Matched by Ally Condie
One of the many benefits of being a librarian is ARCs--Advanced Reading Copies of books yet to be published. I was fortunate enough to receive one of Matched by Ally Condie, a new young adult novel that will be published November 30.
Cassia lives contentedly--the Society chooses your place of work, your home, your mate, even when you die (to maximize your life experience). Cassia has never questioned this and is looking forward to her Match Banquet, when Society reveals to her her ideal mate. She is very fortunate--and excited--to discover Xander, her childhood friend, is her Match. This is not at all typical in Society, as most people's Matches are from other cities.
When Cassia has a moment to herself (with her ten year old brother Bram and her parents and even Society always watching) she looks at the flash drive (it's essentially a flash drive, but all futuristic-like) she was given at her Match Banquet, which contains all the information about her Match. Of course, knowing Xander she knows much of information on it but is still very excited about it. Just as Cassia is about to remove the flash drive, she notices another picture pop up on the screen--that of another classmate, Ky.
Cassia is startled and shaken by this--the Society does not make mistakes. One of the Society administrators finds Cassia and explains what has happened, that Ky was not meant to be in the Match pool, that it is a cruel joke and that Cassia has truly been Matched with Xander.
Cassia begins to pay more attention to Ky; she's intrigued by him, fascinated by him, and as the two spend more time together, they begin to fall in love, but they must keep it secret as they are forbidden to be together.
What I loved about this book is the fantastic way that Condie had Cassia evolve--Cassia went from fully accepting all of Society's rules and actions to questioning them the more she understands and sees what's happening. She begins to see that she--and everyone else--is being manipulated by Society all for the reason of keeping them "safe". But what are the people being kept safe from? What's happening in the Outer Provinces? There's a war going on but no one knows who the Enemy is or why they are even fighting. Matched has great character development, a fabulous dystopia storyline, romance, and I hope there's another book coming because I'd love to see the development of Xander and more from his point of view (though I'm not sure that's where the story is going). I highly recommend it.
Cassia lives contentedly--the Society chooses your place of work, your home, your mate, even when you die (to maximize your life experience). Cassia has never questioned this and is looking forward to her Match Banquet, when Society reveals to her her ideal mate. She is very fortunate--and excited--to discover Xander, her childhood friend, is her Match. This is not at all typical in Society, as most people's Matches are from other cities.
When Cassia has a moment to herself (with her ten year old brother Bram and her parents and even Society always watching) she looks at the flash drive (it's essentially a flash drive, but all futuristic-like) she was given at her Match Banquet, which contains all the information about her Match. Of course, knowing Xander she knows much of information on it but is still very excited about it. Just as Cassia is about to remove the flash drive, she notices another picture pop up on the screen--that of another classmate, Ky.
Cassia is startled and shaken by this--the Society does not make mistakes. One of the Society administrators finds Cassia and explains what has happened, that Ky was not meant to be in the Match pool, that it is a cruel joke and that Cassia has truly been Matched with Xander.
Cassia begins to pay more attention to Ky; she's intrigued by him, fascinated by him, and as the two spend more time together, they begin to fall in love, but they must keep it secret as they are forbidden to be together.
What I loved about this book is the fantastic way that Condie had Cassia evolve--Cassia went from fully accepting all of Society's rules and actions to questioning them the more she understands and sees what's happening. She begins to see that she--and everyone else--is being manipulated by Society all for the reason of keeping them "safe". But what are the people being kept safe from? What's happening in the Outer Provinces? There's a war going on but no one knows who the Enemy is or why they are even fighting. Matched has great character development, a fabulous dystopia storyline, romance, and I hope there's another book coming because I'd love to see the development of Xander and more from his point of view (though I'm not sure that's where the story is going). I highly recommend it.
Labels: dystopias, female characters
posted by austentatious at 9:00 AM
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