Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie Review

Name: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release Date: November 30th 2010
Format: Hardcover
Buy the Book on Amazon 
369 pages   

Summary: 
Elizabeth Valchar-pretty, popular, and perfect-wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday party on her family's yacht, where she'd been celebrating with her six closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she finds will change everything she thought she knew about her life, her friends, and everything in between. As Liz begins to unravel the circumstances surrounding her birthday night, she will find that no one around her, least of all Liz herself, was perfect-or innocent. Critically acclaimed author Jessica Warman brings readers along on a roller-coaster ride of a mystery, one that is also a heartbreaking character study, a touching romance, and ultimately a hopeful tale of redemption, love, and letting go.

My Review:

Matched is one of the best diystopian I read this year. I loved it. When I saw the summary I wasn’t really interested, it reminded me too much Delirium, and infact I initially took it for the gorgeous cover and for the really positive reviews I found on goodreads.

Condie’s writing style was beautiful. It reminded me a bit of Maggie Stiefvater, it was full of poetry and lyrics, and certainly was one of the main reasons I loved this book. 

I was really captured by the plot. I felt like I was inside the story, like I was living the world described by the author.

Cassia is one of the best heroine I ever met. At the start she was weak and frail, but her character and her way of thinking changes a lot through the book. 

When she begins to realize that her life isn’t the perfect and happy life she always believed in, and that all her convictions are completely wrong, Cassia doesn’t wait for someone to save her, but she tries to fight the society and at the same time to protect her family.

At the end of the book we found a brave, smart and strong Cassia, who is determined to live the life she wants, to make her choices, and to stay with the guy she loves.

I really liked the love story too. The relationship between Cassia and Ky was beautifully developed. There are so many authors that make their characters love each other immediately from the first chapter, it’s so unrealistic and I’m really annoyed when they do that, so I was very happy when I realized that Ally Condie wasn’t one of those authors.

Ky and Xander are both fantastic characters. Ky is the mysterious and cryptic guy, who has a lot of secrets and a story to tell, a story we get to know piece by piece, page after page. 

Xander was my favourite character at the start. I thought he and Cassia were perfect together, and I was even a little annoyed by Ky, but as I started to know him better I realized that he and Cassia are meant to be together.

My rating is 4 starts, nearly 4.5!Like I said early, Matched is one of the best dystopians I read this year, absolutely recommended to all fans of the genre!