Introduction: Matched by Ally Condie
When you finish reading a book, you usually know if you liked it. That’s not always the case with me, because I am such an active reader, and on top of that, I am someone who has to think about things first before making a decision. There are times when I feel like the jury is still out after I finish reading a book, and that’s the case with the Matched Trilogy box set
by Ally Condie.
When I thought about it, I realized that I loved the story, but I didn’t like the way in which the author tells it in book two and three. In Matched, the first book in the trilogy, she simply tells the story from Cassia Reyes' point of view, and in Crossed and Reached she tells it from three points of view – Cassia’s, Xander Carrow’s and Ky Markham’s – which lessens the enjoyment of the books for me, and made them longer, especially book three. The trilogy is another young adult, dystopian novel. This review is much shorter than my other book reviews.
The Stories: Matched by Ally Condie
Matched by Ally Condie
You have the Officials, who rule because they think they know best, and they are trying to create the perfect Society that is free from strife, disharmony, rebellion, and anything that will agitate. People die at 80 years old because it is believed that after that magic age, things start going wrong with you, so you are poisoned. At some point in time, there were sorters, who went through all works of culture, and chose 100 sedate pieces that will not agitate, because people shouldn’t get ideas, they are not allowed to think for themselves.
The Officials believe that the culture is too cluttered so you now have 100 Poems, 100 Songs, 100 Paintings, and 100 Stories and so on. Additionally, each citizen is given three tablets that they carry with them at all times – green, red and blue. You take the green when you are anxious; the blue is a trigger, which will kill you if the Officials do not intervene; and the red pill wipes your memory of the past 12 hours. But the citizens do not really know what the tablets do. In this Society, Officials formulate your food just for you and you are not allowed to share it with another person.
In Matched
by Allie Condie, you have a Match Banquet when you turn 17, those in power chose your mate for you. At the event you wear beautiful clothes, and that’s a departure from the plain garb that everyone wears all the time, and you even get to choose what you will wear to the event. Each of the two people matched, get a micro-card with information about the other.
At the Match Banquet, Cassia Maria Reyes learns that she is matched with Xander Thomas Carrow, who is not only from her district, but also her friend for years. This is unusual, and an occurrence that seldom happens, so the reader has to ask, “Why?” The next day, when Cassia starts to view her micro-card, there is a blip, and she sees a picture of Ky Markham before it changes to information about Xander. Again, the reader has to ask, “What’s the significance of this?”
An Official meets with Cassia, telling her that errors like the one with her micro-card seldom occurs. The Official asks her questions, which they already know the answer to, so Cassia answers honestly. She knows Ky, and at the meeting with the Official, she learns that Ky is not supposed to be in the match. Of course, Cassia is now very much interested in Ky, because he is an Aberration. The author is very clever, and you see it in her choice of words. The word Aberration is loaded, and you know exactly how the Society views people like Ky. We also learn about people who are Anomalies, and once again, we understand perfectly.
Cassia has a compact that her grandparents gave to her. A couple days after her Match Banquet, her grandfather turns 80, so he will die at midnight, but the family gets the opportunity to say goodbye. There is a strong bond between Cassia and her grandfather, who always tells her that she is a strong person. When she visits him before he dies, he opens a hidden section of the compact, which she does not know about, and gives her a poem that is not one of the 100 Poems, which is illegal.
Cassia finds a way to read the poem, and Ky happens to see her. She studies the poem, and also teaches it to Ky, so she will remember it. She incinerates the poem. Ky teaches her to write, which is a lost art, since everyone types on their tablet.
The Officials manipulate the citizens, letting them think what they want them to think. But Cassia’s grandfather gives her the gift of thinking for herself. She and Ky are rebels at heart, and so is Xander, and small acts of rebellion are sprinkled throughout the book. Ky is being sent away, and Cassia is the only one shouting and running toward the Officials who are taking him away – it is another act of rebellion. Before Ky is sent away, he tells her about the Archivists, and what she needs to do to trade with them. At the end of the book, we learn more about Ky and how he is coping and what’s going on with him after being sent away.
Crossed by Ally Condie
Crossed (Matched)
by Ally Condie is the second book in the trilogy, and is the case with many trilogies, it is the weakest book of the three. In this book we get insights into the “establishment,” which is very important. Even though this is the weakest book, it’s about the context of the entire story, and context is everything. We see Ky escaping with Vick, and Eli, who reminds him of Cassia’s little brother, Bram.
Cassia escapes because she is determined to find Ky with whom she is in love. Indie escapes with her. I don’t much like Indie because she is a sneak, however, she is a strong girl as well. When you think about it, Indie is the product of her environment, she is a survivor.
Crossed is about Cassia and Ky trying to find each other. We see Cassia coming into her own and learning about who she is – we see her strength and her determination. The seed her grandfather planted has taken root, and she knows that she is stronger than the Officials. She doesn’t take things at face value, and she starts to question things. Indie also helps Cassia to survive while in search for Ky.
Cassia finds Ky, which she is very happy about. She wants to join the Rising to get rid of the Society, and Ky only joins because of her. Cassia, Ky and Indie find the Rising.
Reached by Ally Condie
Reached
by Ally Condie, the last book of the trilogy, is close to 150 pages longer than the other two, and it does not have to be that long. The Rising sends Cassia back to the Society, but they give her a cover to get back in. In this book, the reader sees that the Rising is only marginally better than the Society, and they also manipulate the people.
For instance, when children are born, the people in the Rising determine, who will be immune to the red pill. Cassia’s parents are viewed as weak, so she is not chosen to be resistant to the pill. Xander, Ky and Indie are immune to the red pill because they are viewed as likely to join the Rising. But the reader later learns that Cassia is able to recall memories, even the ones that are wiped away. Her grandfather believed in her and her abilities, and he gave her what she needed to survive.
The people are infected with the Plague, and the Rising gives them the cure, because they want to be seen as the “Savior of the People,” but the disease mutates and people become resistant to the Cure. Xander and Cassia are immune to the Plague – people with a certain mark, are immune. Unfortunately, Ky and Indie are not immune.
There are also places outside of the Society, where all the natives are immune to the Plague, why? Is that the case because their diet or lifestyle? The Pilot, who is the leader of the Rising, flies them – Xander, who works as a physic; Cassia who is a sorter; and Ky, who is a pilot, and infected with the plague – to one of the outer communities where people are resistant to the Plague.
The Pilot doesn’t give them an option to go, so he is no better than the Officials because he takes away their choice. The main thing is to find a new Cure for the new strain of the Plague, and Xander and Cassia are motivated because they want to save Ky. In every society, there are myths and stories handed down, and for these people, they view the Pilot as their Savior, the one who will deliver them from the Society. That’s not good because you are giving one person too much power over you. Cassia recognizes this.
It’s not easy to find the Cure, but a big lesson is the importance of collaboration to achieve big results. The power of friendships is another key message in the books – friends watch each other’s back. We see the three main characters growing into the person they might become. Xander finally realizes that Cassia will never love him as a romantic partner, because she holds that type of love for Ky. Interestingly enough, before Indie succumbed to the Plague, she fell in love with Ky, who is in love with Cassia.
I love the way the trilogy ends, and I like it because Cassia is so strong, and plays such an important role in finding the cure. As a sorter, she is the one who realizes that something is missing from the data. She is the one who has to dig deep within herself to remember a coded message from her grandfather. She is the one who figures out which plant will cure the Plague. Xander is able to make the cure and Ky is able to fly the cure where it’s needed, and Cassia recognizes that all of us has a pilot within us. In life, each of us has important roles that we have to perform to the best of our abilities.
Conclusion: Matched by Ally Condie
If you do not mind reading books with different points of view that do not coalesce at some point in the story, then the Matched trilogy
by Ally Condie is worth the read.
Matched Trilogy box set
MatchedCrossed (Matched)Reached
&
Other Ally Condie Books
AtlantiaSummerlostFreshman for President
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