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I had discovered this book on Amazon and after reading a sample I was hooked! I got a copy a few months later and blew through it quick. Here are my thoughts:

I have to agree with the other reviews that Matched is similar to The Giver. But there are some differences that make each story their own.

The Giver asks the question "Would people be truly happy having/experiencing exactly the same as everyone else?" Everything in The Giver is gray and bland. Not just the clothes the people wear, but in literally everything around them. Somehow, in this world that The Giver exists in, colors do not. Everyone's sexual drive is just as bland. As soon as any preteen or teen shows sexual desire they are forced to take a pill to suppress their libido.

Matched asks the question "Do people love their spouses because the matching system worked well in picking them out? Or do they love their spouse because they've been told to?" Anytime after their seventeenth birthday teens in Matched attend a Matching ceremony where they learn who their future spouse will be. If they choose not to be Matched, they can't be married. They only get the mate the Society choses for them, or they'll be single till death.

After being Matched each teen gets a microcard full of their spouses information and rules for dating. Our leading Lady Cassia is shocked to learn that her card has a glitch and instead of presenting her with info on her match, she gets info on someone who can't be matched at all. Throughout her story, the Society that she loved and trusts becomes less lovable and trustworthy with leads her ask what Haddaway has been asking since 1993, "What is love?"

Despite the similarities to the Lois Lowry classic, if you love dystopian novels that pick apart what it means to be human, you'll love this book.