Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
This book has gotten a whole lot of good reviews, but for me it was a little ho-hum. I caught myself putting it down a lot cause it couldn't hold my interest. It was probably in the last quarter of the book that it finally perked up for me. Though I didn't get totally excited about this book, I can't wait to see what the next one holds, maybe I will like the other books better than this one. Hmmm who knows, we shall see.
I picked this book up randomly, because once in a while I like a fantasy or dystopian novel. I wasn’t anticipating it would be so familiar. This book is so close to the world of The Giver, or even Divergent. It constantly felt familiar. But it was enjoyable.
I will definitely go in to read the second and third books in the series. I need to find out what happens with the three main characters, the love triangle. And I need to know if they take their whole Society down.
I will definitely go in to read the second and third books in the series. I need to find out what happens with the three main characters, the love triangle. And I need to know if they take their whole Society down.
This book has gotten mixed reviews, but I really liked it. I haven't read that much dystopia and it's not one of my favorite genres, so I guess I didn't have really high expectations going into this. Matched ended up being one of those books that stayed with me for a while after I read it. The way the story was told and the use of the Dylan Thomas poem (one of my favorites) really resonated with me. This is a story that lets you feel the emotions and connections of the characters.
Like most dystopian stories, the boy and girl that fall in love in this story live in a world where they are only allowed to know of certain books, poems, pieces of history, and music. One hundred of each were preserved, the rest were destroyed. Everything is chosen for them. They do not get to choose what they wear. Everyone must look the same. It wouldn't be fair for anyone to stand out among the rest.
They do not get to choose what they eat. They are given a diet that is optimal for their bodies. It's for their own good.
They do not get to grow their own food. They might eat something that would be bad for them.
They do not get to choose what they own. It wouldn't be fair for one person to have more than another.
They do not get to choose where they live. The Society places them where it decides they are needed.
They do not get to choose what their job is. They are tested to see where their strengths lie so that they will be the best at the one job they are taught to do.
They do not get to choose who they will marry. They are matched to someone who is perfect for them, genetically and in every other way.
They do not get to decide how many children they will have. The population must be controlled for the good of the people.
Everything in their lives is monitored and controlled. I couldn't help but be reminded that there are certain people in the real world, who really would like to tell us what we can and can't eat, whether we can grow our own food, or whether we have a right to have more than someone else. For good or bad, we have to make those choices for ourselves, otherwise we are not free. I thought this book did a great job of showing that.
While the romance was probably a little instalove I still enjoyed it. I guess because like I said before, I didn't have huge expectations going in. I will continue on with this series because I enjoyed reading this book.
Like most dystopian stories, the boy and girl that fall in love in this story live in a world where they are only allowed to know of certain books, poems, pieces of history, and music. One hundred of each were preserved, the rest were destroyed. Everything is chosen for them. They do not get to choose what they wear. Everyone must look the same. It wouldn't be fair for anyone to stand out among the rest.
They do not get to choose what they eat. They are given a diet that is optimal for their bodies. It's for their own good.
They do not get to grow their own food. They might eat something that would be bad for them.
They do not get to choose what they own. It wouldn't be fair for one person to have more than another.
They do not get to choose where they live. The Society places them where it decides they are needed.
They do not get to choose what their job is. They are tested to see where their strengths lie so that they will be the best at the one job they are taught to do.
They do not get to choose who they will marry. They are matched to someone who is perfect for them, genetically and in every other way.
They do not get to decide how many children they will have. The population must be controlled for the good of the people.
Everything in their lives is monitored and controlled. I couldn't help but be reminded that there are certain people in the real world, who really would like to tell us what we can and can't eat, whether we can grow our own food, or whether we have a right to have more than someone else. For good or bad, we have to make those choices for ourselves, otherwise we are not free. I thought this book did a great job of showing that.
While the romance was probably a little instalove I still enjoyed it. I guess because like I said before, I didn't have huge expectations going in. I will continue on with this series because I enjoyed reading this book.
I finished it but don't care enough to finish the series.
This dystopian novel has a good premeis, but falls flat on execution. There are good comments about what our society could become; however, the author takes forever to make her point.
"If you loved Shatter Me, read this series"
Are you fucking kidding?? What an insult.
Are you fucking kidding?? What an insult.
So the series of the day is the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie. Another dystopian fiction for meeeee! The simplest, most convenient plot summary for the book is this: Cassia lives in a world where the Society controls everything from what you eat to who you marry. When Cassia goes to her Match Ceremony, where she is shown the person she will spend the rest of her life with, her best friend Xander appears on the screen. When she goes home to read about Xander on a microchip, another boys face appears after Xander’s… Ky Markham’s. The rest of the book is about the struggle Cassia faces. To stay with Xander, her best friend and her Match, or to take a risk with Ky, the boy she is starting to fall in love with.
So, I’m having a book frenzy right now, but I don’t think it’s clouding my judgement. At least I hope not! Like always, I’m gonna be completely honest. I loved Matched. I liked the whole idea of having to break the rules to be with the person you love. I loved reading from Cassia’s point of view, because although I don’t view her as a particularly strong character, she has an interesting way of looking at things. Everything is beautiful and simple and complex in her eyes. She’s oblivious to how wrong her life is. She trapped, and she always just accepts that, but by falling in love with Ky, she’s pushed to see just how far she’ll go for him.
The second book however, wasn’t as wonderful. I’m not saying it was bad for a book, but when you compare it to the first, it was pretty bad :P I have to admit it, I am a total romantic. People might want to kill me for this, but the only reason I read the last book in the Hunger Games series, was because I wanted to know who Katniss ended up with! Yeah, I went there! Which is why the first book was right up my alley. Of course, there’s was tons of politics, and government issues, and well.. dystopia. But there was also enough romance to keep me satisfied. The second book didn’t deliver. It was almost exactly like what happens in every book I’ve read this year. In all these series, the first book’s balance between serious stuff and romance is perfect. Not necessarily an equal balance, but balanced enough so all readers will enjoy the book. In the second book, all the romance just turns to absolute crap. Examples:
-The Hunger Games, Katniss/Peeta
-Switched, Wendy/Finn/Loki
-Shadow Falls, Kylie/Lucas/Derek
-Evernight, Bianca/Lucas/Balthazar
-Divergent, Tris/Four
Think about it. Awesome romance(s) to start off with, but as the series goes on, the romance element just… blaaagghhh!
Which is why Crossed wasn’t all that great for me. Cassia became a clingy bitch, and Ky became a lying bastard. Poor Xander, that’s all I have to say. Another thing is the fact that in Crossed Ky and Cassia both tell the story, alternating each chapter. The thing that tripped me out was that either the author didn’t change the style enough when writing from each characters point of view, or that Cassia and Ky are just so similar. Who knows? Maybe I just had an unhealthy emotional attachment to the characters. But yeah, I just wasn’t feeling it. I kept having to go back to the first page of each chapter to remind myself who’s point of view it was from.
One last thing would be that the characters developed too much between the books. When I first started reading Crossed, I refused to believe that the frantic, emotional, exciting Cassia from Matched had become hard as a rock by the start of Crossed. But at least she was still capable of feeling love. She sacrificed her whole life for Ky, and I wish I could say he did the same.
That being said, I love these books. I can hardly wait for the last one. A rebellion against the Society is like… the most amazing sounding idea I’ve heard in a while.
Hope you enjoyed my review! Till next time, do not go gentle :)
So, I’m having a book frenzy right now, but I don’t think it’s clouding my judgement. At least I hope not! Like always, I’m gonna be completely honest. I loved Matched. I liked the whole idea of having to break the rules to be with the person you love. I loved reading from Cassia’s point of view, because although I don’t view her as a particularly strong character, she has an interesting way of looking at things. Everything is beautiful and simple and complex in her eyes. She’s oblivious to how wrong her life is. She trapped, and she always just accepts that, but by falling in love with Ky, she’s pushed to see just how far she’ll go for him.
The second book however, wasn’t as wonderful. I’m not saying it was bad for a book, but when you compare it to the first, it was pretty bad :P I have to admit it, I am a total romantic. People might want to kill me for this, but the only reason I read the last book in the Hunger Games series, was because I wanted to know who Katniss ended up with! Yeah, I went there! Which is why the first book was right up my alley. Of course, there’s was tons of politics, and government issues, and well.. dystopia. But there was also enough romance to keep me satisfied. The second book didn’t deliver. It was almost exactly like what happens in every book I’ve read this year. In all these series, the first book’s balance between serious stuff and romance is perfect. Not necessarily an equal balance, but balanced enough so all readers will enjoy the book. In the second book, all the romance just turns to absolute crap. Examples:
-The Hunger Games, Katniss/Peeta
-Switched, Wendy/Finn/Loki
-Shadow Falls, Kylie/Lucas/Derek
-Evernight, Bianca/Lucas/Balthazar
-Divergent, Tris/Four
Think about it. Awesome romance(s) to start off with, but as the series goes on, the romance element just… blaaagghhh!
Which is why Crossed wasn’t all that great for me. Cassia became a clingy bitch, and Ky became a lying bastard. Poor Xander, that’s all I have to say. Another thing is the fact that in Crossed Ky and Cassia both tell the story, alternating each chapter. The thing that tripped me out was that either the author didn’t change the style enough when writing from each characters point of view, or that Cassia and Ky are just so similar. Who knows? Maybe I just had an unhealthy emotional attachment to the characters. But yeah, I just wasn’t feeling it. I kept having to go back to the first page of each chapter to remind myself who’s point of view it was from.
One last thing would be that the characters developed too much between the books. When I first started reading Crossed, I refused to believe that the frantic, emotional, exciting Cassia from Matched had become hard as a rock by the start of Crossed. But at least she was still capable of feeling love. She sacrificed her whole life for Ky, and I wish I could say he did the same.
That being said, I love these books. I can hardly wait for the last one. A rebellion against the Society is like… the most amazing sounding idea I’ve heard in a while.
Hope you enjoyed my review! Till next time, do not go gentle :)
I really enjoyed this book! It was a fun plot and had me excited to read the second book!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I’m not sure why so many people are not giving this a better rating. I liked the writing, the story, the world building and the characters as well. Even though this was written between 2008-2009, the main character isn’t a pick me or a not like the other girls. She is surprisingly self aware, confesses her mistakes and she goes through a lot of character development. Yeah the pace was a bit slow and it took a while for things to start but the author had to introduce a complex, futuristic world with full of rules and that does take time. All in all, this was fun to read, I finished the book in 5 days. Intrigued to continue with book 2.