Matched [book review]

SUMMARY

Cassia lives in a perfect, predestined world... The Society. Everything is figured out for her... what occupation she'll have, who she'll marry, how many kids she's allowed to have, etc. Traditionally, every girl is given a Match ceremony - where the government reveals who they'll spend the rest of their lives with. Luckily for Cassia, the face that appears on the screen is the face of her best friend. It's completely uncommon to be Matched with someone in your area, let alone someone you actually know. 

Cassia goes home to review the micro-card that contains all of her Match's information, although she knows everything there is to know about Xander... they've been best friends all their lives. Much to her surprise, Ky Markham's face pops up on the screen... another boy she knows. The Society claims that there's been a glitch in the system, and that Xander is still her match. She should be relieved, but instead... she's a little curious about Ky. 

Cassia becomes more and more intrigued with Ky Markham, and as they fall in love during the Society's regulated rec time, she's faced with an impossible choice: to love the boy she's known and loved all her life... the one that the government has shown to be her best Match for life, or to take a risk with Ky, the Aberration... the mysterious one with a story that has yet to unfold.

REVIEW

I gave this book 3 stars on Good Reads. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. I just liked it. It only took me 6 days to complete it, but I think that was because I was just ready to be finished with it, as opposed to actually being 100% invested in the story.

Don't get me wrong, Ally Condie is a fabulous writer - the book was intriguing and descriptive and everything else that I love in a book. The reason I didn't give it a higher rating was due to the content. I just felt like it was a whole lot of emotions and not enough action going on. I felt that throughout the entire book, I was flipping pages just waiting for something big to happen. 

One thing I did love about this novel were the characters. I became very attached to them, although I did want to slap the shit out of Cassia on numerous occasions. In the beginning, I loved Xander, and I was angry that Cassia was even thinking of ditching him for Ky. But then through Ally's writing, I learned to love Ky as well, and I could definitely understand why it was such a struggle to make that choice. Character development is definitely one of Condie's strong points, that's for sure.

The second book of this series, entitled Crossed, is to be released later this year (Good Reads says November 1st). I'll probably pick it up, because I'm curious to see where the story goes.

I think that YA fiction readers will like this book, while people who are wanting a little more substance and action will probably not enjoy it as much. I'm definitely interested to see what happens in the next book, so I guess that's a plus on Condie's part!