Matched (Matched, #1) in And So It Begins Reading Challenge

Dec 13, 2010 Ezmirelda rated it did not like it

Shelves: romance, books-i-own, kinda-boring, dystopian

1.5 stars

This whole entire book is just a copy of The Giver. Every single aspect of the world-bulding reminded me of The Giver. So for Originality I'd give it 1 star. The writing was pretty good, the characters were okay. I'm not entirely sure how I felt about this book....It had a lot of potential but it just fell flat.

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Mar 17, 2011 CrystalBookSnob rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewd

Matched is an excellent read. It's a dystopian novel where the Society controls the citizens down to the closes that they wear and the food that they eat. They are not allowed to farm, grocery shop or cook their own food. Every one of their actions is analyzed to the extreme: are their showers too long, are they running too much on the treadmill, do they read too much or if they're spending enough time outside or not. According to the society, everything has to be done in moderation in order for ...more

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Jun 20, 2011 Darlene rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, audiobook, read-in-2011

This book will be among the top of the list for my favourite reads of 2011! It has won several literary awards, including: 2011 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults and 2010 Publishers Weekly’s Best Children’s Books of the Year for Fiction.

Cassia Reyes is a 17 year-old teenager living in a dystopian world. Teens can choose whether they will remain single or be “matched.” Those wishing to be matched will be found a partner using a scientific balance of probabilities to result in the healthiest off This book will be among the top of the list for my favourite reads of 2011! It has won several literary awards, including: 2011 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults and 2010 Publishers Weekly’s Best Children’s Books of the Year for Fiction.

Cassia Reyes is a 17 year-old teenager living in a dystopian world. Teens can choose whether they will remain single or be “matched.” Those wishing to be matched will be found a partner using a scientific balance of probabilities to result in the healthiest offspring. By gene-matching in this way, the Society effectively has wiped out cancer and other terminal and degenerative diseases.

At Cassia’s Match Banquet, her match is revealed to be none-other than her best friend, Xander Carrow. As is customary at the Match Banquet, Cassia receives a silver box containing a microchip that has background information about her match. When Cassia puts the chip into her system, she is shocked to see a picture of someone else flashed on the screen – and it is a picture of another boy that she knows: Ky Markham.

Cassia wonders whether a mistake has been made regarding her match. Was Ky intended to be her match instead of Xander? The Society doesn’t make mistakes, so how could this have happened? As Cassia tries to uncover the truth, she discovers that there is a lot about the Society that doesn’t add up.

I thought this was a fantastic dystopian novel, and dystopia is fast-becoming one of my favourite genres! I found myself daydreaming about what life would be like in the world that Condie has created: Obesity has been eliminated due to catered meals created and delivered for each mealtime that meets each individual’s caloric needs, recreational time that is scheduled into each day to allow everyone time to de-stress, a vocation that is chosen for someone based on their strengths and abilities. It sounds to me like it would be a virtually stress-free world! With debilitating diseases wiped out, each person can live a long and healthy life until the age of 80 which is age that is “chosen” for each person to die. Another interesting concept in Condie’s world is that life is structured to be as uncluttered as possible. This means that there are only 100 songs, 100 poems, 100 books, etc. Condie’s world-building is quite complex.

As long as you didn’t question the Society’s decisions, you could live quite blissfully in Condie’s world. That is, unless, you wished for free choice. Even the recreational time isn’t truly “free” because you can only choose one of the options given to you. Would you give up your right for free choice if you could live a relatively trouble-free life? Although such a life is tempting, I suspect that I would be one of those that would try to rebel against authority.

Narrator Katie Simses was a perfect choice for this book. Her voice as Cassia was believable and authentic, and I found her interesting to listen to.

I loved this book! Cassia is a fantastic character, and I love her evolution from one of the mindless Society followers to someone who begins to question the choices made for her. I may not have always agreed with the decisions Cassia made (for example, when she burned her Grandfather’s poem), but I thought the choices she made were true to her character.

I highly recommend Matched, and I can’t wait for the story to continue in the next installment, Crossed.

MY RATING: 5 stars!! Loved it!! ...more

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Jun 01, 2013 Rebecca rated it liked it

Like I said with Cinder, the majority of the book I didn't find intriguing and I could stop reading it and not be bothered, but the last 50 or so pages have defiantly made me want to read the next one. The main thing I didn't like was that I imagined Cassia as being 12/13 rather than 17 - I felt that all she cared about was love and not realizing the bigger picture. I then thought that she thought she was bigger than the Officials and was too rebellious for them, and to be honest, I think she ne ...more

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