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)

What a wonderful story beginning!

I have listened this many times. I think about it in real life often. Some things would be so simple with a world like this one. We live in such a free world. This book makes you appreciate the little things in life more.

Music in odd places.

My biggest issue with this book was the music playing in strange places. Out of nowhere there was music that didn't seem to really fit. It would start in the middle of a chapter and finish right before the end. And it was very inconsistent. It might have only been in a handful of chapters. Very odd and distracting.

Slow but worth it

Starts slow but sets it up for a sequel and now I really want to hear the rest of the story!
Worth the listen :)

slow

kind of boring. the music was weird. the main character was monotone. bla bla bla

A little Hunger Games, a little Romeo and Juliet

This story reminds me a little bit of Hunger Games with the segregated cities. It was a little one dimensional sometimes. But I couldn't stop listening, waiting to see what would happen to Cassia and Ky. Xander is the nice guy next door.

I hope the future would never turn out like this: beige and unemotional for the masses. Green, blue and red pills for everyone!

The narrator, Kate Simses, did a great job!

why does the narrator sound like a seven-year-old?

I really feel like this could have been a better story were it produced differently. first of all the narrator sounds like a very young child and I feel that she sounds very weak which is not what I get from this character at all. also, the addition of the music makes the production of the narration seem a bit cheesy.

You Will BE HOOKED

Where does Matched rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This was my first audiobook and I was HOOKED. Loved the narrator and the story.

What other book might you compare Matched to and why?

The Hunger Games and The Giver because of the setting and storyline.

Any additional comments?

Started listening to this while I went through my closet and COULD NOT STOP LISTENING. Had to get the 2nd and 3rd book as well. AMAZING! Fell in love with the characters and was on the edge of my seat.

Loved it

I can’t wait for the next one I loved it great recommendation for anyone who like adventure and romance.

Promise Undelivered

When I first started reading Matched I was intrigued by the premise and the main character. By the end I was bored. The story is set in a culture where every aspect of life is controlled by a mysterious entity (the Society) that strives for conformity and blind obedience. There are hints, however, that the society is cracking around the edges. My major disappointment was the main character's (Cassia) lack of reaction to discoveringthat significant aspects of her life and the foundation of her believe system were lies. When she finds out the pictures of war and violence in the outlands are real, not just cartoonish scenes to scare the kids, she doesn't even express surprise or dismay. She spends the entire book mooning over two boys, one to whom she is matched and one to whom she is drawn.

This is the beginning of a trilogy. I won't be reading the second book. I have nothing invested in the main character or her journey. I wanted to know about her world and the hints and teasers weren't sufficient to bring me back. If you want a dystopian teenage series, go for the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. It has more meat and more emotion without degenerating into the physically repellent third book in the Hunger Games series. Like both the Hunger Games and the Ugies series, Cassia lives in a closed world that is supposedly surrounded by wickedness and violence. Only we don't know enough about that outland area to want to go on a tour. Best saved for the under 12 set.

I found out about this book a week....

....before I read it.....it has a really cool website that caught my interest and of course the author is from Utah so that also was a plus.....I was intrigued by the premise of being 'matched' to someone and entering into a contract to live together and have children and make a family unit. The matching was done to make the most healthy and near perfect population possible. It helped to weed out all diseases and sickness. This world seems perfect until it starts falling apart and Cassia begins to realize that her world is not so happy and perfect. She will unwittingly be the catalyst that starts the rebellion of the people against the 'system'.....there is romance and a bit of mystery in the story....and while reading this book I realized that I would be a HUGE troublemaker in this world for I would HATE to have all my decisions decided for me by the world leaders/system authorities......it really makes you think about how blessed you are to have the option of choosing between things and making up your own mind....something I really enjoy to do....I am really looking forward to reading the next 2 books in this trilogy.....it will just be a challenge to wait for them to be released....