Published in 2010. This is the first part of the trilogy that tells the
story of Cassia Reyes, a girl who needs to make up her mind between the love of
Xander and the one of Ky’s. This love plot is set in a futuristic dystopian in
which the Society takes the whole
control over its citizens, this includes how they dress, what they eat, what
kind of job they have to perform, the person the will marry and eventually the
date they’ll die.
Cassia just reached her 17th birthday and
she’s ready to meet her match at the banquet the Society has prepared for all
teenagers her age. This matching process is carried out by carefully stating
what characteristics are more compatible between the two individuals, in order
to give birth to the best kind of human offspring.
My score:
Everything goes well just perfect; Cassia is thrilled
to find out that her match happened to be her best friend Xander, his picture
pops up on the giant screen at the Banquet Ceremony. What else could she ask
for?
Nonetheless, everything suddenly changes when she attempts to reach the
information about her now boyfriend Xander, through the microcard she was given
at the matching ceremony. Expecting to see Xander’s face, Ky’s picture shows up
instead, this fact made her wonder if the selection of her match was actually a
result of an impartial process. From that moment on Cassia will fix her
attention on Ky Markham, will try to get to know him better and figure out his
particular personality. Ky occupies an ambiguous place in the social hierarchy, we do not know
what’s about (at least not in the first book) and neither what circumstances led
him into such condition.
The love triangle story is the main plot of the novel which I don’t find
really relevant. What catches my attention though is the dystopian in which the
plot is set.
From my point of view there are some advantages that this society has to
offer, as follows:
- A group of workers is in charge of preparing everyday meals, with the right caloric contribution requested for every single diner, and deliver it in a steamy foil container.
- In addition, every citizen is given a small box containing three kinds of pills, some are green, some are blue and lastly the red ones. Each of them are designed to supply a different need.
- On the other hand, due to permanent surveillance from the Society officials crime rate is a lot lower.
- Population is not divided into social classes, except, of course, the one of aberrations.
- The edict decreeing that people must die on their 80th birthday has its advantage as well. Society states that at this age an individual still has a high life standard, since; in general, all diseases have been eradicated, with the purpose of preventing the patient from suffering a severe disease prior death. It is assumed then, that having surpassed this point elderly will be in no conditions of continuing living a dignified life. Plus, it would be thoroughly convenient for people to pass away at home with the company of their family rather than dying in an inhospitable place or them alone by themselves.
The evil side of this measure, however, is that instead of letting the
patient freely ask for the euthanasia, they are obliged to consume a previously
poisoned supper on their 80th birthday, what turns the whole
thing into a murder case.
Another extreme measure, not as tough as the one above
though, is the fact that people are not allowed to own what they call Artifacts, this is, little trinkets and
souvenirs we all keep because they remind us of happy memories.
In my opinion, the biggest loss in this dystopian is the lack of freedom
for creativity. As a consequence, individuals won’t be allowed to create any
original content themselves, otherwise they would be incurring in a felony by
writing poems and or even just by reading them, as well as the mere act of
handwriting will result in law-breaking behavior since they’re only permitted
to type on keyboards.
I should say that I have read several negative reviews of this book,
seems that it did not get much acceptance from the audience generally speaking;
and maybe because of that fact I wasn’t expecting much from this reading,
however, I didn’t find it that disappointing actually. Apart from the love
story that had some romantic moments, it wasn’t that special, what really
caught my eye was the dystopian setting and that’s exactly what will get me
reading the second part of the trilogy. Besides, I want to know what happens to
Ky, and what did his father do that turned him into someone singular.
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