Hi! Just saw your post about YA and dreaded love triangles, and I agree completely! I think with THG, it was definitely the editor and Suzanne Collins did a good job of making it quite vague - though I'm a bit disappointed the films have upped it. But I'm curious about Matched. I've just read the first book and tbh, I'm not sure about reading the others. I want to know what happens, but the love triangle is annoying me a lot. I don't think I've really warmed to any character but Xander....
[cont.]The others just don’t seem real to me, but that may be due to the writing style not really being my cup of tea… It’s OBVIOUS Cassia will end up with Ky (and I just can’t really buy into their romance tbh, it seems like it’s there because it has to be, not naturally evolved, like, for example, Everlark). But anyway, yeah, if Xander’s character gets treated even worse, I’m wondering if it’s worth continuing with the series. Do the books get better? Does the love triangle tone down a bit?
I enjoyed the Matched trilogy. It had it’s share of problems including writing style and, most unfortunately, and an uninspiring main character, but I do recommend it. The love triangle will remain, but other things become bigger. The next two books show more of the world, and its mysteries, and introduce some great new characters. Ky didn’t feel real to me in the first book either, but he becomes very interesting in the second book when he gets to co-narrate with Cassia. The third book adds Xander as a narrator, and I loved that.
Xander is my favorite character. He does get put through a lot more, but honestly it makes his story very interesting. (I would have made him the main narrator from the start, not just because he’s my favorite, but because he has the most interesting journey of the three in the books. Ky has an intriguing backstory, and I feel like Cassia’s story is just beginning and has interesting things headed her way after the final novel. Xander, though, goes through the most compelling arc during the time covered by the trilogy.) I’m a fan of the books, despite never really being sold on the Cassia love story side of the story, or Cassia herself frankly. Xander does get beat down by circumstances, but seeing how he deals with it all is worth reading. I, for one, liked how things ended for him.
