At the age of seventeen, citizens undergo the process of being 'matched' or becoming paired up with another boy/girl selected by the sorters (authorities). Seventeen-year-old Cassia Reyes lives in a futuristic, seemingly utopian world in which the citizens' lives are strictly controlled by the government called 'The Society'. Penguin won the bid against six other publishers for a trilogy. Condie had not yet written novels for a mainstream audience and sought out agent Jodie Reamer. It took her about nine and a half months to write the book. According to Condie, she was more influenced by older dystopian fiction such as 1984 by George Orwell and Ray Bradbury's short story ' There Will Come Soft Rains'. Although her novel has been often compared to The Hunger Games, Condie admitted she cannot write action like Suzanne Collins. The idea for Matched was presented in 2008 when Condie's husband, an economist, asked her, 'What if someone wrote the perfect algorithm for lining people up, and the government used it to decide who you married, when you married, etc.?' Condie was also inspired by a time when she chaperoned a high school prom as well as other experiences, such as falling in love and becoming a parent. Disney optioned and began early production of the Matched trilogy films in 2010, but no further development has been reported. The novel explores young adult themes such as control, courtship, rebellion, and agency, which are strengthened by her poetic writing style and frequent references to poems. After its release, the book received largely positive reviews and reached The New York Times bestseller list in 2010. This book is followed by Crossed and Reached.Ĭondie was inspired to write the novel after chaperoning a high school dance and considering what would happen if the government devised a perfect algorithm for matching people into romantic pairs. As Cassia attempts to figure out the source of the mishap, she finds herself conflicted about whether her Match is appropriate for her–and whether the Society is all that it seems to be. However, when viewing the information for her Match, the picture of another young man Ky Markham, an acquaintance outcast at her school, is flashed across the screen. The main character is 17-year-old Cassia Reyes, who is Matched with her best friend, Xander Carrow. The novel is a dystopian young adult novel about a tightly-controlled society in which young people are 'matched' with their life partners at the age of 17.

Matched, by Ally Condie, is the first novel in the Matched trilogy.

Matched ally