Review Detail

4.0 37

Matched

Young Adult Fiction 1316

Great Beginning, Slow Middle, AMAZING END!

August 10, 2011

Overall rating

3.7

Plot

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Characters

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Writing Style

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Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

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I have to say i was disapointed by MATCHED, what with its promising plot and interesting beginning. The first three chapters were stupendous, introducing the well-fleshed-out Cassia Reyes and Xander and her family, the great Matching sequence that i found oddly interesting. And as time went on, the book seemed to meld together. The love was not overpowering, though it consumed 3/4 of the book.

The last part of MATCHED is my favorite part, due to the great ending and the great running sequence. I found that the middle of the book was all the same, Cassi running from Xander to Ky and vice-versa in a desperate act of finding out who she really wants to be with.

Ally Condie is a fabulous author, though her pitfall is the romance. But Ally did one of the best jobs of fleshing out the Society and the people living in it. I haven’t experianced such a great dystopiann society built from the ashes in such a long time! The Hunger Games was a great world, and Divergent did an okay job, but MATCHED was a totally believable world with a good system.

Overall, i liked MATCHED enough that i am anxious to read CROSSED, but i hope Cassia can be more independant for decisions and free.

I expect great things from Ally Condie!

Good Points

THE WORLD BUILDING - This is by far without a doubt the MOST AMAZING WORLD BUILDING EVER DONE IN DYSTOPIAN YA! Literally. I mean every nook and cranny and rut in the Society's factual layouts and system is smoothed out! The government system is described in snippets so you accumilate knowledge quickly and easily! The descriptions of the buildings and the people and the rules is so vivid and believable i'm afraid this could actually happen one day!

The Ending - Probably one of the best endings i've ever read! Everything gets wrapped up just enough so that you can faintly see where the sequel is going to go! Everything is so put together throughout the book that Ally really didn't have a huge task at hand to tie the loose ends up perfectly, leaving some slightly unknotted to unwrap in CROSSED!

The Beginning - Sorry, i went Ending then Beginning, but that's because the Beginning is second best. I was captivated in the first paragraph...literally...the description of Cassia being a bird is so lyrical i was like: "i ALREADY love it?" and yes, i continued to love it through the first three chapters! Cassia was already well fleshed out and already distinguished! Xander was already three-dimesional!

Cassia's Character Development - though a bit panicky and clingy at times, i thought one of the best parts of matched was Cassia's development as she stretches away from the Society and towards the forbidden connection she feels to Ky. It is all so well plotted. Cassia's development is smooth and subtle, so you don't realize how much she's changed until you reflect!