Review: Matched by Ally Condie

Matched by Ally Condie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is one of those books that I kept hearing about here and there since it's release. And it sounded like something right up my alley. And, let's face it, that cover is AMAZING! One of the best I've seen in awhile.

All in all the book is very well written. There is great world building (although I wish more of the world had been explained). I liked the character development and the pacing. I will acknowledge that this is a great story concept ... I was totally taken with the world that Condie built and wanted to know more and more about how that world works. In fact, one of my primary complaints about the novel is that I kept being distracted by the details of the world that Condie builds and how there are things that don't add up or aren't explained enough. Just a bit more attention to those details would have made this more of a 4 star book for me. I also felt at times that I was reading the Giver ... there were too many parallels to that novel for me. Frankly, it made me uncomfortable. I wish it had been less similar to that book which is a classic. Lastly, I found the plot to be predictable. Although I kept reading, I suspected very early on where the plot was going and I was ultimately right. That's always disappointing.

In the end, this is a good, solid young adult novel that I think many teens would love. I thought it was good but could have been better. At this point, I will continue to read the series because its compelling enough that I'm interested to know what happens next. However, I am hoping that Condie fixes the problems I found in this novel as she finishes out the trilogy.

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