Matched (Matched, #1) in 2025 Reading Challenge

Apr 17, 2013 Kara rated it liked it

Shelves: book-club, nook, science-fiction, dystopia, young-adult, romance

The Giver from a female perspective with a contrived love triangle thrown in for good measure.

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Jul 31, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, dystopian-and-post-apocalyptic, lily

from the NPR poll of great Young Adult fiction ...

The Cassandra Clare blurb on the book jacket is probably the most lovely and succinct comment possible.

This futuristic fable of love and free will asks: Can there be freedom without choice? The tale of Cassia's journey from acceptance to rebellion will draw you in and leave you wanting more.

I won't deny this book was slow going at first. I was only reading a chapter or two each night because I kept falling asleep! It was pretty dull stuff. Oo ...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Kristi rated it liked it

Shelves: reading-challenge-2012

This is the story of a young girl named Cassia who signs up to meet her chosen one via a centrally-run "matching" system and ends up finding out much more about "the Society" running the dystopian world in which she lives. Cassia finds herself drawn not to Xander, her socially-mandated match, but also to Ky, a mysterious "abberation." As the connection between Cassia and Ky grows, they start to notice signs that everything in their society is not as stable as it should be.

I found myself immediat This is the story of a young girl named Cassia who signs up to meet her chosen one via a centrally-run "matching" system and ends up finding out much more about "the Society" running the dystopian world in which she lives. Cassia finds herself drawn not to Xander, her socially-mandated match, but also to Ky, a mysterious "abberation." As the connection between Cassia and Ky grows, they start to notice signs that everything in their society is not as stable as it should be.

I found myself immediate drawn in to this book. It has some really interesting elements--I liked the detail that the author gives to the matching process, the "artifacts" from the past, the centrally-run meal system that might not be quite what it seems, the councils formed to select only the "best" from culture so that people wouldn't be "overwhelmed" by an excess... Though not necessarily novel, I thought many of these details were well thought out and helped contribute to the construction of a plausible fictional world.

However, sometimes I felt like this was a bit too much like every other dystopian book I've read about people trapped in an overly controlling society. This book actually reminded me quite a bit of Anthem by Ayn Rand at times, come to think of it. The prose too felt a bit stilted at times, which I think exacerbated the former problem. Also, sometimes I felt like the central relationship between Cassia and Ky wasn't as believable as it should have been. The two really have almost no basis for liking each other--I realize that this fact is explicitly recognized and incorporated into the plot, but I needed just a little bit more to go on, a bit more to tell me just why these two might be so fascinated with each other. I bought it at times, but at others, I noticed myself starting to feel a bit incredulous.

Anyway, this is a fun and quick read. I recommend it to fans of young adult distopian fiction. Those of you who've recently read The Hunger Games and aren't necessarily die-hard fans of the genre may find this a bit derivative. ...more

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Jun 06, 2010 Amy rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, _own-ebook, young-adult, read-in-2011

This is one of those books that I kept hearing about here and there since it's release. And it sounded like something right up my alley. And, let's face it, that cover is AMAZING! One of the best I've seen in awhile.

All in all the book is very well written. There is great world building (although I wish more of the world had been explained). I liked the character development and the pacing. I will acknowledge that this is a great story concept ... I was totally taken with the world that Condie ...more

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May 14, 2012 Nazomi rated it liked it

Shelves: 2012, kindle, series

Another dystopian novel, which are apparently all the range after the Hunger Games phenomenon. Although I haven't completed the HG trilogy, I have read the first two, and I can confidently say that this doesn't compare to the awesomeness of it. They are quite different, although similar at the same time. The main focus of this is the fact that you are matched to your perfect guy according to your genetics of something, and that idea is fascinating in itself. but the first half of the book is set ...more

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