Matched by Ally Condie

Ahh...once again I have been sucked in by cover art.

It's sort of new age Wizard of Oz, right? Well, while the book has little in common with the Wizard of Oz, I'm pleased to say it is wonderful novel. Matched takes place in a future where a nonspecific global disaster has caused most humans to give up their personal freedoms to "the Society" in exchange for health, security, and stability. The Society uses the data it collects about you to provide you with the optimal diet and exercise plan, to place you in the job best suited to your skills and abilities, and to match you with the person optimal mate both psychologically and genetically.

The main character Cassia largely buys into all this at the novels open. She is preparing for her "match" ceremony--kind of like prom and a debutante ball but with a big screen on which the face of your future spouse will appear for all to see. Cassia is stunned to discover her match is her good friend Xander--both because it is rare to be matched with someone you know and because she wonders how this will change their friendship. The real drama begins when Cassia opens the data card about Xander in preparation for her first date with him and sees a different boy's face flash momentarily across the screen--Ky.

Cassia's curiosity bests her--like a self-fulfilling prophecy she finds herself seeking Ky out and finding him equally attractive to and more compelling than Xander. Meanwhile "The Society" begins cracking down on liberties in her neighborhood and family and Cassia gets disturbing visits from its representative. As events spiral out of control, we, like Cassia uncover more details about what The Society is really up to.

A satisfying, yet cliffhanger ending leaves this reader anxious to read the next installation, Crossed, due out November 1, 2011. I especially recommend this to those who loved The Hunger Games and Graceling--similar strong female characters facing a hostile society and the same strong use of suspense. Be sure to check out the trailer on Youtube.

Gone by Lisa McMann

Gone by Lisa McMann is the third and final installment of the creepy, minimalist Wake trilogy. If you haven't read the first two, start there, as this review has spoilers. Main character Janie has the ability, or really, is compelled to enter other people's dreams. In the previous two books, Janie discovers she is not alone in this power and that being able to enter people's dreams has its rewards--she can help people find peace by guiding them in the dream and she can uncover crimes and abuse by observing dreams. Unfortunately, she has also discovered using her "gift" will eventually debilitate her hands into useless claws and cause her to go blind.

In Gone, Janie must make an impossible choice a "Morton's Fork"--either stay in her relationship with her love Cabel and keep using her gift as it cripples her or completely isolate herself from the world and all the joy of love, the way her long-lost father did.

As always, McMann writes in a spare, poetic style rich with emotion and depth. Fans of realism and modernism will like McMann's no-nonsense, life is too complicated for a happy ending approach. Though it certainly involves fantastic elements I would classify it more as contemporary, than fantasy. Gone uses more adult language than the previous two books in the series, but it is authentic to the characters' ages and experiences.
Over all, a very enjoyable series, and I know I'll be standing in line to read her next book, Cryer's Cross in 2011.

The Looking Glass Wars

Think you know the story of Alice in Wonderland? Not even close, according to Frank Beddor's new Looking Glass trilogy. First off, Alice is actually Princess Alyss of Wonderland, whose evil Aunt Redd's invasion has forced Alyss, the heir to the throne, to flee. With the aid of her trusted bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, she escapes through the Pool of Tears and finds herself in another world, namely, Victorian London. Of course, no one believes her fantastical stories about her kingdom and Alyss can find no way to get back. She finally thinks she has found a friend in the Reverend Charles Dodgson (pen name, Lewis Carroll) and tells him her whole story, but he completely changes the details till it is an unrecognizable children's fairy tale. Alice feels betrayed and begins to believe it was all a dream.

Meanwhile, Wonderland is falling apart under Redd's rule, with all of Alyss's mothers laws thrown out and evil and chaos invited in. A small faction of loyal "Alyssians" fight where they can and wait for the day when they can avenge the princess and return Wonderland to peace and glory once more.

The plot moves rapidly and keeps you hooked the way a well-paced movie does (not surprising since one of the author's previous day jobs was a movie producer). Like many fantasy movies, the characters are more ">archetypes than fully developed individuals, but their emotions--love, grief, revenge, wonder, lonliness, honor, loyalty--ring true and lend the story a universal feel that all great fantasies need. Seeing Redd is the next book in the series (and you can bet I'll be starting that tonight) and the third book comes out next fall. There is a companion graphic novel called Hatter M that details the bodyguard Hatter Madigan's adventures during the thirteen years he searched the human world for the missing Princess Alyss. There is also an extensive companion website to the trilogy, complete with book soundtrack, videos, artwork, video games, and other fan freebies (making the series trend on with the new "transmedia storytelling"). To check out the marketing madness go to: http://www.lookingglasswars.com/.