This review by the Golden Reviewer, an 80 year old avid reader.
Cassia and her family - father, mother, younger brother Bram and grandfather - live in Mapletree Borough and the entire country is governed by the Society. Her father is one of the Officials. The era is sometime in the future. The Society provides everything - food, clothing, schools, jobs and one has no control over their own life - it is controlled by the Society. Most of the old information - books, poems, etc. have been destroyed and there is only 100 poems and 100 books by authors the Society deems worthy to be preserved. All diseases have been eradicated and everyone have healthy genes that allows them to live until their 8oth birthday. On their birthday they are given a Final Banquet, visits by family members bringing gifts and then mysteriously die in their sleep. DNA is collected from the individual, frozen to a time in the future when the Society had discovered how to bring people back to life. Are they dying of old age or are they being murdered?
Cassie Maria Reyes is seventeen years old and she is going to the Matched Banquet. Today is her birthday and tonight she will be matched to her future husband. There are other girls being matched this night and Cassie is both scared and impatient as she awaits her turn. When her name is called, she is surprised to learn her matched husband to be is her life long friend Xander Thomas Carrow. How can this be - you are never matched to someone you know. The marriage will not take place for two years - after she has finished Second School. She is given a microcard that supposedly contains information about Xander. What has the Society decided she should know about him, the person she'll spend most of her life with. She and Zander have lived on the same street all their lives. Is there something new about him she doesn't know? However, when she insets the card and touches the words Courtship Guidelines, Xanders face disappears. The new face that appears is that of Ky Markham - an Aberration. What is going on - no one has two matches, Did the Society make a mistake?.
Cassia is constantly thrown together with Ky and her feelings start to change. He is teaching her how to write which is strictly against the rules of the Society. Her grandfather recently died on his 80th birthday and her father has lost his DNA sample. What will the Society do when they learn about this? Will they demote her father or just punish him. What will they do to her when they learn of her feelings toward Ky? An Aberration cannot be match with anyone.
Wow! The book is riveting, page turner, intriguing , full of sadness, love and hope, even murder - subtle murder, but murder just the same.. A must read - thoroughly enjoyable.
Highly recommended. Ms. Codie is an excellent fiction writer. The book is a keeper for your personal library. Can't wait to read the sequel - hope it is already in the works.
