MATCHED by Ally Condie

Seventeen year old Cassia is excited.  She is about to attend her Match Banquet which means she will soon know who the Society believes is her perfect Match.  Life is so simple now that the Officials make all the important choices for people.

In Cassia's world people are assigned to an occupation, provided with meals filled with nutrients designed for their individual needs, and encouraged to enjoy the hundred best movies, songs, poems, and stories selected by the Officials when they want to relax.  The Officials have even determined that age eighty is the perfect age to die.  Cassia and her family attend her grandfather's Final Banquet to celebrate his life and be there for his death.

All seems normal to Cassia until she is Matched with Xander.  It is somewhat of a surprise since Xander lives nearby and is someone Cassia has always known.  Usually matches are made between people separated by great distances so that they must first visit virtually until a face-to-face meeting at a later date.  Although she is extremely happy about being Matched with Xander, Cassia is now aware of another young man named Ky.  He has not always been around, but circumstances keep putting the two of them together at school and at the recreation center.  Ky knows things that Cassia thought no one was allowed to learn anymore, and as he shares his knowledge she finds herself wanting to know more.

Her growing friendship with Ky is making Cassia more and more aware of what was available in the past before Society made life simple.  The more she learns, the more Cassia begins to believe the Officials don't know what is best for everyone.  She also learns she may not be alone in those thoughts.

Much like in Lois Lowry's THE GIVER, author Ally Condie explores the idea of a world controlled by powerful officials who lead the average citizen to believe they know what is best.  Readers will be fascinated by this future world, but also disgusted and even frightened by the idea of losing all personal control.