Review: Matched by Ally Condie

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



*****CONTAINS SPOILERS!!******



I have to say I didn't think I would love this book, but I felt like trying something different so I borrowed it from the library.

One thing I noticed after reading a chapter or two was a lack of description and world building - Cassia mentions the tablets she carries, the fact she lives in a dystopian future and being matched but none of this is explained well, or a small description is given near the end of the book.  I wanted to know about all these things - why is it necessary for everyone to have the tablets, be matched and why is the world dystopian?  What does it look like?  What happened in the past?  These were all questions I was wondering early and throughout the book.  Some of the places Cassia visits had very little or no description, making the parts set there a bit confusing for me.  I felt that this book was only made a dystopian as it's a popular genre at the moment - apart from the obvious things it could easily be a teen drama book set in present day.

I found the long scenes about Cassia's grandfather should have been further into the book or even left until the second or third book so readers get to know him a bit more and so they also know WHY everyone dies at 80, which Cassia finds out quite a while after this part in the book.  I think the scenes would have made more sense and would fit in better if they had happened after Cassia found out about the poison.
 Talking of the storyline, I didn't feel there was much OF a storyline o.0.  The entire book focused on Cassia trying to decide whether to be with Ky or Xander.  There were a few moments where the Officials randomly did something like cut down trees or take away artifacts, which made no sense.  It was as if the author thought she NEEDED to make them do something a bit 'evil' to fit in with some other popular dystopians....

I didn't hate any of the characters or find them annoying, but neither did I love any of them.  I found none of them to have much too them and being a bit flat or much backstory at all, the only one having a bit of backstory being Ky.  Which generally made me feel a bit 'meh' about them.

I don't think I will be reading the next in the series.  In general I disliked this book, but I didn't HATE it and I think readers who like drama or romance books would enjoy this book.

Rating: 2/5

Showcase Sunday #5

This is a meme hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea where bloggers taking part showcase their new books.

Given to me (!!):

The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley:  This looks like a horror, which isn't the genre I usually choose, but I'm going to give it a read anyway.  :)

Tyme's End by R. Collins:  Again, this looks like a horror.

My Name is Mina by David Almond:  I've heard quite a lot about this and Skellig by the same author, but I've never been interested enough to read them.  I have read that the book makes more sense if you read Skellig first, but I'm going to read My Name is Mina first - although it's not what I'd usually read it stll looks quite good.

From the library:

Matched by Ally Condie:  Despite this being in a genre I like (dystopian), I don't think I'm going to love Matched, but I'm trying to read books I would not usually choose at the moment to read a bit more of a variety.

Seizure by Kathy Reichs:  I enjoyed the first book, Virals, so I'm wondering if this is going to be as good, better, or worse....

Time Riders: City of Shadows by Alex Scarrow:  I only realised as I picked this up to read yesterday that it wasn't the first in the series! *facepalm*.  I'll still read it anyway, but if it's very confusing because I've not read the others I won't review it.

Review: Insignia by S.J Kincaid

More than anything, Tom Raines wants to be important, though his shadowy life is anything but that. For years, Tom's drifted from casino to casino with his unlucky gambler of a dad, gaming for their survival. Keeping a roof over their heads depends on a careful combination of skill, luck, con artistry, and staying invisible.

Then one day, Tom stops being invisible. Someone's been watching his virtual-reality prowess, and he's offered the incredible--a place at the Pentagonal Spire, an elite military academy. There, Tom's instincts for combat will be put to the test and if he passes, he'll become a member of the Intrasolar Forces, helping to lead his country to victory in World War III. Finally, he'll be someone important: a superhuman war machine with the tech skills that every virtual-reality warrior dreams of. Life at the Spire holds everything that Tom's always wanted--friends, the possibility of a girlfriend, and a life where his every action matters--but what will it cost him?

Gripping and provocative, S. J. Kincaid's futuristic thrill ride of a debut crackles with memorable characters, tremendous wit, and a vision of the future that asks startling, timely questions about the melding of humanity and technology



******CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT ANYTHING SPOILED FOR YOU!!*******

When I first heard about this book a few months ago, I immediately REALLY wanted to read it. It was great to see a YA book set in the future that wasn't set in the same old dystopian city with the same old kind of main character (I like dystopians, but some are just far too similar to each others for me...). I loved how Insignia was set in the future with advanced technology but apart from that, everything seemed similar to how it is now, which made it more believable to me. It also had a pretty original concept - I have read a book where the main character had a computer in his head but it was extremely different to Insignia and apart from that, I have never read anything like it. As a gamer myself I liked how games were quite a big part of the book, too!

I liked how the author explained things throughout the book, which did not make it confusing to read at all and there weren't any points where I thought 'wait, when/how/why did THAT happen?!'. The action was good - there wasn't too much of it to distract from the story, but it still made it an exciting read.

The characters were also great, and as we found out more about them I found myself wondering about each other their backstories, especially how they were selected to be Combatants. Hopefully we will find out more about them in book 2 :D. I also liked how they changed throughout the book.

So many books have an end battle where the character strangely seems to be amazing at fighting and wins. I was pleased that Tom didn't beat Medusa by luck and sudden good fighting skills. Tom losing to Medusa in every online game fight they did actually made me feel quite nervous for Tom before the end battle!

Overall an excellent book I'd definitely reccomend. :)

Rating: 4.5/5