This post is going to be all about the YA book Matched by Ally Condie. When I was writing my query letter, I was trying to think of which YA books Desiderium could be best compared to. After thinking about it long and hard, I would classify it as being somewhere between Matched by Ally Condie and Delirium by Lauren Oliver. (And no, it's not because the word delirium is so close to Desiderium if that's what you were thinking. Although I was working on Desiderium when Delirium came out and I was a little worried about the titles being so similar.) The funny thing is, I also asked one of my beta readers which books she would compare mine to, and she came up with the two exact same books. It's sort of eerie, but hopefully it means that we've done a good job of drawing comparisons to other YA books.
A Little About Matched:
All of her life, officials of the Society have told Cassie what to read, what to watch, and what to believe. They decide who she will love, how many children she will have, what her career will be, and when she will die. Living in the Society that monitors her every moment, Cassie has always trusted their decisions.
At her matching ceremony, Cassie is assured when the face of Xander, her childhood friend, appears on her viewscreen. Of course, he is the perfect choice to be her husband. But later, when she checks the disk with Xander’s data on it, she first sees the face of Ky Markham, flashing for less than an instant before Xander’s face appears. Society says it’s just a glitch—but was it? Cassie suddenly feels frightened and insecure.
As she finds herself falling in love with Ky, she begins to doubt the infallibility of the Society. Now she is faced with impossible choices. Should she “go gentle” and follow the Society’s plans for her? Or should she follow her heart?
The Connection:
Let me start off by saying that this book is excellent, and is one of my favorite YA books. One of the things I love most about this book is that it does a really good job of shocking the reader by showing just how much of Cassia's everyday life is controlled. The society in Desiderium isn't quite so controlled, but there is definitely a controlling aspect in there.
Rhiley and Cassia face so many of the same issues. Like Cassia, Rhiley is also torn between her best friend since childhood, and the boy she just met. Not to mention, that almost everyone in their lives has a secret. Both are very closely monitored, and both are capable of more than they might think. I don't think I mentioned this in my last post, but Desiderium is the first book in a planned trilogy. I have a fairly detailed outline of the second installation, but have yet to think of a spectacular name for it. Which reminds me, if anyone has any thoughts on the title Desiderium, I would love to hear them! I'm definitely open to suggestions.
Check back in a day or two for a post dedicated to Delirium. As always, thanks for reading!
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