I cannot swoon about Ally Condie's Matched Trilogy enough. I loved the first two installments, and the conclusion comes TOMORROW with Reached. I am desperately waiting for the mailman to deliver my pre-order copy tomorrow. Yes yes yes!
So, what it this trilogy all about, you ask? Well, let's just say that in this dystopian society, nothing is as it seems. Statistics and control are the name of the game for The Society. Cassia Reyes, Xander Carrow, and Ky Marckham are the main players in the Official's game of chess.
In the Society, Officials decide.
Who you love.
Where you work.
When you die.
Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when he best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one... until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with the impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one else has ever dared follow - between perfection and passion.
Check out the Matched book trailer below:
Ally Condie created another universe with the Society. A look into a not-so-distant future, the Society is based on statistics. They know who you are and how you are likely to react to anything they throw at you. They tell you what to read, what to listen to, what to watch and when to watch it. The Officials have it all planned out for you.
The structure of the Society's government is well developed. Condie clearly put a lot of work into setting creation. While reading Matched, I felt like I knew what drove this Society and how our world turned into the structured and overbearing government that it is.
I also was quite drawn to the characters. Cassia is easy to fall in step with. You can see yourself in her, both in her obedience and her rebellion. Xander and Ky are less developed, but this isn't their story.. yet. Cassia is the focus of Matched and she is clearly portrayed in writing.
Condie fabulously developed the two most important aspects of a novel's backbone- the setting and the characters. As a reader, you want to feel in tune to the place and the people. Condie did just that. She created a world that was both understandable and terrifying. She formed characters that you can find within yourself and in your life. The backbone of this trilogy is well formed.
Beautifully depressing, Matched has an amazing story that swiftly pulls the reader in. Stunning in her prose and her thoughtfulness, Ally Condie created a story that I feel all humans can relate to on some level.
Since Matched is the first novel in this trilogy, it needed to pull us in and not let go. It did just that. Barely able to put it down, by time I reached the end I was craving more. I knew that this trilogy would be this way- that is why I held off on reading it until I could time it just right for the release of Reached. I began the journey with Cassia in Matched and followed her into Crossed. The ending of Matched is amazing, by the way. Part of me feels that it can stand alone. The ending allows closure, while opening up a whole new can of worms at the same time. It left so many doors open after shutting one. Condie did a fabulous job of making the reader want more.
Overall, this book is phenomenal. I loved the premise and the amazing depth that was within the pages. Ally Condie wrote an amazing story that plays out beautifully on paper.
Crossed in the second book in this trilogy, and I will post my review of that later in the week. Crossed is a stunning read as well. The final installment of the Matched Trilogy reaches up tomorrow, November 13th. Reached will be released in hardback and I will be anxiously awaiting my copy.
write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow
