The Matched Trilogy: The Complete Collection
Matched
Crossed
Reached
Ally Condie
Table of Contents
ANEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER APUBLISHERS WEEKLYBEST CHILDRENS BOOK TEXAS LONE STAR READING LIST A CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK ALA BEST FICTION FOR YOUNG ADULTS AN ALA QUICK PICK
Think The Giver, but sexier.
Lincoln Journal Star
Absolutely riveting! Matched is a must-read.
Melissa Marr, New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series
This futuristic fable of love and free will asks: Can there be freedom without choice? The tale of Cassias journey from acceptance to rebellion will draw you in and leave you wanting more.
Cassandra Clare, New York Times bestselling author of The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments series
Condie peels back layer after dystopic layer at breakneck speed, Dylan Thomas reverberating throughout. If the Societys at war, whos the enemy? Of the three tablets carried by everyone, what does the red one do?... This ones a fierce, unforgettable page-turner in its own right.
Kirkus Reviews, starred review
If you liked The Hunger Games then you should enjoy Matched.
Winston-Salem Journal
I cant stop thinking about Matched. Its impossible to put down this enthralling romance, set in a chilling world where every choice is predicted and even love is controlled. I need to know what happens next. More please!
Carrie Ryan, New York Times bestselling
author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth
and The Dead-Tossed Waves
The stunning clarity and attention to detail in Condies Big Brotherlike world is a feat. The author just as easily tears this world apart while deftly exploring the individual cost of societal perfection and the sacrifices inherent in freedom of choice.
Booklist
In a story that is at once evocative of Lois Lowrys The Giver, George Orwells 1984, and Aldous Huxleys Brave New World, Condie introduces readers to the perfect Society. Her awakening and development are realistically portrayed, and supporting characters like Cassias parents and her grandfather add depth to the story. Fans of The Giver will devour this book and impatiently demand the next installment.
SLJ
Its a story that will appeal to fans of Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games and Allegra Goodmans The Other Side of the Islandyoungadult titles that follow similarly well-behaved and intelligent heroines who slowly realize theyve been duped. Matched introduces a smart young woman attempting to make sense of her dystopic world, a la The Hunger Games. Ally Condies debut features strong feminist ideals and impressive writing thats bound to captivate young minds.
The Los Angeles Times
Matched is the hottest YA title to hit bookstores since The Hunger Games.
Entertainment Weekly
For adolescents with an appetite for fiction, I want to recommend a new novel called Matched, science fiction by former high school teacher Ally Condie. Her book takes the worry of dating and marriage to the nth degree in an America of the future.
All Things Considered
If you like a ton of romance with your totalitarian government, this novel is for you.
Family Circle
Condies enthralling and twisty dystopian plot is well served by her intriguing characters and fine writing.
Publishers Weekly, starred review
Love triangle + struggle against the powers that be = perfect... escape.
MTV.com
Matched lives up to hype... teens might find themselves fighting with their parents over who gets to read their copy first.
Deseret News
[A] superb dystopian romance.
Wall Street Journal
Matched is a page-turning, dystopian love story, written with the soul of a poet. Finally, a brave new world that readers from Twilight to The Hunger Games will claim as their own.
Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, New York Times bestselling authors of Beautiful Creatures
A Must Read.
Girls Life Magazine
Condie masterfully presents this not quite dystopian society with enough balance to make it clear how it is both suffocating and entirely warm and safe. There is an earnest, well-intentioned reason behind every creepy action the Society takes that sheds light on the way they attained all-powerful status. Cassia... is an excellent narrator, as she is both insider and outsider to the machinations of the Society, the most intriguing element of this romance. It is the journey into independence that really changes Cassia in ways that readers will find memorable.
BCCB
For Scott,
who always believes
CHAPTER 1
Now that Ive found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night? My wings arent white or feathered; theyre green, made of green silk, which shudders in the wind and bends when I movefirst in a circle, then in a line, finally in a shape of my own invention. The black behind me doesnt worry me; neither do the stars ahead.
I smile at myself, at the foolishness of my imagination. People cannot fly, though before the Society, there were myths about those who could. I saw a painting of them once. White wings, blue sky, gold circles above their heads, eyes turned up in surprise as though they couldnt believe what the artist had painted them doing, couldnt believe that their feet didnt touch the ground.
Those stories werent true. I know that. But tonight, its easy to forget. The air train glides through the starry night so smoothly and my heart pounds so quickly that it feels as though I could soar into the sky at any moment.
What are you smiling about? Xander wonders as I smooth the folds of my green silk dress down neat.
Everything, I tell him, and its true. Ive waited so long for this: for my Match Banquet. Where Ill see, for the first time, the face of the boy who will be my Match. It will be the first time I hear his name.
I cant wait. As quickly as the air train moves, it still isnt fast enough. It hushes through the night, its sound a background for the low rain of our parents voices, the lightning-quick beats of my heart.
Perhaps Xander can hear my heart pounding, too, because he asks, Are you nervous? In the seat next to him, Xanders older brother begins to tell my mother the story of his Match Banquet. It wont be long now until Xander and I have our own stories to tell.
No, I say. But Xanders my best friend. He knows me too well.
You lie, he teases. You are nervous.
Arent you?
Not me. Im ready. He says it without hesitation, and I believe him. Xander is the kind of person who is sure about what he wants.
