In a tranquil future with clean streets and no illness, Cassia excitedly anticipates learning who will be her government-dictated marriage Match. Shockingly, it’s her friend Xander. But when Cassia slides Xander’s microcard into her port to learn his data (a system designed for the more typical Match to a stranger), Xander’s face on the portscreen dissolves—and another face appears. It’s Ky, their friend who’s an Aberration, prohibited from Matching. This unheard-of glitch, along with an outlawed gift from her grandfather, sows doubt in Cassia’s mind. She begins to want the forbidden: to run outdoors, to write words with her fingers instead of manipulating them on a screen, to read poetry beyond the sanctioned Hundred Poems—and she wants Ky, who feels the same. Condie peels back layer after dystopic layer at breakneck speed, Dylan Thomas reverberating throughout. If the Society’s at war, who’s the enemy? Of the three tablets carried by everyone, what does the red one do? Detractors will legitimately cite less-than-subtle morality and similarities to The Giver, but this one’s a fierce, unforgettable page-turner in its own right. (Science fiction/romance. YA)
