#114 Matched by Ally Condie

A strong 3 stars. A pretty decent YA dystopian novel, although it moved pretty slowly for a lot of the book. There's a definite teenage-romance feel to the story, with Cassia worrying over which boy to choose, and a lot of general agonizing over dresses and boys and whatnot, that turned me off; I just wanted her to get on with whatever she was going to do.
A lot of other reviewers have commented on the similarity to called this a rip-off of Lois Lowry's The Giver, and while it's been a while since I read that book, I'm not seeing the rip-off. There are definitely some similarities, but it's mostly things that all dystopian novels have in common - the drab clothing, the job assignments, the government officials "encouraging" compliance. I didn't really see anything that appeared to be stolen from Lowry's book.
I read this as part of our "Reading with Karen" project. I could see my sister enjoying the series, though I think she would have some of the same complaints I have - the slow pace, the lack of any real action.

Kris