Review- Matched by Allie Condie

Matched by Allie Condie

Pages: 384

Publication Date: November 30, 2010

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

 

In the Society, Officials decide.

Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

      Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one... until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now, Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one else has ever dared follow- between perfection and passion. 

Cassia was absolutely thrilled that her Match ceremony was coming up. Who wouldn't be? The Society Matches you to your perfect mate to reach an optimal life. Not only that, but the Society helps you reach your optimal weight, health, family, even the optimal age and death. So, it was all so perfect when Cassia was Matched with Xander, her best friend. They would be married, and have the perfect... no, optimal life.

Until another face appears on her Port screen.

Was it an accident?

I fell into Matched so quickly. They story of the "optimal" Society sucked me right in. A life where no decisions have to be made. It intrigued a small part of my mind, while the other, larger part of my mind screamed "Resist! Revolt!". I wanted to know what Cassia would choose to do.

It turns out that the Society can take away all your choices, but it can never take away your freedom of thought.

Allie Condie make clever changes to Cassia's thoughts throughout the story. When that second face on her Port screen showed, you could almost hear a click in Cassia's thoughts, taking them from the Society's to her own. 

The meandering, winding romance that blossoms from Cassia and Ky's time spent together is a tad slow for my liking, but it ending up being a fabulous way to build up to the realization of love.
I do also wonder if there is a greater plan at work in this perfect world. Who could be behind it?

Matched was well written, the characters lovely, and the romance adorable. This Dystopian romance is heated, and blazes through the cold shadow of the "Society".

So good. What a great read!