Series Review: Matched by Ally Condie

Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below:

Synopsis for Matched (from Goodreads):
Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate… until she sees Ky Markham’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it’s a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she’s destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

Series: Matched Trilogy
Author: Ally Condie
# of Books: 3 (Matched, Crossed, Reached)
Book Order: Chronological
Complete?: Yes
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction, Romance
Heat Rating: cool
Point of View: First Person, Single (Matched), Multiple
Publication Dates: November 2010 – November 2012
Source & Format: Public Library–Hardcover

PLEASE NOTE: That I have not fully read the final novel, Reached. I was approximately 25% through when I decided to stop. Find out why below.

My Review:

I read Matched right when it came out–right when Young Adult dystopian novels were just coming into popularity. However, compared to its peers it just didn’t stand up quite on par to them. It had everything else they had: a love triangle, tyrannical government, mysterious human history, rebels–but it just uses it all in a lackluster way and does that for the whole series.

Part of the problem is Cassia. It doesn’t get much duller than her folks. Nothing about her excited me and because the first two books are told solely from her perspective I just couldn’t get into them.I can’t even say that I hate her: I’m just indifferent.

What I did hate was her love triangle. While this is probably one of the only series where the love triangle is actually necessary to the plot, I would have appreciated better components than Cassia, Ky (who I never liked at all) and Xander (who I actually liked). Ky always seemed to be paranoid about his relationship with Cassia (especially in the final novel Reached) and I didn’t like that. Xander is the proverbial best friend of Cassia but who doesn’t get a whole lot of screen time in my opinion–I think its obvious whose team I was on for this one.

Matched and Crossed mostly focus on Cassia coming to terms about the world around her and where she fits in with it all. The only reason I gave Crossed a 4/5 is because of the awesome twist we get at the end. A twist that made me super excited to read Reached…

But then I actually read Reached and nearly cried because of the boredom. It took me 7 months to finally come to terms that this was a series I was probably never going to finish. I’m sure part of the problem is that it’s been nearly 2 years since I read Crossed and I’ve just lost my interest in a series that I was indifferent to. But part of the other problem is the length and the details. I can appreciate the fact that Ally Condie wanted to give the 3 main characters adequate screen time in the big finale but I just felt like everything dragged because of it. The worst part is that I didn’t even care how the series ended–I just read the last two chapters to read get a conclusion to the love triangle, how sad is that?

Reached reminded me a lot of Requiem, the last book in Lauren Oliver’s Delirium series (another slow, poorly executed dystopian series). It’s the final climax of the series so you expect a lot of action but instead you get a lot of vague dialogue, zero action and a blah conclusion. It makes for a slow read and in turn becomes a let down to readers who watched as the series built up to this final piece. And the actual ending is not something that all fans of the books agree with or like. From other reviews I’ve gathered that the ending of the Matched Trilogy is a little dismal with only a few people actually liking it.

However, if you have read Reached, I wouldn’t mind a brief synopsis of what happens 😛

Series Rating: DNF

For me, this series is one where I loved the concept but not the execution. For those who like slower, more character development focused stories, this series might be worth your time. Otherwise, pass!