Book Review: Matched by Ally Condie
- Paola Santana
- Mar 4
- 3 min read
Updated: May 20
Matched is the first book in Ally Condie's dystopian trilogy by the same name. It tells the story of Cassia - a seventeen year-old girl who lives in the perfect world created by "The Society".
The Society chooses everything for everyone: where they work and live; what they eat and do with their time; who they love; how many children they have; and when they die. That is all well and good until Cassia loses someone she loves and finds herself falling in love with a boy that is not her designated "match" and has not been chosen to be her partner. The Society and the world she knows and once believed to be so perfect begin to feel more like a prison, as she starts to question why she cannot choose for herself.
BOOK SPEC
Number of pages: 366
Format: Paperback
Genre: YA Romance, Science Fiction
Tropes: Forbidden Love, Dystorpian Future, Self-Discovery
SHORT REVIEW
Although Matched was voted Best Book of the Month by Amazon shortly after its release and had its film rights bought by Disney before the book was even out, I have to admit I struggled reading it and found it a little heavy going. Probably a lot to do with the fact that this is not an action or romance novel as much as it's a self-discovery one.
Having said that, it's a thought-provoking book about freedom of choice. The first of a trilogy, the romance story is far from over, but it leaves you thinking about the freedoms you enjoy and questioning if you would abandon the "perfect life" to have it.
HEART RATE:
SMUT SCORE:
FULL REVIEW
When asked by Amazon how is this book different from other YA books, Condie replied: "I think it’s different in that it’s perhaps less action-oriented and more introspective. This is really the story of one girl, Cassia, learning to choose." And ultimately it's also a story of how we take our freedom and free will for granted.
Plot & Characters
The story unfolds slowly, as Cassia starts to question decisions and events but finds it hard to let go of her trust in the apparently perfect Society.
The characters are interesting and so is the plot, but I found the story long winded and slow; to the point that I wondered if Condie set the pace to crawling on purpose. The intention being to make the reader feel controlled, paced, herded and ever so slightly bored, just like Cassia in her life before she starts to wonder about all the other possibilities.
The end it's not so much a cliffhanger, but you know the story is to be continued.
Smut & Romance Score
Cassia is constantly being watched, and so doing anything that doesn't "fit" The Society is almost impossible. For that reason, the first novel in the series ends without so much as a kiss in between our heroine and her love interest, Ky. By default, there is no smut in this novel either.
Writing
Condie does a good job of evoking the right feelings on you: quiet anger, rebellion, questioning, indignation and passive aggression. Emotionally, this can feel somewhat of a dark novel, specially towards the end. I had flashbacks from when I read Anne Frank's Diary and watched documentaries on Concentration Camps, as this is what Cassia's world really feels like: a glamorized concentration camp labeled Utopia. And we all know that Utopia is never really fair or even, as there is always someone at the very top playing God.
All in one, a very thought-provoking read indeed. It certainly had me reflecting on the freedoms I enjoy and how women in certain parts of the world, where they don't have such freedoms, might feel.
OUT OF CURIOSITY
Disney snatched the rights for this book before it even launched in 2010, but it has so far not been adapted into film. Rumor has it, Condie received a seven figure deal for the series.
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