Review Detail

Think Delirium meets The Selection meets bits and pieces of Hunger Games and Divergent.

To be honest, while reading Matched, I felt I was reading all the other dystopian novels I had read rolled up in one. The matching reminded me of Delirium. The banquet reminded me of The Selection. The pills reminded me of The Program. And a lot of other things reminded of a lot of other YA books.

BUT I enjoyed it. It was an engaging read, good enough to while away a lazy Friday.

While reading, I imagined myself to be part of The Society which is proof enough that the world Condie has created is pretty believable. The story goes like this:

Cassia lives in a world where people are ‘matched’ with a suitable person when they turn a specific age. She is matched with her best fiend Xander, but there is a slight glitch. When she takes a look at the microcard that holds her ‘matchee’s’ data, she sees someone else’s face. Ky’s.

It’s the ultimate love triangle but where Condie has failed is in the development of the characters. I never felt much for either of the guys. Cassia on the other hand was entirely relate-able.

I couldn’t help thinking how a matching is so much like an arranged marriage (very common here in Pakistan). The excitement, the nervousness, the joy at finally having been matched would be something a lot of girls can relate to.