Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie [website] [twitter] [facebook]
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance
Publisher: Dutton Children’s Books
Format: Paperback ARC
Source: Publisher (via BEA)
Parental Advisory: none
Teachable Moments: freedom of choice, non-conformity, political control

“My idea won’t work.  I know it the minute I stand on the steps of the Hall for only the second time in my life.  This is not the place of open doors and twinkling lights that welcomed me, invited me to catch a glimpse of my future.  In the daylight, this is a place with armed guards, a place of business, a place where past and present are locked safe inside.  They won’t let me in, and even if they did, they wouldn’t tell me anything.”

Summary (from the publisher):
In the Society, Officials decide.  Who you love.  Where you work.  When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices.  It’s barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate.  So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one….until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.  Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow — between perfection and passion.

Opinion:
I’ve got to start this review by saying I don’t really know where to start this review.  I say it not because I didn’t like Matched, because I did, but because it’s one of those books that falls right in the middle.  It wasn’t overpoweringly awesome nor was it hideously bad. I suppose that isn’t the ringing endorsement some would like to hear but the fact of the matter is that I’m a bit ambivalent.  So, for this review I’ll be breaking things down into what worked well for me versus what didn’t.

What Worked
The world Condie created.  It was so very “big brother is watching” — from portion control over food to selecting a person’s profession The Society was the end all be all in determining each and every aspect of a person’s life.  The Society chose what music, art and poetry a constituent could enjoy, there was very little a person had the ability to choose for themselves.  Not the least of these choices was the ability select one’s own partner in life.  The Society was also in charge of pairing people up with their perfect Match.  Sorted together for maximum compatibility and ultimately mating (though that was not expressly stated) girls and boys entered into arranged marriages without any questioning.

The setting was a sparse version of the future where uniformity was one method used to maintain control over the population. And believe me, as stated previously, control was something The Society definitely had over its constituents.  Elements of the story, like the air trains used for transportation, made for a quite futuristic vibe.  But what made that vibe more interesting was the infusion of some historical elements that gave an old time feeling as well.  Much like their lives and their food were portion controlled so were their surroundings — homes, recreation, neighborhoods  were all constructed for equality.

I also liked the main plot where a girl who in one minute of life was accepting of her circumstances and was happy to tow the party line but then after being guided through to realization of what those circumstances really were she found them less than optimal. Through several influential relationships Cassia’s progression from a Society girl to one who longed to make her own choices and risked her life (and the lives of others) to do so was quite enjoyable.

Condie wrote strong individual characters in almost all of the inhabitants.  Sure, not all were as focussed and deep as others but there was a strong foundation to build on and some intriguing emotion and characteristics. Cassia herself was quite even toned if not a little bit wishy washy at times.  But, I’ll say that if in the same situations I would be a bit wishy-washy too, particularly given the fact that she had to be so careful about the lives and feelings of everyone around her.

What Didn’t Work
Who was in control?  Why was the Society the way it was?  I didn’t get a good feel for the reasons behind why things were the way they were.  Given the fact that one of the larger points of the plot focused on freedom of choice it was odd to me that we didn’t have any real idea as to why the world progressed into The Society and who The Officials were.  It could be that this is one of the elements of the story that is delved deeper into as part of the second book but I would have like more insight here.  In this way, I’ll agree with others who have mentioned before me that this book felt more like an introduction to the big parts of the story.  There was a lot of set up for characters and plots that I imagine will be seen later.

I have to admit I didn’t feel the love connection between Ky and Cassia.  He felt more like the leader of a rebellion (which in many ways he was) recruiting members to stand with him than a love match.  He was interesting enough as a character but I kept hoping for something more between  them.  Ky lacked the kind of charisma one would think a romantic lead would have and as a result their love fell flat.

I was a bit disappointed we didn’t get to see more of Cassia’s best friend (and Match) Zander.  I think spending more time building up their relationship would have gave me more of a stake in the love triangle.  Not every story needs to have a “team whomever” situation but the triangle was (at least by my take on things) designed to play a large role in this story and it wasn’t touched on nearly enough.  I didn’t feel like I had a true stake in Cassia’s decisions and that is the part of a love story that I most enjoy.

Matched was a relatively simple and straightforward story that touched on some extremely complex issues. It wasn’t filled with bang ‘em up action packed scenes and plot elements, it was in fact quite muted in tone, but it was interesting to see the characters work through some of the challenges.  For those reasons I’ll be reading the second book in the series to see if I can make a better connection.