Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Social Media: Facebook and Twitter
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Price and Format: eBook at $16.90
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
About The Author:
Ally Condie is a former high school English teacher who lives with her husband, three sons and one daughter outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. She loves reading, running, eating, and listening to her husband play guitar.
About The Book:
On her seventeenth birthday, Cassia meets her Match. Society dictates he is her perfect partner for life. Except he’s not. In Cassia’s society, Officials decide who people love. How many children they have. Where they work. When they die. But, as Cassia finds herself falling in love with another boy, she is determined to make some choices of her own. And that’s when her whole world begins to unravel.
Positive Aspects of the Book:
~Excellent Character Developement: The bonds between the multiple characters and the different kinds of relationships Cassia had with them all were well written, empathetic and believable. I particularly enjoyed reading about the different relationships Cassia has with her parents, both of them love her (as she loves both of them), and are trusting Cassia with adult knowledge, and taking the chance she’ll be mature enough to handle it. I especially enjoyed reading about Cassia’s relationship with her Grandfather.
~Stupid Pointless Love Triangle: Although I knew it was coming, it’s in the blurb after all, and expected it be poorly handled, I was pleasantly surprised. Though I despise Love Triangles, this one was sort of relevant to the plot and was handled exceptionally well.
~Interesting Cover Art: I really like the cover design of the book
Negative Aspects of the Book:
~Plot-Hole: In a future obsessed with statistics and the perfect genetics, where have all the sperm-banks and IVF treatment centers gone? If anything, shouldn’t there be more of them now, not less? Also the age for legally having children is getting younger and younger, yet adoption and teen pregnancy (or birth control) are never mentioned. How do they make sure older women don’t get pregnant? Why are younger surrogate mothers not mentioned?
~Character Point of View: I really dislike Limited First Person Point of View, I think this book would have been much more interesting if the reader got to see other character’s POV and therefore obtain more information about this World the author has created.
~Dangerous Seventeenth Birthday: A lot of the problems I have with Matched are very similar problems I have with Divergent. I dislike the significant sixteenth (or in this case seventeenth) birthday trope, not only is it cliche it’s also bullshit. No one should be forced to decide what they want to do for the rest of their life while they’re still in the teens, especially when it’s been proven to be detrimental to people’s well-being.
~Slow Plot: While it obvious a Stupid Pointless Love Triangle would emerge eventually, it took a long time for the Dystopian Future plot-ball to get rolling, there was very little physical description and poor world building. Although the relationship between Cassia and Ky was engaging enough to read, their relationship wasn’t engaging enough to carry the novel. Like with Divergent, instead of interesting Dystopian Sci-Fy novel with a Romance sub-plot, the reader is treated to a mediocre Young Adult Romance with small hints of a Dystopian Future.
Overall, Ally Condie presented interesting three dimensional characters and a potentially interesting concept, however I don’t think the Author thought through all the bigger ramifications of a future like this or all of the potential plot-possibilities.
Ambiguous Pieces 
Aw I was so interested in this one because of the premise and the cover but it sounds disappointing whenever I read any reviews. I really dislike unnecessary love triangles and plot lines that go nowhere. Great review 🙂
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Thank you for stopping by my blog and commenting 🙂 Completely agree, the premise is very interesting, I really liked the concept, but the problem with the novel from my pov is the poor world building, I understand that the main characters are a 16-year-old teenagers, but I couldn’t get a good image of the place, however the characters were really good, so it depends on the type of reader you are (I’m more plot orientated than character orientated).
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Thank you for commenting and stopping by 🙂 I agree, the cover art for the trilogy are lovely and well designed, and the premise is an interesting one, just not explored to it’s full potential
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I really wanted to read this book, because although it sounded classic, it seemed like it could have an angle and I really liked the pairing idea. But now I’m not so sure anymore, I am getting a bit tired of dystopian trend which seems just to produce plenty of love series just to get the cash behind it.
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I had such trouble with the plot holes of this one too. >_< And I mean, in that futuristic society where you get EXACTLY the right amount of food and vitamins to eat and blah blah etc…wouldn't they be utilising the technology and brain studies that say people shouldn't make huge decisions until they're like 25?!! GAH.
STILL. It is interesting to think of how bland a race could be without any art/history left. D:
Thanks for stopping by @ Paper Fury!
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That’s a valid point, I hadn’t thought of that, the problem I had with the food was that they were giving Cassia smaller and smaller food portions, yet research has shown that there is a connection between a woman’s weight and fertility, too much weight and there’s problems, but too little weight and the woman can’t get pregnant at all. I kinda thought the idea was to turn all the women into baby making machines as young as possible (hence the constant age restrictions) to keep fighting the war in the outer provinces but that too comes with it’s own set of problems *shrugs* You’re welcome for the comment, I find your .gif collection amusing 🙂
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