More Dystopian Love Triangles...

I really hate that I'm about to review a sequel to a book before mentioning the first in the trilogy. But it isn't enough to stop me! I will try to be extremely careful regarding all plot details I share so as not to discourage any of you from starting at the beginning!

That being said, I will start with some important background about Matched  by Ally Condie, the first book in the series. Matched is once again a dystopian novel...surprise, surprise! It's never clear to me whether or not the setting of the book is on land that was formerly the United States. What we do know is that "The Society" has different provinces and there is a war being fought against "The Enemy" in the outer provinces. If you are a member of society, you want for nothing. You are educated, given a job, matched with a perfect mate, and live a disease free existence until your life ends. Living this perfect life means giving a lot of control to The Society. Jobs are given based upon your aptitude and talents, you are scheduled for recreational time and most of your communications are monitored by officials in The Society. Written language has fallen by the wayside. Of course, members of society can read and write but only what has been printed on computer screens. Society decided that is was too saturated with music, art and creative writing so committees were formed to select only 100 of each. One hundred pieces of art, poetry, songs, movies, etc.

The first book opens with Cassia on the eve of her Match Banquet where she will find out whom she has been matched with by the society for the maximum chance at happiness. When she is matched with her best friend Xander, Cassia's belief that The Society knows best is reinforced. That is until she inserts the data card that is loaded with information about her match and Xander's face doesn't appear. Instead it is Ky, another boy from her city that she has barely noticed. The next time Cassia looks at the data card, Xander appears, as he should. Now Cassia can't help but notice and watch the mysterious Ky. She is torn between being drawn to the familiar and safe that she loves and the mysterious and unknown that is new and exciting.

I didn't love Matched, but I liked it and was drawn to it. I couldn't stop reading. The overwhelming mood of the book is dark even though it deals with something that should be carefree and happy like first love. There is clearly something sinister going on. For me, the entire set up was even more upsetting because members of the society don't seem to understand how much they are actually being studied and controlled. What I really had a hard time with was getting on Ky's side, which is I'm sure what Condie wants of her readers. I just couldn't believe the draw and power he has over Cassia, and I sympathized with Xander. Because of that, I didn't get caught up in the character development. But, as I've said in a previous post, I am compelled to read the entire series so I forged on with Crossed.

What I will say about the sequel is the reader meets new characters in Vic, Indy, and Eli. The chapters are told from alternating points of view from Ky and Cassia as they are both trying desperately to get back to each other. For me, this book was less about the characters and more about the mystery of The Society. We find out more about the history of The Society, the people who chose to live outside of it, and the underground rebellion called The Rising. This book feels like it's setting up the final book in the trilogy, Reached, which is out on November 13th of this year. I am hopeful that the reason I couldn't connect with the original love story is because Condie always planned to take the characters down a different path that Crossed seems to set up. At first I thought this would be a series I would have a "take it or leave it" attitude about, but now I'm inclined to believe that I will be rewarded for hanging on until the last installment.

No doubt there are some of you who are reading this thinking The Society can be compared to the community in The Giver by Lois Lowry. Yes, there are some similarities, but when creating a dystopian society, many authors have recycled or tweaked someone else's imagined future. These books are less philosophical. Any similarities you might notice doesn't mar the fact that middle school and high school girls will likely gravitate to these books on plot premise alone.