Matched Series by AllyCondie

from goodreads

3 stars

The end of school is two weeks away. Lately I have been researching different programs at our library, different books to keep the girls entertained and figuring out my own summer reading list. What I am discovering is there is so much choice. Everything looks good, and it is hard to pare things down. I want to read everything now, which would be an awesome super power, but is not a realistic option. Trying to find the perfect summer read, or the next great book for the kids is a hard undertaking. I have to be careful not to build up my expectations too much or else it will be a let down. Oh the horror of too many books and too little time!

What are you looking forward to reading this summer?

Synopsis

Cassia lives in a society that seems perfect. But when a glitch happens she realizes that there are limits to what she can do, what she can learn, and who she can love. The fabric of her society starts to unravel as she tries to figure things out and save/be with the person she loves.

My Thoughts

This was a pretty average series. The premise had a lot of potential and seemed interesting, but I don't think it lived up to its hype. It had parts that I liked and parts that just seemed meh. The first book did have a Giver vibe. Condie gave us a detailed society with things really thought out.

As the series progressed the story went in directions I wasn't expecting. I found the last two books to be such a contrast from the first book that it was hard to make the leap at first. I found that it dealt with too many abstracts. I wish I knew more about who lived on the fringes. It was confusing to know how they fit into the society. Not all of them were hiding from the society but, they weren't part of it either. It was confusing. I think it would have been helpful to have a map of the country as well. They talked about different provinces and cities, but it was hard to picture.

I found Cassia and Ky's relationship to be a bit hard to believe at first. She talked about her best friend Xander and how she was glad she was matched with him. But when she starts to think that Ky was an option all of the sudden he is all she wants. How could she fall so fast and so deeply? It seemed that Ky was always on the fringe of her radar. How could they be so intense? It just didn't seem believable.

While I liked how the series ended, and I liked it wasn't like all the other dystopians with lots of guns and violence, by the end I was reading just to finish it. I really didn't care about the characters and the society. I just found it dull. All the references to art work and poems and how those things were commodities got confusing and abstract.

This series would be good for getting your feet wet in YA dystopians but it was not my favourite series. It was just a bit dull for my liking.