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#130 Matched by Ally Condie Review

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate… until she sees Ky Markham’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it’s a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she’s destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path that no one else has dared to follow

I’m sure by now you’ve realised, I really don’t like talking badly about any book.. But I have to admit that Matched by Ally Condie, is probably the worst book I’ve read in 2013. And not even because it’s particularly bad, it’s just because  I was disappointed by it. I had been looking forward to it being on par with my beloved The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins but it was just “meh” if I had to describe it in one word. The plot, the characters, just meh.
The whole plot is basically summarised in those two paragraphs. Please bare in mind that it is a young adult book so therefore is pretty PG13 in all aspects of it. I read it cover to cover in little over a day.
The characters didn’t make much impact on me at all. Cassia is no Katniss, I didn’t fall in love with Ky and Xander the way I fell in love with Peeta and Gale. There were no comical characters and in fact I didn’t think the characters were complex at all. I didn’t have to think, the book was easy and because of that, the characters haven’t made much of an impact on me at all.
HOWEVER, I did keep reading.. and for me that means something had to of been there.. Usually if I’m not enjoying a book I simply put it down.. I waste no more time on it. AND on top of that I do plan on reading the two follow up books to it because I actually enjoy the dystopian world Condie has created and part of me does want to know what happens in the end.

My favourite quote was;

Every minute you spend with someone gives them a part of your life and takes part of theirs.” 
The quote is one of the few things I do take away from the book. I loved this concept of how life works when you spend some time with someone. It was tragically beautiful, if you’re into that sort of thing. I love anything remotely poetic, it must be the literature student I beat down inside me.
I’d probably never recommend this book to anyone, maybe a teenager? I might of enjoyed it much more in my teens where I know I wouldn’t of appreciated other YA books as much as I have when I read them as an adult. Lets hope the other two surpass my now lowered expectations.

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