Review: Matched by Ally Condie

The plot: 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. (Summary from goodreads.com)

Cover: It's clean and well-designed. I like that the girl on the cover works with the Cassie decribed in the novel.

First line: Now that I've found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night?

My opinion: When I first was introduced to YA dystopias by Suzanne Collins's "Hunger Games", I found it a bit refreshing with a break from the whole paranormal scene, but since then the dystopias seems to have exploaded on the market. They're the new vampires. Since I did love "The Hunger Games" I was quite excited for this one.

My expectations, however, sadly fell short and Matched was too much of George Orwell's 1984 for my taste. Naturally, a novel about an overcontrolling government is bound to make one's mind drift to the most dystopian of dystopias, but whereas Collins succeeded in finding a new take on the whole Big Brother-thing, I felt Condie did not.I was also puzzled with the fact that they could read, but not write. What's up with that?

As for the main characters, I could never really relate to them. I didn't mind them, but then again they didn't draw me in. And that is the biggest nail in the coffin for a fictional character, as far as I am concerned. All and all, I don't think I'll read the next installment.