Matched and Crossed

Matched and Crossed by Ally Condie

If you’re like most people and enjoyed The Hunger Games, you don’t want to miss these. New York Times bestseller Matched and its sequel Crossed are young adult fiction. The main character is Cassia, a teenage girl who lives with her family in the distant future under the rule of “the Society.” (Wow, these dystopian novels are all the rage lately. Kinda dismal but certainly interesting.)

Matched:

Simplicity reigns in this dystopian (opposite of utopian), futuristic society. Meals are carefully regulated, everyone wears the same plain brown clothing, employment is assigned, extra-curricular activities are limited, personal belongings are almost nonexistent. Cassia is perfectly content with her life—enjoying school, her family and her friends, including her relationship with her good friend Xander. She looks forward to her “Matching Ceremony,” a special evening in which all of the young people are assigned to their future spouse, and she secretly wonders if he will be Xander. It is what follows that prompts Cassia to question everything she believes in.


Crossed:

I don’t want to describe Crossed, because it would reveal too much of what happens in Matched. There is a love triangle involved, though, a la The Hunger Games. I liked this book, but not as much as Matched. The plot was a bit weaker, but I liked the way Cassia emerges as a stronger character. I loved the setting. The author is a native of southern Utah, which she says was her inspiration. Much of the story takes place in an area called “The Carving.” My family visited Bryce Canyon National Park last summer, and I realized that the hoodoos (those cool, vertical rock formations) must be “The Carving.” We didn’t see Cassia, though!

I loved the way the author weaves poetry throughout these stories. The poetry is very significant to the characters and the plot. I also think the books’ covers are stunning.

The trilogy’s third installment, Reached, is due to be released around November 2012.