Matched

Book 1

By: Ally Condie

Narrated by: Kate Simses

Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted the Society’s choices. And when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, she is certain he’s the one - until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now she is faced with impossible choices: Between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s ever known and a path no has dared to follow...between perfection and the truth.

Look for the sequel, Crossed, and the epic series finale, Reached!

©2010 Ally Condie (P)2010 Penguin

Critic reviews

“[A] superb dystopian romance.” (The Wall Street Journal)

“Strong feminist ideals and impressive writing that’s bound to captivate.” (The Los Angeles Times)

Matched

The performance was decent enough some of the voices didn't always seem to fit the characters or seemed a bit annoying but I stuck it out. The actual story had a few rough spots but had some interesting spots I'm still interested in what will happen next with the characters.

Great book. Not such great narration.

I really enjoyed the actual book. However, the narrator sounds like she is about 5 years old which is distracting as the character talks about very grown-up struggles.

meh

Was so disinterested by the end I kept getting distracted or falling asleep. Had to keep rewinding and started to wonder why I was bothering. I did like the dystopia wrapped in utopia take though

Dystopic fiction meets teen angst and romance.

Ally Condie gives us a dystopic society through the eyes of a sweet yet strong young girl who begins questioning the life she's always been conditioned to believe was the one meant for her. While society may have statistics and numbers on its side, this story is about the indomitable human spirit and a love that refuses the odds.

The narration was well done and meshed well with the story rather than being a distraction. This is an excellent book for Young Adults because it begs the reader to ask questions about our own society and lives. It lacks the violence and grandeur of a book like the Hunger Games but will perhaps encourage readers to appreciate the small freedoms in life a bit more: having the world at our fingertips via the internet, being able to pick up and read a book of poetry that has not been censored down to the 100 best poems, look at a painting, knowing it is not one of only 100 deemed useful to keep. Simply thinking itself becomes a luxury in the controlled and constantly monitored world of "Matched".

Not the most uplifting of books, but certainly one worth reading and heeding.

Narrator didn't help...

To me the story just wasn't all that great. I may at some point listen to the other books in this series but right now I'm in no rush. I've been listening to book after book and rushing to purchase the next book in the series and that is not the case here. The narrator didn't help either with the book. It took me a while to figure out that this book was about 16 and 17 year olds. I seriously thought they were 13. The voice of the narrator is to young for this and because of that too, I just couldn't get into the book. And I get this is audio, but I could have done without the music in the background to add to a scene. I know almost all the books do it in the beginning and end but it really isn't necessary to do every time you have a dramatic moment.

BEST BOOK EVER!!!

this book is so cool and rely well don! It is my favorite book! Love morgan

Not so intresting.

the bases of thiss book really got me but once i started lissing i got board. its verry pradictabal and thats sad because it hade so much potental. also baily a romance.

Great summer read....

However, it isn't very deep and much of it is predictable. Still cute to read.

I loved it

I loved this book i thought it had a good plot and a nice twist to it

Good for a teenager in middle school!

I started reading this book when I was in 7th grade and loved it. Recently, I've been re-reading books and decided to pick this one up. It's a great story and absolutely fills the void created from too little fantasy books. The conversational writing however is a little mature for how old the characters are (they talk like adults, which is fine just a little unfitting).

The voice actor is also a little over the top with voicing characters which is distracting.

Overall, an okay read. I'm not in the right target audience, though. Get it for your teenager!