He was adopted by his aunt and uncle in Oria Province after his parents were killed. The pictures tell Cassia the story of Ky’s struggle with his own identity, as well as his painful past living in the Outer Provinces. Ky stokes Cassia’s newfound love of art and poetry by teaching her how to write-a forbidden act-and giving her self-portraits drawn on napkins, with accompanying poems. Cassia later incinerates the poem.Ĭassia and Ky are soon paired up at hiking and begin sharing their secrets with each other. She reads one of the poems-“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”-at her new hiking activity, and it resonates with her Ky is also a participant of hiking. Grandfather tells her that he has faith she will one day understand their meaning. Before he dies, Grandfather gifts Cassia two poems-which are considered illegal because they are not on the list of the Hundred Poems which the Society has chosen to keep. While Cassia struggles with her Matching predicament, her grandfather, known as Grandfather, passes away at his Final Banquet-the Society’s practice of forced euthanasia when citizens turn 80 years old. At first, Cassia is content to dismiss the error and enjoy her Match with Xander, but she finds herself increasingly drawn to Ky. She explains that Ky is classified as an Aberration-which means he can never be Matched. An Official, a member of the Government police force, soon pays Cassia a visit to tell her that her Match with Ky was a mistake.

After Xander’s face appears on the port screen, the face of another boy whom Cassia knows, Ky Markham, also pops up. However, Cassia’s life begins to change when she inserts her microcard containing information about Xander into her home port (a computer). She naively accepts the path laid out for her by the Society. She enjoys a life of comfort living in Oria Province with her parents and 10-year-old brother, Bram, and looks forward to her future with Xander. Cassia is thrilled to be Matched with her best friend, Xander Carrow, whom she has known since childhood. Nearly every facet of life in the Society is tightly controlled, including romantic relationships, which are initiated at the Match Banquet. The Banquet is a required event for nearly all citizens of the Society-a dystopian reality that exists at some point in the future. Matched begins on the eve of protagonist Cassia Maria Reyes’s Match Banquet-which also happens to be her 17th birthday.

The matched book series