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Matched Trilogy Books In Order

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Publication Order of Matched Books

About The Matched Trilogy:

Ally Condie’s interesting and vivid Matched trilogy immerses readers completely on every page. The three-part series starts with Matched, followed by Crossed and finally ends with the finale, Reached. The narrative is filled with twists, and has a gripping plot that puts a truly modern spin to traditional romance. The innovative way in which this story is written is comparable to the uniqueness of Romeo and Juliet, back in Shakespearean days. It has all the likely tropes of young adult dystopia. For the girls, it will be a forbidden romance that instantly intrigues. And for boys, a non-stop thriller packed with uncertainty and risk. The Matched trilogy revolves around the story of a bottled-up, repressed world of a society where decisions regarding who you love, where you work and when you die are decided by the ‘officials’, who are a modern version of a council of village or town elders.

The story revolves around the character Cassia, a 17 year old sweet and willful girl who lives in a controlled society, where these officials handle everything and leave nothing up to anyone to select or decide for themselves. Everyone has to abide by the decisions the officials make for them, no matter how personal. Cassia soon finds herself in a complex love triangle that challenges the pacts of everything that her society would permit. It puts her right in the center of a furtive revolution that gives a ray of hope to all those trapped within the repressive rules of the officials. During the course of the story, Cassia believes in her inner soul to ease her fight and guide her when she is thrown into emotional chaos. Her own artistic expression drives her to search what she really accepts as true, the rules of the society and what it has decided for her, or what she truly feels is right.

The Main Characters from The Matched Trilogy:

Cassia Maria Reyes

Cassia, the central character of the novel, is a 17 year old girl who lives in the futuristic and dystopian society with her parents, Abran and Molly Reyes. She also has a younger brother named Bram. Cassia has a distinct appearance, with her green eyes, copper brown hair and a dimple like her grandfather’s. As she approaches her 17th birthday, it turns out that the Match Banquet is being held on the same day. Like all other citizens who are 17, Cassia will be matched with her life partner on this day. On the day, the officials match her with her best friend, Xander Carrow, an intelligent and handsome boy, whom she has known her entire life. She is overjoyed, but the romance is short-lived when circumstances take an unprecedented turn and Cassia finds herself in the middle of a tough choice.

Xander Carrow

Xander is a sweet, clear and unequivocal golden boy, who always achieves high grades. To everyone he is near perfect, someone who is always looked up to by his peers. Xander is been matched with Cassia at the Match Banquet by the officials. He has always secretly loved Cassia and has all the good qualities of being a loving and considerate partner, and therefore seems to be the perfect match for her. Cassia and Xander belong to the same social circle and so does Ky Markham, an enigmatic boy and a good friend of Xander.

Ky Markham

Ky is a local boy and has an Aberration status, which means that he is technically out of the official matching pool. Ky has had his Citizen status revoked as his father acted against the society’s interests. However, Ky had been adopted by Patrick Markham and Aida Markham as their original son had been murdered, something that was never prone to happen in this society. Therefore he is still allowed to live there, but does not have any citizen rights.

A Brief on the Trilogy

Matched

The book series starts with Matched, which orbits around a society at war with its own citizens. It has a twisty dystopian plot which brings several questions to young minds: the true meaning of real love and choices which are restricted by society. In matched trilogy, the society makes the decisions in every area of life starting from how much they eat, to when they die and every other detail of their life. The story picks up speed when Cassia finds out that she has been paired with two potential life partners. This is hard for Cassia to digest and to come to terms with the fact that such mistakes are never made by matching officials. Although she tries to move on with her life, Cassia develops strong feelings for Ky Markham, an outcast who was paired to her by the Matching system as well. Consequently she is put in a difficult position of deciding who she wants her life partner to be, and as a result starts discovering loopholes in her society. She finds solace in a poem “Do not be gentle”, an outlawed piece of literature her grandfather left for her as a message before his death. The new Cassia tries to fight back in search of finding the meaning of true love.

Crossed

The second novel in the series takes the reader through a more risky, yet free, world that exists outside the Society. Cassia opts to explore beyond the boundaries of the Society with Ky and in the process learns of a secretive rebellion that is gaining pace to overthrow the controlling government of the Society. Outside the borders, there are numerous outcasts and defectors who are trying to gain support to run a fight that will help them win their right to freedom and release everyone who has been trapped in the system governed by the officials. In the story Cassia and Ky travel through various places that are fraught with violence and uprising. The people outside the borders wait for a prophesized leader to come and lead them to victory over the Society.

Reached

Reached is the finale to the Matched Trilogy and is the most unique of all three of the books. The narrative is very well structured and presents a completely unpredictable end to the series. With the Rising against the Society gaining power, the characters find themselves in a tense battle to free themselves and other citizens from the oppressive grasp of the officials. As the victory comes in sight, the society finds itself being destroyed by a plague. This presents an unknown peril to the lives of people and is something too large for the characters to have control over. Ally Condie opts for a very unconventional ending to the series, something that a reader can never expect. The story concludes in a very philosophical way, something that raises questions in the mind about our ability to control our futures.

Book Series In Order » Characters » Matched Trilogy

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