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A review by jessica42980
Matched by Ally Condie
3.0
All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on October 8, 2020.
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I read this series back in 2014 and rated the books 4 stars (Matched), 3 stars (Crossed), and 2 stars (Reached). I remember enjoying Matched the most, but the series got weaker as it went on. I needed to have an audiobook to listen to and Matched was available with no wait, so I went for it and wondered what my thoughts would be this time based on my memory. This time I give Matched 3 stars.
This is a weak series and if you are looking for a dystopian read with a strong female character, stay with The Hunger Games or Divergent. This series would be suited for younger teenagers. In Matched, the Society chooses everything for you from what you eat, what your occupation will be, what you can read or listen to (There are only 100 poems and 100 songs, 100 paintings, etc to choose from), where you live, when you die, to whom you will marry by being matched with.
Cassia receives notification that her Matching ceremony will be on her 17th birthday. This is where citizens find out who in the Society will become their spouse. During her matching ceremony she finds out who her match is and surprisingly she actually knows him! Later, she goes to look at the electronic file on him despite knowing so much about him, but another face briefly appears and then disappears. Surprisingly she also knows this boy. Thus begins a love triangle for Cassia and her beginning doubts about the ‘all perfect society’ that she is a part of.
Matched has a great premise, right? The delivery just did not work for me this time versus when I previously read it and gave it 4 stars. I am not the target audience for this novel as it is YA and I the lower rating this time is because I am older. There were so many things that bothered me about the Society: How has all this time passed and the citizens just let the Society have so much control over them? Since their spouses are selected for them , have they in a way been ‘bred’ to be controlled? Or they so indoctrinated in this life that they can’t really think for themselves? Has no one had doubts about the Society as Cassia starts to do as the novel progresses? Yes, Cassia does begin to question more as the novel goes on and begins to become a ‘threat’ to the Society, but for most of the novel it deals with her developing triangle of feelings of Xander and Ky. Xander whom she has known her whole life and Ky who she knew but he was ‘not on her radar’ until he showed up and then disappeared in the electronic file.
There is a lot more to the Society than I have mentioned here. Would I say read this novel? Yes, as everything the Society does is intriguing and the fact that the citizens do live this way. Would I say read the other two in the series? No. The ending for Matched does lead up to the second in the series, Crossed, but based on my memory and seeing my previous ratings for the other two novels, I will pass on it.
As previously mentioned, I listened to the audiobook this time and the narrator Kate Simses is a great voice for Cassia. One thing that I did not like about the audiobook was towards the end when the book climax was happening (which isn’t much of a climax) there was a score that started playing. I think it was to add to the climax, but for me it didn’t help build on it and made what should be serious eye roll worthy.
This one just had a lot of promise that did not deliver well. I will leave it up to you on if you want to read this one. It is a terrible pity as the covers of this series are absolutely GORGEOUS and worthy of owning just because of their looks. The covers have a lot of meaning to them, which includes the colors which become apparent as you read the novels.
~~~~
This review will appear on my site on October 8, 2020.
~~~~
I read this series back in 2014 and rated the books 4 stars (Matched), 3 stars (Crossed), and 2 stars (Reached). I remember enjoying Matched the most, but the series got weaker as it went on. I needed to have an audiobook to listen to and Matched was available with no wait, so I went for it and wondered what my thoughts would be this time based on my memory. This time I give Matched 3 stars.
This is a weak series and if you are looking for a dystopian read with a strong female character, stay with The Hunger Games or Divergent. This series would be suited for younger teenagers. In Matched, the Society chooses everything for you from what you eat, what your occupation will be, what you can read or listen to (There are only 100 poems and 100 songs, 100 paintings, etc to choose from), where you live, when you die, to whom you will marry by being matched with.
Cassia receives notification that her Matching ceremony will be on her 17th birthday. This is where citizens find out who in the Society will become their spouse. During her matching ceremony she finds out who her match is and surprisingly she actually knows him! Later, she goes to look at the electronic file on him despite knowing so much about him, but another face briefly appears and then disappears. Surprisingly she also knows this boy. Thus begins a love triangle for Cassia and her beginning doubts about the ‘all perfect society’ that she is a part of.
Matched has a great premise, right? The delivery just did not work for me this time versus when I previously read it and gave it 4 stars. I am not the target audience for this novel as it is YA and I the lower rating this time is because I am older. There were so many things that bothered me about the Society: How has all this time passed and the citizens just let the Society have so much control over them? Since their spouses are selected for them , have they in a way been ‘bred’ to be controlled? Or they so indoctrinated in this life that they can’t really think for themselves? Has no one had doubts about the Society as Cassia starts to do as the novel progresses? Yes, Cassia does begin to question more as the novel goes on and begins to become a ‘threat’ to the Society, but for most of the novel it deals with her developing triangle of feelings of Xander and Ky. Xander whom she has known her whole life and Ky who she knew but he was ‘not on her radar’ until he showed up and then disappeared in the electronic file.
There is a lot more to the Society than I have mentioned here. Would I say read this novel? Yes, as everything the Society does is intriguing and the fact that the citizens do live this way. Would I say read the other two in the series? No. The ending for Matched does lead up to the second in the series, Crossed, but based on my memory and seeing my previous ratings for the other two novels, I will pass on it.
As previously mentioned, I listened to the audiobook this time and the narrator Kate Simses is a great voice for Cassia. One thing that I did not like about the audiobook was towards the end when the book climax was happening (which isn’t much of a climax) there was a score that started playing. I think it was to add to the climax, but for me it didn’t help build on it and made what should be serious eye roll worthy.
This one just had a lot of promise that did not deliver well. I will leave it up to you on if you want to read this one. It is a terrible pity as the covers of this series are absolutely GORGEOUS and worthy of owning just because of their looks. The covers have a lot of meaning to them, which includes the colors which become apparent as you read the novels.