Author: Ally Condie
Publication Date: November 30th 2010
Rating: 2/5
Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate...until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.
The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.
From the description I was so excited for this book and so you can just imagine how I felt when this seriously did not live up to my expectations. I knew when I picked this up that many people had such divided opinions, and if I'm honest on most of these sort of books, I am with the side of the lovers, but this one just didnt click.
I did like the idea of the world, before I picked it up however, when I read it, there was almost no development in the world-you didnt even know the name of the city where she lived. You found out more about her green Matching Ceremony dress than you did about where the book was set. It seemed like Condie wrote as if you already know everything that she knows, and so she didn't feel the need to put it down in words.
The characters were in my opinion boring. Cassia annoyed me like hell. She seemed to just forget about Xander when Ky's face shows up, and then just thinks- Oh I MUST love Ky, and she just ignored her best friend, whereas from the blurb it seems like she has to make such a hard decision.
I did have a soft spot for Cassia's brother Bram. I'm not entirely sure how old he was supposed to be, but i imagined him at about 10, and I thought, if my guesses are correct that is, she did a good job on him. My heart went out for him and he was by far my favourite character in the book.
I didn't like Ky. At all. In fact I'd even go as far as to say I hated him. He was so annoying and to be honest, there seemed to me to be no romance between Cassia and him, and then they were kissing and saying they loved each other. What? It was almost as if he had brainwashed Cassia in a way...he just really did not click for me.
So it's safe to say I prefer Xander and Cassia, even though I don't think Cassia deserves to be with anyone...mainly because as i said, i didn't like her.
Thinking about it now, I don't even know what I was hoping for! It's obviously a story about love and romance, I think I just wanted more of the world, the Society and maybe more suspicion about Cassia's character.
The ending was a bit of a shock but I didn't really see what it had to do with the book, as what happened wasn't a continuous point, if that makes sense. Maybe I will consider picking up the second book, Crossed, but only if I got it for free, or incredibly cheap somewhere-so I probably won't be getting it anytime soon, and I'm not particularly bothered about what happens to the characters, even though it was left on what I assume to be a cliffhanger.
Because of all this, and other things I won't mention because of maybe spoilers, I did rate this book 2/5 stars on Goodreads. I wouldn't really recommend this, but if you've read if, please comment and tell me what you thought of the book.
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