Book #1 in The Configured Trilogy (Volume 1)

This book is amazing! It kept me holding on wondering what exactly is going to happen and has me super excited for the second book. I recommend this book to any young adult fiction fan that is looking for a series that is not necessarily in the "normal" of young adult fiction right now (ex. vampires, werewolves, etc)

I love dystopian novels. This one did not disappoint! I polished off this book in 2 days as a busy mom of two. I read it in every spare second! Jenetta Penner has done a fabulous job and I can't WAIT for book #2!

My granddaughter was right when she said I would love Jenetta Penner's book "Configured." This is a Young Adult book that I didn't want to put down until the very last word was read! The storyline and characters are intriguing and makes me eager for the next book in the trilogy to be released! I see it is coming out in paperback, so it will make great Christmas gifts for my friends and family!

Not bad - not a hunger games or divergent but not bad. The end of her book said to order the 2nd volume on the store but I found no 2nd volume? Is it not written yet? I might have given it 4 stars if you could view the other 2 books. Never dreamed they may not even be written.

Avlyn Lark’s world was designed for maximum efficiency. Her whole life was planned out for her based on where she fit in society. I loved the class system that Penner created. There was a noticeable divide between each class, and it didn’t cross bloodlines. Just because your biological parents were a one, didn’t mean you didn’t belong in a world of twos. Dystopian fiction is such a precarious a topic to tread upon, but Penner didn’t hesitate in creating a new world to dive into.

First, the rebellion kept me on my toes. Since Avlyn had to learn all this information from scratch, so did I. I had no trouble getting caught up in the mayhem and mystique that followed Meyer around the city, Direction, or the doubt accompanied with everyone Avlyn passed on the street. Were they going to be okay? What was the next step? What happens if they get caught? It all had me on the edge of my seat and dying to know more. Also, I loved the technology. Affinity, the name coined by the rebels, had different tech than presented in other dystopian novels. The tech she coined felt like a possibility for our future, not just the future of Direction.

Next: the romance. Meyer definitely had his appeal. He was a mystery, and the chemistry between him and Avlyn was undeniable. Their romance had a slow burn. They started in the “who the heck do you think you are?” stage and stepped into the just friends stage. They didn’t overstep their boundaries and weren’t kissing while bombs destroyed the level one sector or giving each other puppy dog eyes when Affinity was planning their next attack. It felt realistic, even in a dystopian world, and captured the arc of many relationships during the teenage years. Although, shockingly, another character caught my eye: Aron. At first, Aron was a means to an end, but the more I got to know him, the more I liked him. I didn’t expect to like him, and he constantly surprised me. I sense a love triangle brewing, and I love it!

Some of my favorite side characters were Lena and Jayson. Lena entered the story and didn’t let on to her importance in the story until I needed to know why she had a role to play. Jayson acted as Meyer’s father figure and was impossible not to love. Both of these characters hold a special place in my heart, and Penner knows how to write main characters that matter, as well as side characters that you’ll end up loving.

Configured is the perfect book to dive into if you’re looking for your next dystopian read. Full of adventure, wonder, and technology of the future, it has everything you could ever need in a world like Direction. I can’t wait to dive into the next book and continue Avlyn Lark’s story and see where the path she’s chosen takes her.

*copy from the author*

Started off with promise but quickly became an unbearably painful paint by numbers YA novel. Leans heavily on the 'chosen one with mysterious abilities she doesn't understand' trope but with none of the fun. Also present is the 'She has two romantic options and she'll go with one temporarily but ultimately choose the other, probably' trope. 'Configured' became increasingly difficult to follow. At one point the book refers to a death, and I was fairly sure no one had died yet in the book. I may be wrong. It's unclear. Regardless, I will not be continuing reading the trilogy.

This book was not only an exciting page burner, but also very clean!

It's simply a smart dystopian story that stands strong on its own, without the need for lesser things such as: gore, profanity, sensuality, or preaching beliefs and ideologies...

Which reminds me very much of Isaac Asimov.

This book started off okay, but quickly went downhill, and became ridiculously predictable. The writing is okay, not horrible, but not stellar, and not enough to make up for the lackluster plot. Skip this series.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Configured by Jenetta Penner is about Avlyn who lives in an all out dystopian society that does not allow anyone to choose their careers or future spouses, stilts all emotions and will not allow relationships with anyone that you cared about or knew before you became an adult. Avlyn's twin brother, Ben, died when he was four years old and she doesn't understand why. She misses him daily and wants to know what happened to cause his death. Anytime she asks questions about Ben, her foster parents become angry and tell her to not cause problems for the two of them. They do not seem to care about Avlyn at all, once they have completed their duty of raising her. Avlyn is asked to join a rebellion and actually feels like she has been pushed into it at the beginning. She eventually sees more of what is happening in her society and begins to understand that a rebellion is necessary. Configured is a science fiction, action-adventure in a dystopian society with an intense rebellion in the making - 4 stars for originality!

The rundown:
Enter a dystopian world where a portion of humanity Have survived a devastating virus and set to prevent it from happening through the introduction of a three class system and nanobot technology. Our main character strives to hide all emotions, as they are seen as an intelligent.l but just can’t seem to stop caring. Through a series of events, she meets up with a young man who challenges her that there may be more to the salvation of the government then she thought and that’s when things start getting wierd.

The good:
It also gives us a fresh dystopian world and an interesting take on the class systems. I find a few main characters well developed and rounded, and they were even a few surprising twists when it came Who is the good guys and who is the bad guys. The main character is compelling and I am Interested to find out more not only about her twin brother, but about her strange new powers.

The bad:
I really don’t have too much bad to say about this book. I found it quite refreshing, though a few of the characters are confusing. I hope this gets resolved in this sequential books of the trilogy. Also... another love triangle?!

The hope:
That the love triangle that the author created will not be stupid, and that we will be able to watch the character develop more as more information is given to them.

I was very pleasantly surprised by "Configured". The title and blurb interested me, but the book was not what I expected and exceeded my expectations. The writing is clear and engaging, the amount of information provided is spot-on, and a good balance between action and depth is maintained. It kept me interested through the entire story.

I am not a fan of story summaries in reviews, as too often they reveal things I would have liked to discover for myself. Instead, let's discuss a few things about the writing in more detail. This is very much a dystopian sci-fi book. The setting is believable, and the science is a relatively believable continuation/progression of our current technology levels if given enough time. The science and the world seemed pretty cohesive, so I wasn't jarred by something seeming out of balance with the rest of the world they're in. Grammer was well done, and there wasn't a glut of typos and wrong words.

Were there any negatives? Well, sure, and they'll sound vague because I don't want to ruin the story. There were a couple of minor inconsistencies in the story, though it could be argued that it's more a matter of taste or perspective. There were a few cases where circumstances were particularly fortuitous, but it was not overdone. I couldn't decide whether the main character was a particular target or a target of opportunity the same as anyone else, and I found that uncertainty to be frustrating.

For me, the telling thing was that the positives far outweighed the negatives, and I enjoyed the story all the way through to the end and am interested in reading more!

I was given a free copy of "Configured" in exchange for an honest review.

For the first half if the book she was apathetic, disinterested and befuddled. She became more engaged once she git her eyes in the boy but her self awareness was very limited and moments of sober dealing with reality infrequent. Continued being dazed and confused to various degrees until the end of the book. Not my cup of tea.

In this dystopian/ sci-fi novel a young woman, Avlyn Lark, lives in a metropolis that was once over-come by a virus. From a young age she has been taught that emotions mean nothing and citizens are to focus on tasks that are for the good of the community. Elore's population has been divided into three sectors which are determined by intellect.

When Avlyn was younger, her twin brother passed away and she was placed with a Level Two family which should feel like an honor, but why does it feel so wrong? The emotions that she isn't supposed to show have her thoughts all over the place and she begins to have strange visions.

As she transitions into a new life after her Configuration day, she is placed with a prestigious company, Genesis Technologies, that focuses on the security of Elore. Soon after starting at Gen Tech she encounters Meyer, a member of the rebel group Affinity, who has her beginning to question everything she has ever known. Avlyn is soon faced with the choice of continuing the life she is used to (even if it's a lie) or following her heart and doing what she knows is right.

I received an ARC copy of "Configured" in exchange for an honest review. (Thank you, Jenetta!) "Configured" is a great book for readers who enjoyed "Divergent", "The Hunger Games", and "Matched". I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series!

Avlyn Lark lives in a world run by the Direction. Feelings are unnecessary, food can be printed, and disease is practically wiped out. The only problem? People are classified by levels: Level Ones are essentially the pariahs of the world, with Levels Two and Three being the smart and superior people.

In this world, Avlyn is thrust into a war that she never knew existed. Turns out she is inadvertantly an essential member of the rebellion. Though it takes her a while to accept this, she soon realizes that is where she truly belongs.

I was hooked from the first line. Though it was awkward to read the unfeeling nature of these people, as the explanations went on, it was intriguing. I loved the way Jenetta Penner introduced this world to the readers. She introduced it as Avlyn went through each action in her own life.

Each character had many levels to them. Jenetta pulls back the layers of each one throughout this novel and I have a feeling that each one still has more layers. I can't wait to read more. Plus there's a character that might not actually be dead?? Like I had a feeling but now I'm super curious.

Though relationships are totally not the end goal of this novel, I did ship Avlyn with two separate characters. One was her Spouse Pairing (pretty much a non-emotional marriage. A marriage of convenience to further the Direction and its goals). The other was her handler in the rebellion. But what I loved about these romances were that they weren't integral parts of the story. It wasn't as if it overtook the novel (as I have seen happen in a lot of these types of novels).

I honestly need to read more.

This story starts off as many young adult dystopian novels do – girl coming of age finds herself unique in some way that changes her fate in ways she never expected. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, only that it is a key feature of this genre which can occasionally come off a cheesy (where’s the love story… oh wait. There it is. Yup, 2 guys so which one will she choose). With that said, and what I appreciated most, was the unique aspects of this book. For example (without giving too much away) is the approach taken on what skills the main character possess and her interaction with the world. Its not about her agility and athletic nature that set her apart from others (which I’ve seen often be the case) but her mental abilities (#NerdUnite?). I would be lying if I didn’t also mention that I will forever enjoy and appreciate the strong independence that the main [female] character possesses and that her success is not defined by that of a male. Though, here, the author also makes a point to not ignoring the importance that all relationships have on us, which I also applaud.

Why not 5 stars, then? You can read up on how I decide my ratings on my book review policy page but, in short, I don’t necessarily have anything bad to say. 3 stars is for your baseline, average books and 5 stars are for those books that I will hold onto forever and read again and again. Therefore, this book falls somewhere in the middle – it was an enjoyable read and I certainly can’t wait for the 2nd in the series.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys young adult and dystopian genres, as well as those that enjoy books that speak to the perhaps a more nerdy side of things (nerdy as in computers, I might note).

A special thanks to the author for giving me the opportunity to read through her book before its release and be apart of this book blog tour. It has been a pleasure and an honor.

this book is fantastic! i can understand why people compare it to divergent and matched series. it is much like the two combined but in my opinion better. i suppose its because in some ways it is more believable. and in others because its terrifyingly amazing at how the system used to govern in the book is so perfect and yet completely flawed. A system where intellect rules and is used to make the world a safer healthier place. seems wonderful but at the same time you give up things like freedom and love. it makes you ask yourself what is more important safety for all or freedom for all. this book answers questions and creates more in the process so at the end you go where is the second book why can i not read it yet!!!!!! (and yes i put as many exclamation points as deserved)

i also have to say i love the characters. i wanted to squish the bad guys like mosquito (the true telling of having a decent villain) and i kept rooting for the main character. her life is oh so complicated. and as she learns and grows and faces things she could never imagine i found myself liking her more and more and hoping she gets not necessarily a happy ending but what shes looking for in this world. her deceased twin Ben. is it terrible that i spent the entire book almost crying because i didnt want him to actually be dead (in the beginning of the book we find out he died at age 4 from illness and that started the tear ducts for me). what really got me was when she was in trouble or doubting her life she would talk to him like he was still there. i almost cried every time. i have a little sister and i cannot even imagine losing her. (yes i am a softy)

because of my deep attachment to non living characters (when i read they are real i swear!) i rate this book super emotional and not to be read by those that do not keep tissues beside them. the mixed emotions, the action, the characters and the mystery ensured I would and did read this all in one sitting making a mess eating dinner while engrossed in this book. I cannot wait for the next one.

I reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book