Recent Reads: Matched (Book #4 of 2013)

Recent Reads is back, after what feels like a long time (the other books I read didn’t seem to take this long)!

Book #4 of 2013 is Matched by Ally Condie.

This book. I got it from my sister for Christmas. I had asked for it (and consequently freaked out when I got it, I wasn’t expecting her to remember and any book present makes me jump with glee) and I can’t remember the who/what/where/why I decided I wanted to read this. It is the first book of a trilogy.

I started it on Jan. 14, so it took me nearly 10 days to finish. I honestly blame a lot of it on the flu bug thingee I had last week. Two perfectly good days where I laid in bed sick to read, but I couldn’t even focus on words, so I spent a lot of time watching mind-numbing TV.
Another reason why, if I’m being honest, is that I never fully committed to the book. I think I had high hopes, and they were sort of dashed.

Matched is the story of Cassia Reyes, a 17 year old girl who lives in a society in which every single thing you can possibly think of in your life is decided for you. You are sorted into jobs, you are told who you will marry and when and by which time you can no longer have children and, of course, when you will die. History has pretty much been demolished, aside for the saving of only 100 songs/poems/painting…etc.
While this way of life has helped rid the world of illness and crime, you can see where there are issues here.
No one has a choice.

For Cassia, everything changes when she attends her Match Banquet (where she will find out her mate for life). She is presented with Xander, who is one of her best friends, so she is pleased with this. But when she goes to insert the microcard containing information about him and their courtship rules, the screen goes blank and she is faced with a boy named Ky. That one moment of him appearing shakes her world.
On top of that, her grandfather has reached the optimal age of death, 80, and so she is forced to say goodbye to dear family at his Banquet.
A lot happens from then on…her feelings with Ky, her beginning to notice how strangely the Society behaves…

I love the idea of this story. But when I was reading it, the writing was…well, it’s a YA novel so it felt a bit childish. And everything was happening so fast, as if we have to fill in the gaps. This happens…there are three books…
OF COURSE THERE WILL BE SOME SORT OF CHANGE.
I knew (and I don’t think I’m ruining anything here) that there would be rebellion, but I felt like it was to be expected and it was hard to see where the motivation was coming from. This could also be because I skipped reading more than a chapter for days.
It was hard. But towards the end, it really had me intrigued. I wasn’t sure if I would read the other two books, but I have decided I am going to check them out and see how this story unfolds. Sometimes, the first book is the hardest one. We will see how it goes.

I’ll keep you posted on the rest…