User:HLukehart/sandbox

Matched
Matched tells the story of Cassia, a young citizen to the Society, a dystopian society where everything is chosen for you. Following the introduction of Cassia, her and her family travel to the central for Cassia's Match banquet. Because she is at the match banquet she is to meet her match, which happens to be another local boy by the name of Xander. As a result of her match, Cassia becomes the talk of the town. After she leaves with her microcard,a small flash drive containing all the information about Xander that she needs to know, Cassia faithfully goes through the card. Following Xander's picture, it fades to black showing another boy's face, Ky's. Ky is an aberration, which means he can't be matched. Following the dramatic incident, Cassia tells her grandfather because he is going to die soon, reaching upon his eightieth birthday. As a result of her grandfather's birthday, it is time for his final banquet, it is then that he gives Cassia forbidden poems. Cassia's father loses her grandfather's tissue sample and may get them reclassified. After receiving the poems Cassia becomes too scared to carry them anymore so she decides to burn them at an excavation site, an old library where her father works. At work Cassia gets distracted and makes a mistake while sorting. After her sorting incident, her father admits that he didn't lose the tissue sample but instead destroyed it. As a result of Cassia's frustration, her and Xander plant newroses (lab created roses that are easier to handle then regular roses) as part of their rec. hours. Following the newroses Cassia and her friends go to a music showing where Em, Cassia's best girl friend, has a panic attack about her upcoming match banquet. After that evening Cassia and Ky go hiking, where Cassia stumbles upon Ky doing a strange thing, writing. As a result of Cassia finding out about Ky being able to write, he begins to teach her. Livy beats Cassia to the top of their climbing hill, Cassia walks in on Ky teaching Livy to write. Following this incident, Xander and his match, Cassia, go on their first date. As a result of Cassia letting Em use her Compact the Officials come to take away all artifacts. Ky explains that he wasn't teaching Livy how to write but, instead, he was drawing trees. Cassia's Official visits her and says, that if she doesn't end things with Ky she will face an infraction. Following The visit, The maple trees are cut down in the early morning waking everybody up. Ky gives Cassia a poem as a late birthday present, also explaining about how Archivist work on the black market. Following the new discovery, Cassia and Ky talk about her match banquet, that's when he tells her the video about the enemy is real. Officials come and asks Cassia to sort workers at the Nutrition and disposal plant, the exact place where Ky works. Following the sort, Ky tells Cassia that an Official came up to him and told him that if he wasn't an aberration then Cassia would have been his match. The next day, while they are hiking, Ky kisses Cassia on the lips. As a result of the previous day, Ky is sent away to the outer provinces to fight the enemy, causing a scene, resulting in everyone, but Cassia, to take red tablets. Cassia is being sent to the Farmlands in another province, Ky tells her he loves her, she knows she is going to find him.

Crossed
Crossed, the continuation of Matched, tells the journey of young Cassia who is on the search for Ky. The Narrator changes from Cassia to Ky throughout the novel. In the beginning Ky and his friend Vick find a dead boy in the river. Following the discovery of the boy, Cassia finishes up her work, she is surprised with the fact that Xander is there. The point of view switches from Cassia to Ky when he starts to dig the graves for the dead boys. When the plot turns back to Cassia, she and Xander fight when they are on their date to the museum. Following the fight Cassia shows that she didn't trade Xander's tablets but instead Ky's compass. Vick asks Ky about the Tennyson poem he reads to the dead, causing Ky to flash back to when Cassia told him the poem. Following this memory, Ky brings a boy named Eli with Vick and him, they plan to run away from the camp and towards the Carving, a canyon just away from the camp. Back at the camp, Officials come to take Indie, a young girl like Cassia, away. As a result Cassia stows away on the air craft and they take them away to an old village. Before they leave Ky decides to try and figure out how to make their guns work. Cassia soon figures out she is being sent to the outer provinces, the closest she's ever been to Ky. As they run to the Carving, Ky, Vick, and Eli all make it alive. When Cassia makes it to the Outer Province she finds out that a boy from Ky's camp knows that he ran, as a result she decides to follow. Following her decisions, Cassia, Indie, and the boy from Ky's camp, run and they also all survive. The deeper they go into the Carving, Ky finds data recorders in their grade A jackets. Following this discovery, Ky and the others find signs of the Anomalies. Ky comes across an old Farmers, Anomalies, settlement, where they find food and maps. Cassia and Indie climb to the other Canyon, where they find the boy that came with them and the Framers. Ky and his friends decide to leave the settlement. As they are leaving, Vick tells Ky about where he is from and how he fell in love with an Anomaly. Cassia took the blue tablets, that Xander gave her and becomes very sick, on her way back tot the other canyon. After Cassia gets sick they find an old Farmers orchard. an aircraft shoots poison bombs into the river and one kills Vick. Following Vick's death, Cassia finds her first sign of Ky, a rock compass that he made. After burying Vick, Ky turns back to the settlement just in time to see Cassia in the distance. They all go into a cave and sit while Cassia tries to regain her strength. They all go back to town, bringing a fascinated expression to Cassia's face. When they go into the town after they collected things from the caves they witness a man bury a little girl, Ky gives him some time and then goes to talk to him. Indie is the shows Ky Cassia's taken microcard and asks him what Xander's secret is. Hunter, the man that they saw bury his daughter, asks Cassia to help him figure something out. The Cave contains the collected tissue samples from most of the citizens to Society, including Cassia, Xander and her grandfather. As a result they go back to look for papers for Cassia an Indie, when Ky tells Cassia about how he can sort too. After, Ky and Cassia fight about the Rising, the rebellion against the Society, and how it might be the one thing he can't do for her. Indie finds a map that may lead them to the Rising but she doesn't tell anyone but Ky. As a result he burns the one thing Cassia needed to find them. Hunter explains that he can help them get to the rising but that he isn't going with them. After, they explode the cave with all of the food and books to finish Hunter's mission. As a result of Hunter completing his mission, they now have to decide where they want to go, the Mountains or the Rising. Ky brings a boat for Cassia to take to the Rising and she has to decide who rides with her to the Rising. Cassia chooses Eli but he wants to go to the mountains, so instead she chooses Indie. As they part their ways Ky decides to walk to the Rising while Cassia takes the boat, He hides her things for her. When she makes it to the Rising, they interrogate her asking her if others are coming, which is when she tells them Ky is coming by foot. After, they decide that she would best serve the Rising inside the Society's walls, later on Ky arrives after she has gone. Ky gets assigned to work on the airships with Indie and he sends Cassia a message through the Archivists. Cassia plans to meet with Ky after work, she received his message.

Reached
The final novel in the Matched Trilogy switches narrators between Xander, Ky and Cassia, Beginning with Ky immunizing a week old baby. Following the baby's immunization, his older brother becomes very sick, becoming still. Cassia is supposed to meet with Ky after work, sorting for an upcoming Match Banquet, but something goes wrong and they make her take a red tablet. Ky begins to think of what's going happen when he meets with Cassia tonight, then the Rising begins, stopping him from seeing her. Xander flashes back to when he told Cassia he became a medical Official, then he is brought back t reality when he taking the sick boy to the medical center. When Cassia realizes the red tablets do work on her she becomes crushed, but after she becomes a trader with the Archivists and even meets the Head Archivist. Ky and Indie finally hear the Pilot's voice, and he tells them that they are carrying the cure, to the plague that's killing the Society. Xander finally hears the Pilot's voice explaining the Rising, But his mind is focused on Cassia and if she is safe. Someone stole Cassia's poems so she goes to the Archivist' hide out to see if any turned up. Xander gives a speech to the new comers to the Rising, one of the newcomers is a Official that he used to work with named Lei. Cassia finds out that Bram, her brother, contracted the Plague. After she finds out, a woman asks her for help and Cassia write lyrics for a song to sing to her son. Ky receives a message from Cassia that is part his and part Xander's, but someone pushes him ruining part of the message for Xander. Xander gets the message and is frustrated that it is incomplete, but she does tell him that the blue tablets kill. As a result this makes him upset at himself for potentially killing Cassia, putting her life in danger. The daughter of the woman Cassia helped made her a bird of clay, dress fabric, and glass, giving Cassia the idea to have an area where people can show off their creativity skills. Xander finds out that the Plague has mutated and the cure isn't working on it. Cassia's gallery is flourishing with many works of art, paintings, stories, poems, and such. Ky and Indie fly back to Oria, where he and Cassia lived and met, it is also where Indie kisses him. Cassia gets to look in the Archives with the Head Archivist, after someone sings at the Gallery for the first time. The Virologist makes a theory about the Plague, making Xander safe but Lei not. Ky's Runner, Caleb, was supposed to bring back the tissue samples, but then he falls ill with the Plague. The Archivists are leaving and the Head tells Cassia that she can go to Camas, where Ky is. Indie is the one who is piloting the aircraft taking Cassia to Camas. Indie also picks up Xander, to take to the Pilot and to also see Cassia. Indie tells Ky that she has Cassia and they fly with the Pilot. The Pilot gives Cassia her grandfather's microcard and a letter from her family, but he tells her her parents are still with the mutated Plague. They are taken to the mountains to find the cure because they are thought to be sabotaging the Rising. When they are headed to a stone village called Endstone Ky becomes ill with the Plague. Ky is trying to fight the mutation but the pain becomes to unbearable to stand. When they finally get to Endstone they hook Ky up to monitors and Xander is assigned to work with Oker, the medical genius. Cassia has to figure out how much time they have before the Rising starts letting people die, which it turns out they already have. Cassia finally meets Anna and they talk about Hunter and Eli. Cassia and Xander talk about Oria, she begins to remember the red garden days, mention in Matched. Cassia is having trouble sorting through the possible cure combinations when some of the things she's never heard of, so Anna is going to draw them for her. Ky dreams about Indie, she is becoming sick and she is running from help. Xander and Oker try Camassia, but some of the ill are beginning to die. They people have a vote to see what cure to use on the still, when they find out that Hunter tried to kill Ky. Oker tells Xander to get rid of the cures and that he will go get the actual cure, but on his way he dies never getting the cure. The people of Endstone blame Xander for Oker's death, yet he was ninety years old, locking him up in the jail. Cassia figures out that the cure is the Mariposa lily, she has the other lab workers bring the ingredients to Xander and he creates the cure. They test the Cure on Ky and begins to show signs of waking up. Hunter is exiled for his actions and they begin to vote for Xander's fate when the Pilot crashes into the city. Ky wakes up and they all find out that Indie has died but Xander is saved. Everyone but Cassia goes back to Camas, instead she goes to Keya where her brother and parents are. She then finds out her father had died and her mother is severely ill. Xander creates a synthetic version and brings Lei back. Cassia remembers that she put Ky in the Matching pool. Ky brings back Xander's parents to Camas where Xander is. Lei is the Girl that Vick was in love with and now she and Xander go to the Mountains. Ky and Cassia finally dance, while Xander leaves and may never come back. Xander and Lei fall in love with each other, Ky and Cassia finally are able to love each other openly.

Matched
Matched received mainly very positive reviews. Joy Lawn, of Reading time, praised Matched as "addictive" and "dreaded finishing it" she also mentioned that "no doubt readers will follow Cassia's discoveries and breathlessly anticipate for her future." Publishers Weekly states that Matched contains, "undercurrents of The Giver and Fahrenheit 451." Also it praises the book by saying it, "will leave readers hungry for the planned sequels." Ava Edhe, of Voices of Youth Advocates, praises the book saying, "This powerful debut novel, the first in a trilogy, demonstrates mastery of metaphor and characters that are strongly rendered." She says the book is, "engrossing, futuristic, dystopian read that will satisfy readers." Ava explains, "The author does a frighteningly believable job building a new world, and a romantic cover art symbolically represents Cassia's plight." "It is a great read for fans of Meyer, Collins, and Lowry, and the story will linger with readers,"  Ava stated. BookSmack Reviews praised Matched by saying, "[it] kept the teen-reading adults in my library talking for weeks." Charli Osborne, of School Library Journal, comments that Matched, "otherwise intriguing world which has clear echoes of George Orwell's 1984."

Crossed
Anthony C. Doyle, from School Library Journal, says that Crossed, "gives readers full access to the hearts and minds of two memorable characters," and that, "the writing is often poetic." He praises," this volume resolves little, leaving readers hungry for the final book in the trilogy." Courtney Jones, of Booklist, commented, "Readers will find themselves worlds away from the pristine confines of the Society in this sequel to Matched." She also states that, "Condie delves into the inner live of her characters, plumbing their pasts, confronting their beliefs, and preparing them for the final stand that's sure to come in the next book." Kirkus reviews comments,"Ky's voice is dry and Harsh, Cassia's lusher, befitting their life histories." They also say, "Although two-boys-one-girl triangles run rife in this genre, Condie's is complicated and particularly human, involving real emotional scars." They mark that, "this volume has its own boons, including non-linear travel through a rough canyon and critical interpretations of Tennyson's symbolism,which could change their world," also, "this will leave fans hungry for the third book." The Bookseller, says that Crossed, "a bestseller in trade paperback last Christmas. Souls-searching and page-turning, this is one of the stand-out series of the increasingly popular dystopian romance genre."

Reached
Girls' life says, "the eciting conclusion to the best-selling Matched trilogydoes not disappoint." Courtney Jones, of Booklist, says, "This gripping finale will be eagerly devoured by romance and Fantasy fans." Sharon Rawlins, School Library Journal, states, "gripping and richly satisfying final book in this dystopian series," and that "fans who want closure will love this last book in the series that effectively combines action, romance, science,philosophy and the arts." Kirkus reviews praises the book by commenting, "Condie's prose in immediate and unadorned with sudden pings of lush lyricism. Her protagonists are no run-of-the-mill romance triangle, her forms or activism rich." "With reveals seeming to arrive on almost every page, prepare to stay up all night," they say as the final comment.

Matched
Joy Lawn says, "I could completely visualise the tightly structured and policed secondary world where seventeen year old girls are matched with their prospective marriage partners and jobs," explaining the well use of imagery throughout the novel, also including"Lord Alfred Tennyson and, more significantly, Dylan Thomas whose Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night transforms Cassia's thinking." By using the allusions Condie brings to life her character and gives her a sort of guideline to follow.

Crossed
Anthony Doyle, School Library Journal, says that, "in alternating chapters from their points of view, the book gives readers full access to the hearts and minds of the two memorable characters." this is important to the novel because you get a full appreciation of the characters.

Reached
Courtney Jones, Booklist, says the ideas behind the novel are "romance," and "fantasy." Sharon Rawlins, School Library Journal, also comments on "recount in alternating chapters how they secretly find themselves working for the Rising," the same thing Condie did in Crossed she repeated into Reached, giving a widespread of ideas throughout the novel. Kirkus reviews describes the book as, "science fiction," "romance," and a "medical thriller."

Matched
BookSmack! gives the idea that, "Ky teaches Cassia the value of free will." is a main idea throughout the story because, with free will they could have each other and not worry about the rest of the Society.