(Photo Credit: Matched (thebookbasement.blogspot.org, thebookdepartment, shelf-life.ew.com)
Disclaimer: This review contains a review for each book in the trilogy. If you haven’t completed one and do not wish to spoil any of the plot, continue at your own risk. I would hate to spoil anything for you! At the end, I will also describe my thoughts of the series as a whole. Enjoy!
Let me preface this review with this: I am a sucker for romance and dystopian novels. After reading the description of Matched on Goodreads, it immediately became a must-read, as it combines both of these things. However, after completing the entire Matched series, I am incredibly disappointed as it did not reach the high expectations I had after reading rave reviews about the series.
Matched
Ally Condie
Pub: 2010, 369 pages
I am not going to lie. The first thing that drew me in about this novel was the cover. Typically, I despise any cover with a girl in a gown who uses her hair to hide her face. I mean, nowadays, that is pretty much on every cover of YA fiction and for most novels, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. However, Matched was different. Trapped inside a bubble? It actually gave me an idea about the story rather than “Oh, look at me! I’m in a pretty dress!” However, as mentioned at the beginning of this review, what sold me was that the novel promised to be a delicious mixture of romance and dystopia.
Matched follows sixteen-year-old Cassia Reyes. In Cassia’s futuristic society, citizens have no choices, as the Society decides everything for them. Every little thing, from their jobs to what they eat, is controlled by the Society. However, most important to this story, citizens are “matched” to their future spouse by the Society. Cassia is paired with Xander, her childhood friend. However, when Cassia goes to view her microcard, another face pops up- Ky Markham. Since Ky is an Aberration, this is an impossible match. Yet, Cassia finds herself falling for Ky and questioning the Society.
Matched has an interesting premise that immediately sucks readers in. You just want to keep turning the pages because you want to know why Ky’s face appeared on Cassia’s microcard (and what she is going to do about it.) The end is a huge cliff hanger, so kudos to Condie. It actually made me interested in reading the second novel and not just dropping it like I have done with other dystopian series that have failed to convince me to invest my time in the rest of the series.
Condie’s style is what truly makes this novel unique from others in the dystopian genre. Condie’s writing flows like one big poem. Although it is not exactly my cup of tea, I really appreciate that Condie has her own unique voice that sets her apart from the countless other dystopian novels crowding the shelves at Barnes and Noble. Her style added to the overall effect of the novel, and makes the novel memorable.
Cassia is a decent protagonist. Although she didn't capture my heart as other heroines in her genre did (such as Tris from Divergent and Katniss from The Hunger Games), she is likeable. It was a pleasure watching her develop into a strong protagonist that wants to make her own decisions after beginning the novel as naive and completely oblivious to the Society's lies.
Unfortunately, the romance did not meet my expectations. I could not really get into either of the male love interests, so it was hard to become invested in the love triangle. The childhood friend love interest typically has my heart beating faster and my palms sweating, but I didn’t feel anything, not even a spark, between Cassia and Xander. I much preferred Ky, however, even he didn't leave a lasting impression on me.
After reading various rave reviews, I am not going to lie. I was slightly disappointed that I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I thought I would. It’s a decent dystopian book, but it just didn’t completely wow me as others in the same genre have.
Crossed
Ally Condie
Pub: 2011, 400 pages
Oh, Crossed. Where shall I start? You had all the requirements for a typical young adult dystopian novel- an overbearing government, a love triangle, and a rebellion against the said overbearing government. I really wanted to like you. I really did. However, I’m positive that watching grass grow would have been much more enjoyable than reading you.
Crossed begins five months after the initial Matching ceremony in Matched. While Cassia is at a work camp preparing for her job as a sorter, Ky has been sent to the Outer Provinces to act as a decoy in the Society’s war against the enemy. Since Cassia is so in love with Ky, she obviously can’t leave him there and sets off to the Outer Provinces with her new Aberration friend Indie. Along the way, Cassia learns about a rebellion called the Rising lead by the leader named the Pilot.
Honestly, the only good thing about Crossed is the cover art, which is disappointing since Matched set up a promising series. While Matched had enough action to keep me interested, Crossed is literally all talk and no action. The only action in the entire novel comes in on the last 100 pages or so, but the beginning is so boring that I struggled to read the entire book and not fall asleep.
Unlike Matched, Crossed is told in the perspectives of both Cassia and Ky. While this seems like a good idea in theory, it did not fare well in this story. I really did like learning more about Ky. I felt like I got to know him better as a character. However, the same cannot be said for Cassia. Whenever Cassia has a chance to narrate, all she seems to do is talk about Ky and how much she loooveeess him. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not one of those readers that believes a girl character is weak just because she likes a guy. Feeling giddy about a guy is something natural and makes a character more relatable. However, Cassia never seems to shut up about him, and after awhile, it just got a bit annoying. In addition, Condie fails to give Ky and Cassia distinct voices. Although her style is unique, the characters sound too much alike, even to the point that I had to go back and check the beginning of the chapter to see who was narrating.
However, the worst aspect of the novel was the so-called love triangle. When I think of a well-written love triangle, I think of tension, passion, and confusion. Yet, I didn’t feel any of these emotions while reading Crossed. There doesn’t seem to be any real competition between Xander and Ky to Cassia. Xander is barely mentioned throughout the story, so it was hard to feel conflicted between the two boys because I didn’t really know anything about Xander. But, stay tuned- the love triangle is a much bigger part of the final book.
As I mentioned in my review of Matched, I was rooting for Ky at the end of Matched. But after reading Crossed, I’m not too keen on either of the love interests. Ky just rubs me the wrong way, and I don’t know enough about Xander to know whether I like or dislike him.
In all, Crossed was just one big disappointment.
Reached
Ally Condie
Pub: 2012, 512 pages
After Crossed, my expectations for Reached by Ally Condie were not very high. So, why did I choose to continue with the series? After suffering through Crossed, I just wanted to know how the story ended. However, after reading Reached, I was pleasantly surprised, as it far surpasses the other novels in the series, in my own opinion.
Reached picks up where Crossed, left off. Cassia, Ky, and Xander have joined the Rising (the rebellion against the society) and are working on their separate assignments to aid the Rising’s progression. Meanwhile, the Plague, a deadly virus that causes the Society’s members to go still, runs rampant throughout the provinces.
When the Pilot (the Rising’s leader) emerges, the Rising brings a cure to the Plague. The Society easily crumbles and the Rising begins to take over. However, when a mutated version of the Plague threatens to destroy all that the Rising has created, Cassia cannot help but wonder whether the Rising is truly a rebellion, or just the Society with a different name.
Out of all three novels in the series, Reached is certainly the best. Unlike Matched and Crossed, the novel is fast-paced and literally shocked me with plot twists. However, these elements simply could not make up for the lack of character development and shaky foundation,
so I still was not overly impressed.
The best part of the novel is the plot. In the first two novels, I felt confused at the vague terms that Condie threw around and expected me to understand. Thankfully, in Reached, these terms are explained and concepts that were only briefly touched upon in the first two novels are relevant in the story and are wrapped up nicely. Unlike in Crossed, I was not left bored to tears. The story had enough action to keep me interested and I wanted to know what was happening.
Like Crossed, Reached is told from multiple point of views. Cassia, Ky, and Xander all have their chances to tell parts of the story. Since Xander was barely mentioned throughout the rest of the series, I enjoyed getting to read his parts of the story. However, much like Crossed,
the characters fail to have distinct voices. Although it is written in Condie’s unique prose, she fails to deliver authentic male voices.
Unfortunately, the main characters are nothing to write home about. While Xander is an interesting protagonist (however, this may be due to the fact I virtually knew nothing about him before), Ky doesn’t add much interest to the story and doesn’t seem to have changed much from the first book. Cassia, who lost her edge in the second novel, does redeem herself at the end of the novel, but fails to add much to the story during the first half. The best characters actually are the sub-characters. Oker is reminiscent of House and adds an unexpected depth to the story. I actually laughed out loud at a few of his one-liners.
But, the biggest fail of the entire series has to be the non-existent love triangle. Cassia made her choice from the first book and there is no tension among the three characters. The premise of the entire series rests on the love triangle and Cassia’s freedom of choosing whom she wants, which is so poorly done, it feels as if an important point of the novel is taken out.
At the end of the second novel, I felt conflicted between both male characters since I wasn’t into either character. In Reached, I became a total Xander fan. Although I expected Cassia to choose Ky, I was highly disappointed in her choice because I ended up like Xander far more than Ky. However, I am still glad that Xander ended up with someone in the end (and since I am not particularly a fan of Cassia, good for him!).
Thoughts on the Entire Series
More plot driven than character driven, the Matched Trilogy is a decent series. From this reviewer, it only garners three stars at best. While the first and last novels are decently written, the second novel hurts the series overall. The Matched Trilogy is not on par with numerous other dystopian series, so it only manages to be average at best.
If you are interested in another dystopian series, you may want to check out the Matched Trilogy.
Disclaimer: I received Matched as a Christmas present. I borrowed Crossed and Reached from the library. I am not being compensated for this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own! My reviews for Crossed and Reached were originally published in my school newspaper, but were altered to fit the style of my blog.
