Reminiscent of 1984 by George Orwell, Matched follows the forbidden budding romance of cassia and Ky. In a world governed by Society, emotions are strictly controlled while statistics and probability prevail. There is no running in public, everyone has regimented diets, jobs are segregated, citizens are genetically Matched at seventeen and scheduled to die on their eightieth birthday. This is just a broad overview of this misguided Utopia.
Although Matched is a YA love story, the underlying message surpasses your typical teen romance. There is little depth to secondary characters, but I'm hoping that changes with future installments in the series (Crossed is due out November 1, 2011). Ally Condie does a nice job of imbuing mystery into the story line without making it a frustrating cliff0hanger. the chaste romance remains interesting because of it's development around Society's watchful eye.
However beautiful the writing is, the story does fall a little flat. It is interesting, but not riveting. The reader cares for Cassia, Ky and Xander, but doesn't love them. In short, no strong emotions are involved. this could be cleverly implemented to parallel the lack of intense feelings portrayed by the citizens and Society. Or it can be a lack of passion in the writing. Crossed should solidify the direction one way or the other. Judging on Match's ending and the path Cassia is predictably heading, the sophomore title promises more action, romance, independence and rebellion.
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