Matched (Matched, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

May 31, 2016 Cecily Black rated it liked it

Not bad!!

I liked this book a fair bit but it reminds me a lot of the Delirium series by Lauren Oliver
with the forbidden love though I figure that is a common situation in young adult novels but also had the dystopian society feel with the government controlling the people to "better" their lives.
Although this plot is similar to others I have read it has some uniqueness of its own and I really enjoy the characters and look forward to reading more of the series!
Decent! ...more

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Oct 27, 2019 Jamii rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed, empty-shelf-2019, series, dystopian

So the overall concept of this book intrigued me. I found myself pretty interested throughout the book. However it definitely had its slow points, there were some moments or scenes that I think were kind of unnecessary or irrelevant.

Likes
- the concept of an almost completely organized and rigorously regulated society, devoid of almost any personal decisions.
- the limited exposure to the knowledge of the world before the Society existed
- the use of ceremonies for celebrating milestones
- the expl ...more

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Oct 19, 2013 Rachel C. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, 2013-goodreads-reading-challenge

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Individual Book Review:
I liked this book a lot. The only reasons it lost the fifth star are: 1) I've seen most of what was in this book in terms of ideas and even approach before (Fahrenheit 451, 1984, Bar Code Tattoo, etc.), 2) I thought it took a lot of time for the book to come to the conclusion it did and I feel like not all of the pages of information were necessary, but that might just be me.

All in all, I like the characters, I like the plot line, and I couldn't wait to read the next ones, Individual Book Review:
I liked this book a lot. The only reasons it lost the fifth star are: 1) I've seen most of what was in this book in terms of ideas and even approach before (Fahrenheit 451, 1984, Bar Code Tattoo, etc.), 2) I thought it took a lot of time for the book to come to the conclusion it did and I feel like not all of the pages of information were necessary, but that might just be me.

All in all, I like the characters, I like the plot line, and I couldn't wait to read the next ones, which I did promptly.

However, after reading this book, I knew I needed to wait to review it until I'd read all three in the trilogy, since it was clear from the beginning that all of them would be so interconnected that they would all stand together and stand apart. Thus, I'm writing a common review for the trilogy to go alongside the individual review, the former of which can be found below and the latter above.

Common Trilogy Review:
First things first, I wanted to comment on something that was as integral a part of the book as the content inside, at least for me: the covers. I love the use of the glass bubble to indicate where Cassia is in each book in terms of the society. I also enjoyed the coloring, which I would guess was primarily intended as representing the discoveries with regard to the pills that seem to be so important, yet not the main focus.

I very much enjoyed the correlation between number of characters represented with the book number in the trilogy (i.e. Cassia for book 1, Ky & Cassia for book 2, and Xander & Ky & Cassia for book 3). As the reader, I felt like I was being pulled into Cassia's world a bit more by this as it made me feel a bit like a Sorter in seeing things.

I loved the diversity of the characters. They were all unique and often mysterious (to some extent).

I want to state this before I go further: I liked this series as a whole a lot, but I did not love it. Almost everything I read in this book I'd seen before in something else. It was all just combined in a different way, which was intriguing in terms of wondering what the author would include, and disappointing because it added a sense of boredom where things should not have been boring. I did not like that certain things were presented in the first book, almost forgotten in the second, then suddenly back again in the third. I know this last bit seems necessary in terms of what could and could not be addressed in the second book, but I got a bit tired of the lack of foreshadowing close enough to the reveal that I would be able to feel like the conclusion/reveal was "real" rather than just thrown in there. Also, I don't often say this about a book series, but I think this one tried to wrap up to many things, or at least wrap them up in a very very rushed manner. I feel like the reasons for certain things was thrown in my face with the thrower saying "here, you might want this" without any preamble. It was disconcerting and pulled me out of the books, the last in particular, which made me upset because the last book held the most material of interest to me.

All in all, there were some upsides and some downsides to this series. If I could rate the series itself, I'd give it 3 stars for original combination of familiar ideas and interesting approach.
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Jun 16, 2015 ❤ Aly ❤ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015

Matched is the type of book that hooks you from the beginning and keeps you wanting to read more. The society sacrifices so much of its individuality and freedom for the sake of efficiency and harmony.

Condie presents a world that seems safe and suffocating at the same time. She presents a character (Cassia) that wants to go along with what the society has set, but then starts to question whether or not the society is safe or not. She decides to push her limits and boundaries to have a say in how ...more

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Sep 20, 2013 Joi rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-read

This book was good. I enjoyed the plot and the world.

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May 27, 2014 Lindsey rated it it was ok

Shelves: dystopian, young-adult

Just ok. I was intrigued at the beginning with the descriptions of the Match Banquet but my interest quickly declined from there. This writing seemed choppy and repetitive. Yes, we get that Xander was the match but Cassia saw Ky too-one retelling of that "mistake" was enough. I just couldn't bring myself to care what happened to Cassia. She went off to a work camp as a set-up for the next book? Fine-stay there, I will not be following the rest of the trilogy. ...more

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