Cassia is happy. She trusts the Society, as they have provided the citizens with a long, healthy life that was previously unattainable. She eagerly looks forward to the night of her Match banquet, the night she will discover with whom she will live for the rest of her life. She is thrilled to see the face of her best friend flash across the screen, and knows that a marriage between them is bound to be successful and happy. But then, she sees another face, so shockingly unheard of that she barely believes it. The face belongs to Ky, an outsider. Ky seems to be popping up in Cassia's life a lot lately, and she has to wonder whether her feelings for him are truly her own. Something is awry, and Cassia has no choice but to find out what.
Um, this book was weird. It was the second book I had ever gotten on audio, and the voice, no offense, was a little annoying. However, I don't think that was why the book was weird.
What was weird was that I'm not a picky reader. I hate being overly critical and ruining the story. However, I was very "meh" about it. I tried verrrry hard to enjoy it, and the story did have its up-sides, but I was not impressed.
Cassia was clueless, and remained so throughout the book. I really like a strong heroine, and I didn't find that in Cassia. She asked the wrong questions, played dumb, and was pouty. Not even in a good snarky way. You can tell the author wanted her to be very nice and ordinary, but it left Cassia with very little personality. I also felt that she jumped from obedient, ordinary citizen to rebellious and defiant far too quickly, and with very little hesitation. That was how I felt, at least, and perhaps the way I read the book affected that too.
And Ky. Meant to be the hot, brooding outsider, his character sounded like every cliche. I knew immediately that Cassia would fall in love with him. That also happened too fast, with no solid reasoning behind it. I didn't really find anything special in Ky besides his shady mystery of a past and the fact that he could write. Those don't make a person lovable.
The writing style also bothered me. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it seemed like the whole book was Cassia's thoughts about every little thing. There were paragraphs of it, not describing her doing something, just thinking these really long metaphor-filled sentences. It was boring to hear, honestly. There was not a lot of climatic drama or action.
I'm being harsh, because the book did have an interesting premise. I love dystopia. The idea of a person being Matched with a spouse, job, and home was very timely and interesting. I guess those pieces weren't glued together to story closely enough, like it was all about Cassia and how the Society immediately affected her. I was interested in it, and would like to learn more about how the Society came to be, the current border wars, and the other jobs, besides Matching/ Sorting. (Btw, what the heck was Cassia's job? Looking for patterns in numbers and sorting them? How does one just find patterns, and what did they represent? Surely they were good for something, or Cassia was just wasting time at her "job.") But again, maybe I'm being too harsh.
The characters, even the main ones, disappointed me. The writing was not good, the story was boring, but the premise was interesting. Despite myself, I can't help but want, just a little, to read the next book. I hate giving up on a story, and I want to know--again, just a little--what will happen to Cassia. The book kept me wanting to know how Cassia would get through it, and what would happen next, and that's a positive book trait.
It wasn't all bad! Don't be too distraught! There were thousands who really enjoyed Matched, just check Goodreads.com...I don't know why I'm on the other side, because I'm usually not. Perhaps in time I will try it again in print to see if it helps.
2.5/5
--Shay-la
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