Book Review: Configured

Configured is the first book in the YA trilogy by the same name. It was written by Jenetta Penner and currently ranks as an Amazon Best Seller in the Teen and Young Adult category.

About five seconds into the book I figured this was going to be a horrible rip off of Delirium by Lauren Oliver. They both are YA Dystopian stories that consider love or emotions a bad thing.

In Delirium love has been declared a dangerous disease. In Configured they say that love will mark you as a traitor.

Luckily that's where the similarities end. The stories although similar in theme, turn out to be entirely different.

Before long Configured began to differ enough that I found myself really enjoying the story of this rather unusual world where everyone is divided into three categories. Level 1s are the dregs of society, the less intelligent. Level 2s are those with elevated intelligence and level 3s the super smart guys.

The heroin in this story is Avlyn Lark, who along with her twin brother were born as a level 1 to level 1 parents. However the twins were subjected to some experimental testing, and although it ended up killing her little brother when he was 4. The government had some success with Avlyn and her intelligence was able to be elevated to level 2.

As a result, Avlyn was sent to live with level 2 foster parents who raised her as their own.

At 18, she was sent off to be configured like all good citizens, and that meant she would officially be assigned a job and a place to live. She would get to move to her own apartment too, but she had to also cut off all access to her childhood friends. In this society, there was no time for silly little things like friends and family.

On configuration day, which is really a testing of sorts to determine her final job placement she does better than expected and ends up with a great company as a programmer. She's always known she was great with technology but it's really not until she begins working at the company that she begins to realize just how technically inclined she really is.

Within a year Avlyn must pick a pairing, someone who the government feels will be genetically compatible with her and most likely to produce a level 2 or 3 child.

Avlyn begins to consider who she wants to marry out of suggestions sent to her by the government. She looks through her list and even meets up with one of her potential pairings. But as she begins to go through the process of becoming an official adult, she realizes just how hard it is to suppress her emotions and be the zombie the world wants her to be.

Configured doesn't really end in a cliffhanger but does lead you to want to pick up the second book in the series to find out what happens next.

The book has nearly 500 reviews, 70% of which are 5 star.