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Configured: Book #1 in the Configured Trilogy Kindle Edition
Avlyn Lark should have graduated University, received a low-level job and lived a quiet life in the shadows of an electric domed city, safe from the outside world.
On her Configuration Day a rebel bombing starts a ripple effect—and she’s unexpectedly placed at the invasive government firm that controls every citizen.
But when you have spent a lifetime burying illegal emotions, forgetting a twin brother’s mysterious death and keeping your head down, working for a high level company where every move will be watched… the last thing you want is to be discovered… and never seen again.
With so much at stake, everyone Avlyn meets is now a potential enemy. Especially after, against her own best judgement, she agrees to meet with a handsome rebel offering more questions than answers about her family’s secrets.
She’ll need to expect what’s around every dark corner just to stay alive.
Yet, her eyes are opened to the corruption, secrets and lies festering around her. And soon, Avlyn must decide how far she will go to fight for answers, freedom and love… especially if doing so means her days are numbered.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateOctober 20, 2016
- File size2480 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Penner's world building is spectacular!" ~Sam's Little Corner Blog
"Configured is the perfect book to dive into if you're looking for your next dystopian read." ~A Leisure Moment Blog
"If you guys love technology, adventure, romance and mystery then this is the book for you!!! Page Turner... Amazing characters and a fantastic dystopian debut novel!! Really excited for the sequel!!" ~Cover to Cover Blog
"(T)his book was honestly magical" ~Lover and a Book-er Blog
"This book pulled me in almost immediately." ~Ziggy's Books Blog
"(Configured) reminds me a lot of The Hunger Games and Divergent. I absolutely LOVED this book! I can not wait for book 2." ~Coffee Stained Books Blog
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B01M0XHNFX
- Publisher : Torment Publishing (October 20, 2016)
- Publication date : October 20, 2016
- Language : English
- File size : 2480 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 368 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #42,286 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Jenetta Penner developed a love of sci-fi at an early age and decided on a whim to read 40 young adult books in the same genre. From that experience, an author was born. Configured is her debut novel. She lives in sunny Southern California with her husband, two daughters and two furbabies. And she may or may not have a slight addiction to cat gifs.
Subscribe to her book club & get access to 50 FREE YA Books and a Configured YA Coloring book. Get them here: bit.ly/free50books
Drop her a note at jenetta@jenettapenner.com.
Customer reviews
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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That's not to say this was a bad thing. I finished reading a really terrible dystopian by a NY Times Bestseller and was pretty jaded. So I was much more careful about my next selection. I can't even tell you what book I was looking at, but it didn't excite me. It was interesting, but I just didn't feel compelled.
And Amazon decided to tell me what else I might like. Unsure if I should trust their judgment -- after all, their last suggestion did me so wrong -- I figured I would check out the cover and read the blurb.
And Configured had me intrigued -- something none of the other books had done so far. But I still wasn't convinced, so I went to the reviews. They were so fantastic I figured I was an idiot if I passed up.
Boy, am I glad I didn't!
Yet, it wasn't until I received the book that I realized it was by an indie author. I was shocked and a little bit worried. There are some real gems out there, but I'm also honestly well aware of the fact that there are some seriously unvetted books as well.
One chapter into the book, I was hooked. It was like a drug, and I wanted more. You know those books you can't put down because you just HAVE to know what happens next? Yeah, it was in my hands.
Configured is about a society where everyone has learned to suppress emotions. They're too risky and increase the likelihood of crime, war, and more. At the age of seventeen, everyone is configured into society. They are outfitted with a job and optimal marriage matches.
Avlyn isn't like everyone else though. She actually feels something and tries so hard to hide her emotions behind an ordinary mask. But as the truth of what's going on in her city -- and in the government -- begins working its way into her life, she has no choice but to stand up and fight.
So Avlyn is recruited by a rebellion that is -- quite literally -- underground. They open her eyes and give her the tools she needs to come into her own.
I don't want to say much more because I really don't want to spoil this book. Suffice it to say I was giddy that I found an indie author in my genre who had a very strong handle on how to weave a story. From the beginning to the end I was captivated and couldn't wait to turn the pages.
If I had to say I was disappointed about anything, it was the formatting of the book. For the most part, the grammar and punctuation were very clean, but some of the justification was off, making paragraphs offset and I found about three pages in the book at the end of a chapter that shouldn't have been there.
But let's be honest people. If the worst thing I have to pick about in an indie author's book is a few formatting issues, I'm really just digging.
Would I recommend this book? Heck yes, I would! Penner does a fantastic job creating relatable and sympathetic characters that I wanted to see win. And I'm already armed with book two.
Configured takes place many years after some world-shattering virus wiped out most of the population but now this super-efficient technological advanced society has risen from the ashes. Emotions are discouraged along with emotional bonds. The population is ranked according to usefulness with level 3 being the most important, the geniuses and leaders. Level 1s are mostly disposable.
Babies are tested at birth for intelligence capabilities and then ranked according to them. If they aren’t the same as their bio parents then they are taken, reassigned, and given new parents who raise them. We mostly see this as an upgrade since the main character, Avlyn was born a level 1 and then upgraded to 2. It’s implied that it works the other way around, but we never see it.
Avlyn has always felt like a misfit, perhaps because she wasn’t born a 2. She has emotional attachments to her twin who died, though she tries to hide it. And she has a good friend her own age but she’s about to reach her majority age and be configured.
Once that happens, she’s expected to leave her adopted parents, real parents, and any other childhood relationships behind. Configured adults start fresh. They are assigned jobs and are expected to form marriage contracts within a year. With her whole life planned out for her, Avlyn is feeling a little bit overwhelmed and lost.
And then everything falls apart. She discovers the world isn’t what she thought it was and little by little the truth is exposed. She’s contacted by rebels and that opens up a new and dangerous path for her.
I liked the way society was set up. I especially liked that they were expected (mandated) to visit their birth family once a year until they reach majority so that they would remember where they came from. This was a nice unique touch.
There were a few things though that I didn’t care for (Spoilers)
Avlyn never had a good relationship with her adopted parents. They only cared about appearance and raising her to be a credit that reflected on them. Her father in particular seemed to actually dislike her and couldn’t wait to be rid of her when she was configured.
But later in the book an event occurs where they are taken to be used against her and she has to save them. I struggled with this because I honestly couldn’t see any reason why she would bother. She went from literally not caring if she ever saw them again (and probably wouldn’t) to risking her life to save them and it was a stretch.
Yes, normally even if you don’t get along with your parents you still care about each other, but in this case, she was raised entirely without love and affection. Knowing that such emotions were inappropriate and that once she was adult, she’d be expected to walk away without looking back—and she did with no problems. So her risking everything to save them… eh.
The stretch got worse though because during the rescue suddenly her mom was saying she loved her, and there was all this emotion which seemed to come out of nowhere. It’s meant to imply they always loved her but couldn’t say so because it was against the rules, but it still felt forced. Tbh I was expecting them to betray her to the authorities the first chance they got, and I thought it was a set up for them to have a chance to do that.
Another issue is that the author seemed to be trying to set up a love interest at a couple points, and maybe a love triangle. The problem is… there doesn’t feel like there’s much chemistry between any of them. I’m struggling to care which one she picks. And the romantic moments with the rebel seem to come out of nowhere and then quickly vanish.
Aside from that it’s good and maybe some of these things will be resolved in the next two books. For a debut novel it’s especially polished I thought.
Top reviews from other countries
Voice: everything is pronounced well, the narrator uses somewhat different types of voices for the characters so conversations are easy to follow as well. Very comfortable voice to listen too, natural intonation for when the main character is questioning something for herself or recollecting certain events. And no breathing into the mic whatsoever so very nice audiobook!
Story: I started this book with a little bit of curiosity or worry/wondering whether this would be a close fit to Matched by Ally Condie but this story stands on it’s own, not in another books’ shadow. Not that I read a huge amount of dystopian futuristic storylines where the government has taken drastic measurements to ensure the survival of the human race. But even though the people are indoctrinated to that certain way of life, they’re not so naive or oblivious as in some other books so I did love that aspect.
But eventhough she adds her own things and stuff, of course there are some similar aspects compared to the other, similiar stories. In my eyes, that can’t be avoided, so much has been written already. The new things she added felt very natural. They might not be new to you though, I don’t think I read 10 books in this genre so maybe not enough to compare it too. But I loved the characters, the realism of what can happen with rebels and can’t wait to see how the story will develop. Keeping it vague her because I would be spoilering otherwise.
The mix of everything that this author put in this book works well together and keeps you interested to know what happens next. It does not end with a huge cliffhanger, for which I thank the author, I love an ending with a promise for a sequel but not the sort of cliffhanger that keeps you up at night because you just want to know how it will end (well, it would keep me up lol).
There are some interesting parts that I imagine will be revealed in book 2 so I’m so glad I have book 2 lined up to listen too after writing this review!
Even though I often need to read other books in between a series (I do like change), I have no problem reading (well, listening in my case) book 2 right after finishing book 1. So that on it’s own says enough. I’m greatful I found this series.
I really enjoy a good dystopian book and this really hit the spot for me. The main protagonist Avlyn Lark is relatable, in the sense she just wants to blend in and not be noticed. I’m sure many of us feel that way.
It takes place in an undisclosed time in the future, as with most dystopian novels people are subjected to a harsh rule under the Direction. Follow the rules or suffer the consequences style and an rebel group called Affinity seek to end it.
Avlyn is special, in more ways than one and is pulled into the fight despite her better judgement. The characters are all compelling, each individual and dynamic. This is what I enjoy in a book, I like to see the difference and Penner does just this. I couldn’t put the book down, everytime I thought the pace slowed it just picked back up again. I just wanted to know what happened next.
I throughly enjoyed this book and Penners take on dystopian fiction. I’m off to read the next book which I hope won’t disappoint! Would highly recommend any dystopian fans to read this series. I don’t compare other authors, I’m always looking at how they make it their own!
I’m so glad I did!
Ms Penner’s future is Directed and isolated but it would seem that resistance is not futile.
The characters are well drawn and I enjoyed imagining the inside of a program.
Looking forward to Book 2!