Unmatched By Lesser Books

Matched by Ally Condie

Adolescent Dystopia Fiction

This read, for me, was like falling in love slowly.  I only really liked the book for awhile and then it started to grow on me and then I was reading it feverishly, desperate to begin the next as soon as I finished this first installment.

This is a dystopian book like The Hunger Games but Cassia is no Katniss Everdeen.  Which isn't to say she is a lesser protagonist.  Cassia is satisfied with her life, never coloring outside the lines of what is expected of her by her family and by society.  What's not to be happy about?  She has a loving family, good friends and she has been 'matched' (as in government-sponsored betrothed) to her childhood BFF who adores her.  The feeling is mutual.

Until.

Until Cassia glimpses a different future.  When she witnesses a supposed computer glitch that 'matches' her with Ky, a boy she knows but who has always been an outsider, she is intrigued by the possibilities.  Her intrigue starts a small revolution, first in her own heart. This is why I like her a little better than Katniss.  Revolution is not thrust upon Cassia; she absorbs it and projects it all for love and justice.

This book just got better and better.  I felt like I was growing and becoming more aware with Cassia, rather than through her.  And, while you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, the covers of this series are pure delight for the eyes.  I cannot wait for the next one!