Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie

Cassia lives in the Society where everything is perfectly controlled from leisure time to food to who people marry and how many kids they have.  Cassia is excited to finally be Matched but when the screen flashes a face different than the boy she is Matched to, Cassia begins to wonder about the choices people in the Society don't have. 

I was kind of  hoping to be blown away.  I've heard such good things and I waited so long to read it.  And while I liked it a lot, in the end, it felt like a cross between The Giver and the Uglies series.  The writing was good and it flowed smoothly for me.  It was a quick read despite being a little lengthy.  I didn't really connect with the characters much and I never really felt a connection between Cassia and Xander.  I know that they are best friends for years, etc. but she really spends so little time with him and when she does, all she can think about is Ky.  So I didn't get a sense of her love for Xander at all.  Condie did a nice job setting up the love story for Ky and Cassia, but I feel like she neglected the relationship between Xander and Cassia for it.  Thus the love triangle didn't really work for me. 

Conceptually it is definitely part of the new YA trend for dystopians.  Society controls every aspect of the lives of its citizens who are, in turn, willing to be controlled in order to maintain a safe life.  There were a few aspects that stood out to me, like the pills that everyone carries around and the artifacts they are allowed to have from the before times (or whatever they call them). And I will probably read the next in the series (due out in November) because I am curious by the events at the end of the book.  

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