“Now that I’ve found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night?”

From Ally Condie’s Matched.

Now that Cassia is seventeen, she’s eligible for the matching process where each citizen is matched with their perfect mate by the governing Society.  Cassia learns that her match is going to be her best friend, Xander, and she is excited to get along so well with her future husband.  However, when Cassia goes to officially learn her who her match is, another boy, Ky, flashes across the screen before Xander’s face fills the screen.  Confused by the glitch, Cassia seeks clarification from a sorting official, but they assure her that Xander, and not the outcast Ky, is her match.  Cassia also learns that because of his father’s crimes against the Society, Ky was labelled an aberration and therefore can never be matched.  Cassie confides in her aging grandfather and in return her gives the girl a piece of paper, which has long been forbidden by the Society, so she hides the paper without looking at it.  Away from constantly watching eyes, both her family and the Society, Cassia decides to read the paper on a hike, but fellow hiker Ky catches her reading the forbidden poems.  Ky helps Cassia memorize then destroy the poems, and the two soon fall in love.  Cassia refuses the recent-memory-wiping red pill when ordered to remember Ky when he is taken away by the Society, and she must decide between living with just his memory or fighting to get back to him.

The first book in Condie’s dystopian romance trilogy is captivating from start to finish.  The situations are are mysteriously thrilling while the characters are genuine.  Matched will leave readers desperate to continue the story with the next book and is not to be missed for fans of teen dystopian novels.