Matched by Ally Condie

The Society knows best, that's what Cassia Reyes has always been taught. The Society will take care of you, make sure you're healthy and happy, and, when you turn 17, they will select a person for you to marry - your Match - when you turn 21 (because it's the most optimum age to have a children).

On the eve of her Match, Cassia is nervous, but when, against the odds, it turns that her match is someone she already knows and loves - her best friend Xander - it seems like her life will be perfect forever more. But there are cracks to the Society that Cassia is just starting to see - her Match banquet is followed by her Grandfather's Last Banquet, his death. In many ways it's her Grandfather's spirit what makes her wonder about things, particularly about her Match. More so when an 'error' shows that Xander might not be her match after all. 

That makes her look more closely at Ky, another guy in her group of friends, with whom she shares an inexplicable connection. Slowly, more cracks begin to show, secrets the Society can keep forever, and Cassia will be pushed to make choices that might change everything...

Okay, so I finally read Matched, mostly because my friend Kylie@The Creative Geek, kept telling me I had to. I liked the book, I didn't love it to pieces, and I almost gave up on it, but decided to keep reading anyway. I was a bit thrown off by the first person-present tense narrative (it flowed better than I expected at the beginning, but I grew a bit tired of it toward the middle of the story). 

A bit reminiscent of Fahrenheit 451 or A Brave New World, I liked the story over all. I liked Cassia and her family the most. I liked to see her journey from the person she is at the beginning (a regular member of the society, happy to follow along and fit in) and where she ends up (a rebel in the making). I even liked Xander and Ky, and the people around them. 

But I felt the plot was stretched a bit, like it went on for a bit too long. Still, I'll probably read Crossed (the sequel, schedule for a November 2011 release).

1/2