Matched

Matched  - Ally Condie When I started reading Ally Condie's "Matched," I definitely had a hard time getting into it. Considering the story's setup is entirely based on a matching system, and sets up an obvious love triangle that is the crux of the entire story - it felt a bit predictable in the scheme of some of the more recent YA works blending the dystopic/romantic angle. But somehow, considering the collective whole of the work and the way it ends, it ended up being an interesting story. I wasn't particularly invested in the characters, and I didn't think the emotional resonance was as good as Lauren Oliver's "Delirium" (which I read a bit before this), but there were moments in the work the drew me into the realm this story takes place, and it does have a strong worldbuilding element to it to set up the conflict of the novel as a whole.Cassia is a young woman who's excited to find her lifelong match, but in the mix of the ceremonies she's a part of, she discovers that the image one she's matched with disappears (Xavier) and reveals a match with another boy she knows (Ky) and whom she ends up developing a much deeper relationship with. The story progresses from there with various conflicts that test Cassia's loyalties to her society and her own discovery of wanting to go against convention. I didn't necessarily feel the struggle she undertakes in most points of the novel. Towards the end, however, the story did hook me with respect to what happens in a dire circumstance for one of the characters, and it leads into an interesting progression for the next novel. I'm intrigued enough to read the next installment of this series to see where it goes, but I think as far as the conviction and character development is concerned, focus on those elements could've made this a much better book.Overall score: 3/5