Matched: Volume 1

Ally Condie

Sep 2011 · Matched Book 1 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

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.

Look for CROSSED, the sequel to MATCHED, in Fall 2011!

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Ratings and reviews

This iz like a really amzing book i have evr read... no i waz just kinding around. but it iz a really good good goood gooooooooood book. i want to read the sencond book of the series [ crossed ] but i'm getting a kindle fire for christmas from my aunt, so i'm going to wait untile i get that and either buy it from there, or just simply already have it on there. Anyways this iz a really and i mean really X3 good book. very awesome and i just could'nt put it down although i did have to from time time to u know... anyways awesome book i think u should really read it:] hehehehe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a great story but written in a very drawn out way. It's 1 of 3 books and I get the impression the artist was stretching the story out to get 3 books out of it. The lead character does A LOT of inner monologing and internal soul searching, lots of questions. It got tedious after a while, I found myself scanning the pages to move more quickly through the story (and I'm someone who normality likes to savor the words of a good story written well). I started reading the second one because I did want to see how the heroine of the story ends. But I just couldn't finish it. It was written in the same drawn out way and I really didn't want to go through 2 more books of that, at the end of which, I get the feeling, there would have been either a disappointing end to the story of no closure at all.

Not my favorite dystopian series, but not the worst. The last book had some interesting points regarding the government that hit home. Not a good book to use as reference on how to behave during a pandemic. The series itself, not just the Society, is minimalistic. Descriptions of settings and lifestyles are limited. There is more focus on the very gush romance than anything else. There are no explicit people of color, so you have to imagine them yourself when they aren't obviously described as white. Also, extremely heteronormative, if you can't tell by the premise.

About the author

Ally Condie is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Matched trilogy and co-author of the Darkdeep middle grade series. She is also the author of the novel Summerlost, an Edgar Award Finalist. A former English teacher, Ally lives with her family outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Ally has an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is the founder and director of the nonprofit WriteOut Foundation.

allycondie.com
Twitter: @allycondie