Amazon Description: "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."My Review: I, personally, was not such a big fan of this book. I picked it up, thinking it would be a good dystopian read---the hype about it was crazy, after all---but I found it lacking. The world was HIGHLY dystopian, but Condie never really delved deep into it, leaving me confused about many aspects of it (such as sleep tags: what do they look like? Feel like? Why are they used?, etc). I didn't really like the main character, Cassia. I found her a tad boring and just the slightest bit annoying. Her personality got a little better towards the end of the book, so hopefully she'll be better in the next book. I also disliked how the whole entire book revolved around the romance. The interactions with Xander and Ky were interesting, but I would have liked to have learned about Cassia's world, more. It was still okay, however, and I did finish it---and I will read the other books, if merely out of curiosity as to what happens, because Condie hints that the next book will be more action-packed (whereas this book was more like action-LACKED).
Cover: I will admit it: the cover is gorgeous! It's beautiful and it definitely draws you in. I like the simplicity and elegance of it; it really goes with how Cassia's dystopian world is like: neat and clean. I've seen the cover of the next book (Crossed, out in stores November 1st, 2011), and it's just as beautiful!
Overall Grade: C+
I liked Matched. Not as much as The Hunger Games, or even Divergent like your last post, but I likes it. It was a better written version of Wither. Different plots but same dystopian idea. The idea of Matched was intriguing and the writing style was great. The cover is great, too. I just didn't like how it focuses too much on the poetry. That was a downer for the book. Other than that I liked it! I disagree with this grade, too. I would say at last an A-, but B+ is fine enough, I guess.
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You claim that the plot revolved too much around romance, but the whole point of the book was her being matched to her best friend Xander, yet being attracted to Ky. She wanted to be able to make decisions about her life (like who she loved), not have those decisions made for her by the Society.
ReplyDelete@Emma... yes, it's true that the book was all about matching...however, as a dystopian book, I kind of wanted to hear more about the world and the government and the plot than the poem and Ky, who was not really that interesting.
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