books however was something that terrified me, as the thirst for knowledge itself actually seemed to be taken away from these people.

All in all, I’m excited for next pay day to get my hands on the second novel.

View all my reviews