I have never read anything by Allie Condie before - I'd never even heard of her before I picked up this book at my local bookstore. And I'll be honest, I picked it up because I loved the cover. Even after reading the book jacket, I was like "meh" - the dystopian features intrigued me, but a love story? I don't normally like reading romance books - they're all so predictable. You know, boy meets girl, boy and girl over come some sort of obstacle, boy and girl fall in love, the end. But then I started to read the book; I've started to read the first chapter of a book before I buy it. And before I knew it, I was on Chapter 6. If that wasn't a hint that I needed to read that book, then I'm not sure what it was.
The book itself started off slow, but it wasn't boring. Condie slides the reader very smoothly into Cassia's world, giving little tidbits of what is happening, but just enough so little alarm bells started going off in my head. This was not a good society, not at all, but at the same time, I could see how the human race had gotten to that point. The events of today, plus the little tidbits of history I gleaned from the book fit together to make The Society very well. I actually really liked what Condie did with The Society. I mean, I hated The Society, with their Officials and their pills and their single-path lives, but the entire time I read about them, I wanted to know more. As a writer myself, I was jealous that I hadn't come up with The Society myself.
The characters themselves were all very lovable and believable. I haven't grown attached to any yet, which is a shame - there is no Rue* in this book, I wouldn't cry if any of them died. But Cassia herself is very relatable, I see so much of herself in me; the want to do something good for the world, to make it a better place, her love for her family, not wanting to hurt anyone...I could go on.
Matched was one of those books that I couldn't put down - even if it took a while for it to get really exciting. Once the climax hit, I really couldn't put it down. I read until 2 am to finish it. I think that is as good of sign as any at the quality of book this is. I can't wait for the next installment.
No comments:
Post a Comment