Synopsis: For Cassia, nothing is left to chance-not what she will eat, the job she will have, or the man she will marry. In Matched, the Society Officials have determined optimal outcomes for all aspects of daily life, thereby removing the “burden” of choice. When Cassia’s best friend is identified as her ideal marriage Match it confirms her belief that Society knows best, until she plugs in her Match microchip and a different boy’s face flashes on the screen. This improbable mistake sets Cassia on a dangerous path to the unthinkable-rebelling against the predetermined life Society has in store for her. As author Ally Condie’s unique dystopian Society takes chilling measures to maintain the status quo, Matched reminds readers that freedom of choice is precious, and not without sacrifice.-Seira Wilson

Review: I’ve found myself really getting into dystopian YA novels of late, and Matched was up there with the best of them.

The way the story was set up was great, it really didn’t take me many pages to understand the world that Cassia lives in and how The Society rules their whole lives, watching and controlling their every move.

People are told what to wear, how to dress, given meals that are controlled portions and calories, told how to exercise, what jobs they will have, where they will live, what possessions they own… it just goes on and on. They are most importantly, told who to love. They are “matched” with another person who they become wed to, and then they are told when they can have children and how many.

Cassia is different. She was matched to her best friend Xander, who we find to be a cute lovable character. But when she is checking the microdisk of data to read his background story she is shocked to see someone else’s face as her match - it’s not Xander, it’s Ky Markham - another boy she knows.

Cassia dares to break the rules and dares to love Ky even though this is strictly forbidden. After all, she’s been matched to Xander.. who she loves as well.

I loved these characters so much. Ally Condie did such an amazing job with expressing the emotions that run through this story - and there is a lot of emotion in it as well. Her writing style is absolutely beautiful and the story just flowed so well. I kept finding myself wanting to read more when I was at work, and waiting to continue into the story killed me. lol

I don’t want to compare stories, and so I won’t. But I will say that I think fans of The Hunger Games would really enjoy this book. Both are dystopian stories where the districts/people in the township are severely controlled and restricted and there’s themes of fighting back or rebelling.

It was an absolutely compelling story, and I am really looking forward to reading the sequel Crossed which is due out in November this year and will be the second book in this trilogy.

Rating: 5 out of 5