I don't normally talk about covers, but this one is just so perfect, if a little obvious. Cassia in the green dress she wears to her Matching ceremony, trapped in a bubble and pushing gently at the sides. Obvious, yes. Effective, yes.

Let me tell you what happens in this book.

Cassia is all set to marry whoever the Society tells her to marry. The day after her unexpected and highly rare Match to her best friend Xander she sees the portrait of another boy she knows, Ky, appear on her computer screen for just a moment.

The rest of the novel is about her forbidden relationship with Ky and how she learns to keep things hidden in a secret-less Society.

Nothing else happens. At the end of the novel (view spoiler)[Ky gets taken away, but not because of the forbidden romance. Cassia's family is relocated, but not because of the forbidden romance. (hide spoiler)]

For a YA dystopian romance, it didn't lead where I thought it would lead. I even read spoilers for the sequel Crossed, and came to the conclusion that at the end of this book, Cassia and Ky must run away Logan's Run style to be with each other away from the Society that controls their every move.

But no. Pretty much nothing changes. The only interesting thing that happened was off-screen (so to speak). By that I mean some kind of rebellion that Cass doesn't know much about because everything is so regulated. Even their food. One person grows the food, another processes it, another cooks it and another delivers. It's like the complete opposite of today's society, where more and more governments try to make people responsible for their own health and safety.

EDIT
THE PROBLEM WITH THIS NOVEL: THERE IS NO ACT THREE.
I finally figured it out when I was planning one of my own novels. There's nothing for Cassia to fight against, there's hardly any central conflict, and there is certainly no resolution.
Let's explore this using a Writer's Digest one-page plan (which can be found at http://www.writersdigest.com/wp-conte...) I will hide this in a spoiler warning because some people are pedantic.
(view spoiler)[How does your hero begin to successfully attack their need/quest?
She doesn't do anything. She goes on living her life.
• how does the antagonistic force respond to this attack?
They continue to monitor her and otherwise take no action.
• how do the hero’s inner demons come to bear on this attack?
Nothing happens, so there's no inner demons.
What is the all-is-lost lull just before the second plot point?
There isn't one.
What is the second plot point in your story?
There isn't one.
• how does this change or affect the hero’s proactive role?
She doesn't have a proactive role.
How is your hero the primary catalyst for the successful resolution of the central problem or issue in this story?
She isn't. There is no successful resolution of the central problem. There is hardly a central problem.
• how does it meet the hero’s need and fulfill the quest?
Nothing is fulfilled.
• how does the hero demonstrate the conquering of inner demons?
She doesn't. She continues to do as she's told.
• how are the stakes of the story paid off?
The most frustrating thing about this novel is this point. The stakes don't pay off. The characters get separated and then the story ends. There is no excitement or charged emotion in anything that happens.
• what will be the reader’s emotional experience as the story concludes?
Hmm... slight disappointment? I hate to rate a book down just because it doesn't do what I want it to do, but I was still expecting a big explosive Logan's Run-style climax. There was no climax. It just disappointed me because the whole book was on the developing forbidden romance and there was nothing either of them did to continue the romance. Nothing was risked. I know it's a dystopian and Society controls anything but I thought that Cass was learning to be independent - she was learning to write even though it was illegal, why didn't she take the next logical step and run away with her forbidden love?
(hide spoiler)]
END EDIT

I once saw a print commercial for a mobile phone that had a young woman walking at night into a dark tunnel. It said something like, "If she had a phone, she'd feel safe." This is what today's society wants to do: make everyone responsible for themselves at their own expense rather than the government's expense. The hint and threat of rape is eased if the individual takes personal responsibility for their own safety. But the darkened tunnel couldn't possibly have bright lights added to it, or the road next to it couldn't have its trees and bushes cut down, because that would take money away from the governments, not the individuals (who pay for their own phone). Matched was like the complete opposite of that commercial.

I enjoyed reading about how different the society was and guessing how it came about and pretty much managed to scare myself into thinking it's a plausible future. No one knows how to write: it's forbidden. They learn how to type and copy things others have written. In an attempt to de-clutter the society, citizens can only own one personal possession: an artefact of the days gone by handed down from a relative. (view spoiler)[Even those ended up being taken away. (hide spoiler)] In the same attempt to de-clutter, there are only one hundred poems, one hundred songs, one hundred paintings that people can learn about and remember. Everything else has been destroyed. It's like the scariest version of futuristic communism I've ever read about. You don't ask questions. You don't think for yourself. Cass is told exactly how far and how fast she must run to keep her optimal BMI. Everything is tightly regulated from data gathered and predications made based on that data. Even their dreams are monitored. Privacy and freedom are surrendered to make the 'perfect' society.

I guess that's why they call it a dystopia. This book is a freaking study in dystopias.

I absolutely loved the references to Dylan Thomas' poem "Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night." I love that poem so much. It's rhyming structure is referred to as villanelle, and I have a distinct weakness for villanelles. I loved how the poem spoke so strongly to Cass and I love how it influenced her.

I won't be reading the sequel. I feel it's almost superfluous: this book could so very nearly have been a stand-alone in the rare times of the over-abundance of YA trilogies. I can't even say whether or not I want to re-read it. Unlike its contemporary dystopian, Divergent, there was a lack of action, and even though the plot holes were not as numerous, it just didn't grab me as much as I wanted it to. However, this dystopia I feel is even more plausible than Divergent, so if you want to be horrified by society in general and people in particular, give this baby a go.

SPOILER TIME - or rather, a rant on inclusiveness.

I don't really know if this is because Ally Condie is from Utah, I don't know her personal stance on homosexuality and I don't know how she would write about it even if she was for or against. But there is a distinct lack of homosexuality in Matched. Young people who choose that they want to be Matched do so because they are going to reproduce the healthiest most genetically perfect offspring. They're seventeen when they're Matched which means they're younger than that when they make that life choice. Those who choose not to be Matched are classified as Singles. Singles can still go on dates but I'm pretty sure they're not allowed to reproduce.

This is all very heteronormative. It's expected that each Matched couple is heterosexual and will engage in heterosexual intercourse for the purpose of reproduction, not pleasure. Even when Cass is falling in love with Ky there is never anything sexual behind her feelings, never any sneaking glances at, for example, his stomach or his shoulders or his legs. It's a very innocent 'love' that's all to do with his eyes and hands, and the obsession with his hands is because he's a manual labourer and he knows how to write, not because she wants his hands on her.

What the hell happened to all the gay people? Are they executed? Are they Aberrations? Are they shipped off to the Outer Provinces? Are they not allowed to raise children of their own? What if someone didn't realise they were gay until after they were Matched, or after they were contracted (age 21)?

It's not even that Condie doesn't have a gay or disabled character. That's fine. That's not what the story is about. But it's the structure of the society itself that excludes gay people. And those with a disability. Genetic disabilities and birth defects have been bred out of the population, I know that. But you can't breed out gay. You can't breed out disabilities as a result of a workplace accident. How does the Society cope with these people? If they do send disabled and gay people to the outer Provinces, how would they even tell a closeted homosexual from a heterosexual?

Where are all the gay people? Where are their options? Can gay couples be Matched? What would be the point of that, if they can't reproduce by themselves? Would anyone help them reproduce? Do normal, healthy, compatible yet infertile couples get help to reproduce? If someone is Matched yet their partner dies early from an outside influence, can they be Matched again?

Maybe that's why it's a dystopia.