Book Review: Matched

Matched by Ally Condie

★★★☆☆

Cassia gets matched to her best friend, Xander. She is happy about this and is sure that the system and the Society is right about everything. As she views Xander's profile on her card, another face flashes on the screen, Ky Markham. Ky is an aberration. He has a very limited citizenship in the Society, one in which the privilege of getting matched is not granted. Even though the Officials assure her that it was just a glitch in the system, Cassia begins to question whether the Society really is right and who she is really meant to be with, Ky or Xander.

First of all, let me just say that I love the cover. Actually I love the cover for all the books in the series. They're perfect. (I just realized that this dress on the cover is probably supposed to be the dress Cassia wears to the Matching Ceremony). of

Alright, so I started reading in the beginning of June and just finished it last week. It took me a couple months to get through it and the whole time I was thinking that maybe this was because the ebook version just wasn't working for me. Or that I had hit a reader's block of sorts. I was basically coming up with excuse after excuse as to why it was taking me so long but now I've finally faced the truth. The book was slow. It was dull at parts and the story moved at a snail's pace. There wasn't all that much going on at times. The hiking scenes were inconsistent. Sometimes they were good and exciting and the rest of the time they were really boring. That being said, I did get through the book and my overall impression was pretty good. I liked the idea behind it and I love Ky. The ending was great, it did exactly what the ending of a book in a series is supposed to do. It made me want to read the next one. I will definitely be picking up a copy of Crossed and I hope that it turns out to be better than Matched. (fingers crossed... no pun intended)

On a different note, I've noticed people advocating Team Ky and Team Xander but I don't think there really is a choice to be made. It's not much of a love triangle. Xander likes Cassia, yes. Ky likes Cassia, yes. But I think Cassia's choice (don't worry, I won't tell, in case you haven't read it) is pretty clear for the most part. Maybe she's a little unsure in the beginning but then she knows exactly who she wants to be with and there is no question about it. The other person, the guy she doesn't chose, isn't even there that much in the book.

This is what I imagine Ky to look like.

All in all, Matched will not be going on my favorites list and it also won't be a book that will come to the top of my mind when recommending dystopian or ya or ya romance to someone but reading it wasn't a waste of time either.