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dellasbookshelf's review
4.0
There wasn't anything that made this book bad or great. It is firmly a good book. It's a run of this mill dystopian with heavy emphasis on Choice and Romance. I really enjoy the Matching System and the Tablet System which are the two most unique aspects of this story. The characters are interesting but nothing to out of the ordinary. It's a good quick read.
calebmatthews's review
3.0
Intriguing, but a little too teeny for my taste. Excited to see where the author takes things in the next couple.
dtzypig's review
5.0
I LOVED this book. I found the world she created fascinating. live the way she depicted live and all tge ways love can present itself in a relationship.
redvelvetpenguins's review
4.0
Cassia truly embodied a naive, 1way minded child. the story was excellently written and kept the pages turning themselves.
ec_newman's review against another edition
3.0
Well, I really liked the ending.
--
Okay, I've had a few days to process. The world works for me and the story did as well. I didn't really love the characters. I get that Cassia's voice/the writing is probably supposed to be kind of stiff and formal because of the world she lives in. But as a reader that could grate a bit. Also, I didn't really fall for either guy. I mean, they were fine. Both attractive and with their own positive qualities. But in a teen novel, I want to be swept away by one of them. I just wasn't.
I don't know if I'll continue the series. I'm a bit curious about where it all goes, but I'm not sure I care enough for Cassia and company to read on.
--
Okay, I've had a few days to process. The world works for me and the story did as well. I didn't really love the characters. I get that Cassia's voice/the writing is probably supposed to be kind of stiff and formal because of the world she lives in. But as a reader that could grate a bit. Also, I didn't really fall for either guy. I mean, they were fine. Both attractive and with their own positive qualities. But in a teen novel, I want to be swept away by one of them. I just wasn't.
I don't know if I'll continue the series. I'm a bit curious about where it all goes, but I'm not sure I care enough for Cassia and company to read on.
bewitchedandbewildered's review
4.0
I read this in the 5th grade and pretty much hated it. I decided to read it now two years later and OMG i loved it. I could not stop reading. I think i got the concept a lot more and it is now one of my favorite books!!!
teachertoledo_books's review
adventurous
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
charspages's review
3.0
me, age twelve: man i can't believe cassia loves ky so much and i hope she finds him and they live happily ever after!!!1!1!1!!
me, age twenty one: man, i can't believe ally condie single-handedly predicted the issues of late-stage capitalism when she showed the ruling class trying to control the proletariat through hard, mind-numbing work that results in complete exhaustion and inability to organize the fall of the class system!
If I'm honest, I did not think I would enjoy this book when I picked it up for a reread this year. I remember pre-teen me loving this series deeply, and I also remember that pre-teen me was very easily excited and had little to critize.
This time, it turns out, pre-teen me was right. This is a solid book, an enjoyable book, a book that made me think. It is by no means a perfect book, but it is still a good book nonetheless - one might even suggest it was ahead of its time.
PLOT: 3 / 5
If you came looking for an intriguing political plot filled with action and rebellion, [b:Matched|7735333|Matched (Matched, #1)|Ally Condie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1367706191l/7735333._SY75_.jpg|9631645] is not the book for you. If you came looking for some very solid political commentary, interwoven with a moderately exciting plot line, look no further.
Granted, Matched is a long book. In fact, it is so long that at times, you can't help but wonder why they didn't cut some of it. In my opinion, it wouldn't have harmed to make the book a bit shorter, a bit more concise, perhaps a bit more action-packed.
But I understand that this is not Matched's style at all. Instead, it follows a storyline that is very straightforward and very polished. We watch as Cassia Reyes, the protagonist, is Matched with her best friend, Xander. We watch as she finds out that Xander wasn't her perfect partner, it was Ky Markham instead. We watch as she slowly but surely falls for Ky and as she begins to question the entire system their lives are built on. There are no uprisings in the conventional sense in this book; every act of rebellion is small, and hidden, and subtle.
Ultimately, I wasn't interested that much in the story that took place. What kept me reading were both the characters and the political points Ally Condie was making. I do believe, though, that Matched could have benefitted from a more nuanced plot, or at least exploring the issues that were presented more in-depth.
Sometimes, transitions felt a little rushed to me, even after pages upon pages of build-up. Say, for example, Or the introduction of certain problems that could have been foreshadowed more in order to make the reveal understandable.
All in all, I think Ally Condie played it a little safe with her plot in this novel. It wasn't anything outstanding, it wasn't overly complicated. It wasn't bad, either, but deeply average.
CHARACTERS: 4 / 5
Where this novel really shines is its characters, and each individual development.
CASSIA REYES, the novel's protagonist, is a solid main character. She is likable enough to care about what happens to her, yet still makes some royally bad decisions. She has some likes, which are constantly shown throughout the story. She even has a bit of spine, which causes her to rebel in her own little ways.
The only thing Cassia does not have is an agenda. Sure, this book was written in 2010, at the height of the paranormal/dystopian-love triangle epidemic, but compared to other novels in its genre - the likes of which include [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)|Suzanne Collins|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1447303603l/2767052._SX50_.jpg|2792775] or [b:Divergent|13335037|Divergent (Divergent, #1)|Veronica Roth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328559506l/13335037._SY75_.jpg|13155899] - the main protagonist falls short.
I understood her desire for freedom, her wish to choose her own life and not be restricted by a totalitarian government in every single decision down to whom she'll marry and how much she'll eat. I just wish that there had been something else, something from within Cassia herself, that had sparked her whole development. In my opinion, falling in love with Ky was a lazy and easy catalyst that robbed Cassia of any personal goals she might have had. I would have preferred her to be a girl, enraged by the orchestrated death of her grandfather, or a girl whose desire to write her own story transcended the metaphorical sense. A girl risking her life for the power of creative writing would have been that extra bit of badass that Cassia lacks.
KY MARKHAM, on the other hand, had quite a lot of his own agenda, working for his optimized survival constantly. He appeared quite stoic and quiet at times, yet I still thought he was a very likable character, and I enjoyed all of his scenes. His fire and his passion were admirable, and his tragic backstory did break my heart a little.
Overall, he was a well-written character that I enjoyed reading about, and also a solid choice as Cassia's love interest.
XANDER CARROW is my baby and I will protect him with my life.
Xander is my favorite type of character: warm, good, kind. From the very first page, he had the best interests of those he cares for in mind, first and foremost Cassia's. He wasn't a total pushover, either, but quite able to stand his ground and protect those he loves. Totally my favorite from the novel so far, and, for the record: he deserves way better.
The side characters, such as BRAM or CASSIA'S PARENTS were also well-constructed. Even if they didn't get a lot of pagetime, due to the fact that the novel follows Cassia's internal process closely all along, I still felt like I could get a good grasp of who they were and what they cared for.
My favorite side character, even if he only had a very short lifespan in the book, was for sure CASSIA'S GRANDFATHER. He was a badass old man who lived and died on his own terms, and I felt real sorrow when Cassia bid him farewell.
In general, Ally Condie's characters are both likable and believable. What I can't help but wonder is whether they would have had a little stronger characterization had they not been raised in a system as restrictive and clean-cut as the Society.
WORLD BUILDING: 4/5
While Condie's world did lack some atmosphere, I still think it was solidly crafted. The system she has come up with is absolutely fucked up. The longer you think about it, the scarier it gets: a Society in which you are paired up with the love of your life based on variables such as genes and the highest probability of a successful marriage and healthy offspring; a Society in which nobody knows how to create art; a Society in which there are only 100 poems, 100 songs, 100 history lessons. A Society where you only see what you are told to see, and inevitably die on your eightieth birthday.
Reading about Cassia's world felt claustrophobic. It was too clean, too polished, too perfect for comfort. The absolute restriction of freedom and personal choice didn't become apparent immediately, but was revealed over time, in little tidbits of information.
It was absolutely chilling, and Condie's commentary on the importance of personal choice and the freedom of choosing one's own life is spot-on.
WRITING STYLE: 4 / 5
I don't feel like the best judge for this category since I read the book in its German translation. What I could gather from that was quite solid: the style reflects the world Cassia lives in, clean, polished, perhaps a little heavy on the inner monologue.
The translation, to anyone who is considering reading it, is very well done and flows nicely. Definitely one of the best German translations I have read, which is why I'd like to give kudos to the translator, Stefanie Schäfer. German readers, this translation is a very good choice if you can't get ahold of the English original.
DIVERSITY: 0 / 5
This is where Matched falls spectacularly short. There is absolutely no diversity in this novel. Race is never mentioned or discussed, which may mean that some of the characters could be people of color - but could be doesn't count as actual representation. (Looking at you, J. K. Rowling.)
Same with the sexuality: absolutely no mentions of anyone who isn't cis and hetero. One might argue that the Society is built around couples who produce the healthiest offspring, therefore eliminating same-sex couples - if one wanted to be punched in the face. Bisexuality is a thing, people, and there's other LGBT couples who could have biological children. Besides, there is an entire culture of singles mentioned - people who choose not to enter a partnership, therefore being allowed to date other singles of their choosing, but also being banned from marriage. It wouldn't have been hard to mention someone who wasn't straight here.
Lastly, the Society in which Cassia lives is largely ableist: producing the healthiest offspring is code for nothing more but erasing disabilities. I mourn for the opportunities this book could have had if it had included a group of underground rebels with disabilites, for example.
Overall, Ally Condie didn't include any kind of diversity, which may be due to the world-building. In the end, world building is always a choice, and choosing not to make your world diverse is also a statement.
I hope this changes in the next two books.
OVERALL RATING: 3.5 / 5
Contrary to what I expected, I still enjoyed reading this book eight years after I first read it. What it lacked in plot and diversity, it almost made up for in style, characters, and world building. I had some minor issues with the characters, including Cassia's lack of an own agenda, and the plot, which seemed to skip to important events at points, but overall, I did like this book and had a great reading experience.
Whether this was fueled by late nights rewatching the The Hunger Games- and The Maze Runner-trilogies with Mira and a thereupon rekindled love for dystopian young adult fiction remains a mystery.
me, age twenty one: man, i can't believe ally condie single-handedly predicted the issues of late-stage capitalism when she showed the ruling class trying to control the proletariat through hard, mind-numbing work that results in complete exhaustion and inability to organize the fall of the class system!
If I'm honest, I did not think I would enjoy this book when I picked it up for a reread this year. I remember pre-teen me loving this series deeply, and I also remember that pre-teen me was very easily excited and had little to critize.
This time, it turns out, pre-teen me was right. This is a solid book, an enjoyable book, a book that made me think. It is by no means a perfect book, but it is still a good book nonetheless - one might even suggest it was ahead of its time.
PLOT: 3 / 5
If you came looking for an intriguing political plot filled with action and rebellion, [b:Matched|7735333|Matched (Matched, #1)|Ally Condie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1367706191l/7735333._SY75_.jpg|9631645] is not the book for you. If you came looking for some very solid political commentary, interwoven with a moderately exciting plot line, look no further.
Granted, Matched is a long book. In fact, it is so long that at times, you can't help but wonder why they didn't cut some of it. In my opinion, it wouldn't have harmed to make the book a bit shorter, a bit more concise, perhaps a bit more action-packed.
But I understand that this is not Matched's style at all. Instead, it follows a storyline that is very straightforward and very polished. We watch as Cassia Reyes, the protagonist, is Matched with her best friend, Xander. We watch as she finds out that Xander wasn't her perfect partner, it was Ky Markham instead. We watch as she slowly but surely falls for Ky and as she begins to question the entire system their lives are built on. There are no uprisings in the conventional sense in this book; every act of rebellion is small, and hidden, and subtle.
Ultimately, I wasn't interested that much in the story that took place. What kept me reading were both the characters and the political points Ally Condie was making. I do believe, though, that Matched could have benefitted from a more nuanced plot, or at least exploring the issues that were presented more in-depth.
Sometimes, transitions felt a little rushed to me, even after pages upon pages of build-up. Say, for example,
Spoiler
Cassia no longer endorsing the Society and wishing it wouldn't exist in the first place. While her arrival at this conclusion was hinted at through many little instances over the course of multiple chapters, it still fell a little flat. I would have wanted some more in-depth exploration of each individual instance to make Cassia's 180-degree-transformation more believable.Spoiler
- in this case the apparent war that the Society seems to be involved in, which there was absolutely no mention of until the last hundred pages -All in all, I think Ally Condie played it a little safe with her plot in this novel. It wasn't anything outstanding, it wasn't overly complicated. It wasn't bad, either, but deeply average.
CHARACTERS: 4 / 5
Where this novel really shines is its characters, and each individual development.
CASSIA REYES, the novel's protagonist, is a solid main character. She is likable enough to care about what happens to her, yet still makes some royally bad decisions. She has some likes, which are constantly shown throughout the story. She even has a bit of spine, which causes her to rebel in her own little ways.
The only thing Cassia does not have is an agenda. Sure, this book was written in 2010, at the height of the paranormal/dystopian-love triangle epidemic, but compared to other novels in its genre - the likes of which include [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)|Suzanne Collins|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1447303603l/2767052._SX50_.jpg|2792775] or [b:Divergent|13335037|Divergent (Divergent, #1)|Veronica Roth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328559506l/13335037._SY75_.jpg|13155899] - the main protagonist falls short.
I understood her desire for freedom, her wish to choose her own life and not be restricted by a totalitarian government in every single decision down to whom she'll marry and how much she'll eat. I just wish that there had been something else, something from within Cassia herself, that had sparked her whole development. In my opinion, falling in love with Ky was a lazy and easy catalyst that robbed Cassia of any personal goals she might have had. I would have preferred her to be a girl, enraged by the orchestrated death of her grandfather, or a girl whose desire to write her own story transcended the metaphorical sense. A girl risking her life for the power of creative writing would have been that extra bit of badass that Cassia lacks.
KY MARKHAM, on the other hand, had quite a lot of his own agenda, working for his optimized survival constantly. He appeared quite stoic and quiet at times, yet I still thought he was a very likable character, and I enjoyed all of his scenes. His fire and his passion were admirable, and his tragic backstory did break my heart a little.
Overall, he was a well-written character that I enjoyed reading about, and also a solid choice as Cassia's love interest.
XANDER CARROW is my baby and I will protect him with my life.
Xander is my favorite type of character: warm, good, kind. From the very first page, he had the best interests of those he cares for in mind, first and foremost Cassia's. He wasn't a total pushover, either, but quite able to stand his ground and protect those he loves. Totally my favorite from the novel so far, and, for the record: he deserves way better.
The side characters, such as BRAM or CASSIA'S PARENTS were also well-constructed. Even if they didn't get a lot of pagetime, due to the fact that the novel follows Cassia's internal process closely all along, I still felt like I could get a good grasp of who they were and what they cared for.
My favorite side character, even if he only had a very short lifespan in the book, was for sure CASSIA'S GRANDFATHER. He was a badass old man who lived and died on his own terms, and I felt real sorrow when Cassia bid him farewell.
In general, Ally Condie's characters are both likable and believable. What I can't help but wonder is whether they would have had a little stronger characterization had they not been raised in a system as restrictive and clean-cut as the Society.
WORLD BUILDING: 4/5
While Condie's world did lack some atmosphere, I still think it was solidly crafted. The system she has come up with is absolutely fucked up. The longer you think about it, the scarier it gets: a Society in which you are paired up with the love of your life based on variables such as genes and the highest probability of a successful marriage and healthy offspring; a Society in which nobody knows how to create art; a Society in which there are only 100 poems, 100 songs, 100 history lessons. A Society where you only see what you are told to see, and inevitably die on your eightieth birthday.
Reading about Cassia's world felt claustrophobic. It was too clean, too polished, too perfect for comfort. The absolute restriction of freedom and personal choice didn't become apparent immediately, but was revealed over time, in little tidbits of information.
It was absolutely chilling, and Condie's commentary on the importance of personal choice and the freedom of choosing one's own life is spot-on.
WRITING STYLE: 4 / 5
I don't feel like the best judge for this category since I read the book in its German translation. What I could gather from that was quite solid: the style reflects the world Cassia lives in, clean, polished, perhaps a little heavy on the inner monologue.
The translation, to anyone who is considering reading it, is very well done and flows nicely. Definitely one of the best German translations I have read, which is why I'd like to give kudos to the translator, Stefanie Schäfer. German readers, this translation is a very good choice if you can't get ahold of the English original.
DIVERSITY: 0 / 5
This is where Matched falls spectacularly short. There is absolutely no diversity in this novel. Race is never mentioned or discussed, which may mean that some of the characters could be people of color - but could be doesn't count as actual representation. (Looking at you, J. K. Rowling.)
Same with the sexuality: absolutely no mentions of anyone who isn't cis and hetero. One might argue that the Society is built around couples who produce the healthiest offspring, therefore eliminating same-sex couples - if one wanted to be punched in the face. Bisexuality is a thing, people, and there's other LGBT couples who could have biological children. Besides, there is an entire culture of singles mentioned - people who choose not to enter a partnership, therefore being allowed to date other singles of their choosing, but also being banned from marriage. It wouldn't have been hard to mention someone who wasn't straight here.
Lastly, the Society in which Cassia lives is largely ableist: producing the healthiest offspring is code for nothing more but erasing disabilities. I mourn for the opportunities this book could have had if it had included a group of underground rebels with disabilites, for example.
Overall, Ally Condie didn't include any kind of diversity, which may be due to the world-building. In the end, world building is always a choice, and choosing not to make your world diverse is also a statement.
I hope this changes in the next two books.
OVERALL RATING: 3.5 / 5
Contrary to what I expected, I still enjoyed reading this book eight years after I first read it. What it lacked in plot and diversity, it almost made up for in style, characters, and world building. I had some minor issues with the characters, including Cassia's lack of an own agenda, and the plot, which seemed to skip to important events at points, but overall, I did like this book and had a great reading experience.
Whether this was fueled by late nights rewatching the The Hunger Games- and The Maze Runner-trilogies with Mira and a thereupon rekindled love for dystopian young adult fiction remains a mystery.