Thursday, May 17, 2012

Matched by Ally Condie


Cover imageCassia, the main character in Ally Condie’s novel Matched, completely trusts the autocratic society she lives in. Everything in her world is planned out for her. Her society will choose her future husband, the job she will have for the rest of her life, and like her fellow citizens she will even know the day of her death because people in this world die on their eightieth birthdays. Even music and literature are controlled by the government. The Society has preserved exactly one-hundred poems, one-hundred songs, one-hundred of any art form they deem worthy for their citizens. Works not making the lists are destroyed.
Cassia’s trust in the society waivers on the day she finds out her match, which is the person she will spend the rest of her life with. She feels lucky to be matched with Xander, a boy from her neighborhood she has known for years. But another match is also briefly show to her, that of Ky. Ky is also someone she knows although he is considered an aberration and is the adopted son of a couple living in her neighborhood. His past is a mystery to her and so is the possibility that she might have a choice in her life. People are not supposed to be matched with more than one person.
This apparent mistake causes Cassia to start questioning the happy and perfect world the government has designed for her, and she starts to see her entire society unravel in small but significant ways. Tension builds throughout the book and while I was disappointed that it ended on a cliffhanger—it’s book one of a trilogy—I’m definitely anxious to find out what happens in Crossed, the second book of the series.

John

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Cover imageHave you read this amazing book yet? If not, you must! Let me start with the opening sentence: There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." How can you not want to jump into this novel immediately??? That sentence begins the story of Nobody Owens, known as Bod. One night, his parents and sister are brutally murdered, and Bod, only two years old at the time, innocently crawls out of his crib and toddles into a nearby cemetery. There he is adopted by Mr. & Mrs Owens (childless and dead for 250 years!) who gladly care for and protect him. And he really does need protection. Because, of course, the person who killed is family is still out there...

The Graveyard Book is a little bit of everything: humor, mystery, horror, and historical fiction. You will not be disappointed after reading this book, but you might be scared!

Karen