Matched by Ally Condie was one of those books that I was super excited about. When I first heard about it, I was beyond excited. I love dystopian literature, and was definitely looking forward to spending some time in Cassia's world. I tend to ignore the hype that other people give to a story, so that rarely affects my overall feelings toward to book, but my own expectations certainly come into play.
The beginning of the story was brilliant. I just knew, by about page 10 that this was a book I was going to need to own. It was only the first chapter, but I already felt that edge of your seat excitement, wondering what was going to happen. The book begins with Cassia on her way to the matching banquet, and her nervous excitement definitely rubbed off on me. I was quite impressed by Condie's writing skills. It's not often I'm that hooked on a story that early.
I felt like I knew that my expectations had been on the mark, and this book was going to amaze me. Sadly, although I did enjoy it, the build up and anticipation ended up being both bigger and better than what was actually delivered.
Condie did a wonderfully horrible job of world building. I think that the idea behind the Society is extra scary, because so few people question it, and so few people recognize that there is something wrong with the way they live, at least of the characters that we met. The Society has completely removed choice. The ability to make my own choices is something I've thought a lot about. I don't believe in destiny or fate, and I don't believe that anyone has a right to make my choices for me, whether my choices are good or bad, they are mine, and mine alone. But, the people in Cassia's world have never known choice. The Society removed it by telling the people that their way was best — it removed disease, genetically weak children, old age, crime, etc. All the bad things are gone, leaving only the 'good' behind. But none of that good is something you were able to decide on.
I listened to Cassia tell us about the choices the Society made for her, and justify their actions, and I kept waiting and waiting for her to wake up, and realize how awful an existence that was. But it wasn't until she began to fall in love with Ky, and realize that she would never be able to be with him that she decided the Society was in the wrong.
Now, I understand that the love story between Cassia and Ky is important to the story, that this is where her awakening begins and yada yada yada. But I was a little disappointed, because I felt like that's all the story was. When I read a dystopian novel, I expect the conflict between character and world to be dominant, not the conflict between love interests. I never felt like Cassia really came to the understanding that the Society was inherently bad or flawed. All she knew was that the Society's control over her ability to make choices was keeping her apart from Ky, whom she loved and that Ky would never be able to make his own choices. If the Society had noticed this part of her, and made an exception for her and Ky, I kind of believe that she would have then been content to live the remainder of her life in peace, leaving the Society as it stands and forgetting her teenaged rebellion in favor of the peaceful settled life with Ky.
There was also a lot of information missing from the story. A lot was left undisclosed, most importantly — how the world became the way it is now. It would take some seriously heavy stuff to completely obliterate choices like that, and I would like to know what happened that convinced the people it was okay to give up all rights and choices, and how long it took to happen. I do know that this is a trilogy, so there are two more books for Condie to make her explanations, but I would still have liked a little more information.
I'm briefly mentioning the love triangle with Xander and Ky because I know that is the main basis for the book, but I don't really think there was that much conflict. This wasn't a case of being in love with my best friend, and then having someone else pop up. Although Cassia and Xander are matched, and even though she is excited about kissing the boy she knows she will marry, Cassia is never really in love with Xander. She loves Ky, and you always know the story is headed in that direction. But, I will say that I thought both boys were incredibly well written characters, and both of them care about Cassia very much. I am looking forward to their roles in the future.
Even though there were a few things I disliked, this really was an enjoyable book. I liked reading it, and would definitely consider myself a fan. I will be reading the next book and I can only hope that Cassia will open her eyes to more flaws than just the injustice being done to Ky.
*Disclaimer: I received this book through Around the World Tours.