Matched | Series Review

Hello!

So, while I'm not a book blogger, I did write a quick review about the Noughts and Crosses series a few years ago. I struggle to concentrate on reading books, and it's something that I've been really upset about, because I can't join in with people when they talk about the books that they've read and enjoyed. Until a month ago, when I downloaded Audible. (Not Sponsored). I listened to Eve of Man, first, which I really enjoyed and I'm now desperate for the sequel to come out! But after that... I wasn't sure. Until I saw somebody (I'm sorry, I can't remember who), tweet about the Matched series by Ally Condie.

There are three books in the trilogy; Matched, Crossed and Reached, and all of the books follow Cassia, then Ky and Xander, and their life in the Society. It's a dystopian future where everybody has 3 pills that they must carry around with them; 1 green, 1 blue and 1 red, and everybody has the same routine. Meals are provided for them, everything is minimalised, where they wear only the same 'plain' colours, and in terms of art, there are 100 songs, 100 poems, 100 paintings etc. It's a Society where everything is run like clockwork, you have rules you must follow (ie no raised voices, no running etc) and where currency doesn't exist. You get assigned your jobs, and at the age of 17, you can choose whether or not you want to be 'matched', and meet your match at a banquet; one of the only times you're allowed to wear something other than the normal 'plain' clothes. Though, this is only for Citizens. A lower class of person would be an 'aberration', and lower still are 'anomalies', whom the Society wish to get rid of. I'm not sure how else to condense the premise.

Cassia gets matched to her best friend, but also another boy - an abarration, and the series develops into internal struggles about love and if this seemingly perfect Society is really all it appears. There's the Rising in the outer provinces who wish to destroy the Society and give the people the freedom of choice and expression as they used to in the past (our present.) Then there's the plague outbreak and Cassia, Ky and Xander must work together to find the cure, alongside those who belong to neither the Rising nor the Society - those who live in the mountains, or the Farmers, who are immune to the plague. It's really interesting, and I really was hooked.

When I first started listening to it, I wasn't too sure about it. It sounded like every other young adult book with a love triangle, but while reading, I had questions, and I stayed hooked because I wanted the answers. With book 2, I didn't enjoy it nearly as much, but again, more and more happened, and I wanted to know if my questions be circled back to from the first book. Then I listened to the 3rd book and OH MY GOD. It was amazing, everything had an answer and it went in a direction that I really wasn't expecting it to. It wasn't just like every other book with a love triangle.

The main theme of the book, or one of them, was about love, but in particular, Cassia and her love for two people. Both romantic, and both different. Later on, Ky and Xander both also find that they love other people, but once again, both different from Cassia. It was a book series that developed the characters into more relatable, human characters, who aren't perfect, and who make mistakes. Who have choice, and are following their own quest for not only love, but also for a future.

I listened to the book to work, back from work, on my lunch break and while I was drifting off to sleep, I was transported to mountains and canyons, and felt deeply for the characters and the predicaments they found themselves in. The book was honest about loss, and truthfully, it's scary to admit but the Society is one which I can legitimately see our own society developing into.

Anyway, this is quite long and not so coherent so perhaps I should end this post.

I really enjoyed this book series, and I've come to the realisation that my favourite genre of book is one on dystopian futures, so I'm looking forward to discovering more of those! I'm currently listening to The Lunar Series (Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, etc), and after that, Oryx and Crake. But if you have any more recommendations, please let me know!

Have you ever read these books? What did you think? Let me know!
Until next time, be excellent to each other.