What do you think?
Known Order Girls
Do you ask for permission or forgiveness?
Katherine Webb lives in the Known Order, where sentient AI controls every decision. Unwilling to accept the status quo, she embarks on a journey of defiance and disobedience. She must confront the shadowy elite behind the technology that dominates her existence.
Guided by her fellow rebels, she plots to infiltrate the all-knowing computer, dismantle authority, and bring the oligarchy to its knees.
Katherine Webb lives in the Known Order, where sentient AI controls every decision. Unwilling to accept the status quo, she embarks on a journey of defiance and disobedience. She must confront the shadowy elite behind the technology that dominates her existence.
Guided by her fellow rebels, she plots to infiltrate the all-knowing computer, dismantle authority, and bring the oligarchy to its knees.
301 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 30, 2024
About the author
Andrew Butters
8 books20 followersAndrew Butters opposes every aspect of GenAI and does not use it for any part of his process or in the production of his work.
He’ll say his first published work was Losing Vern as part of the Orange Karen: A Tribute to a Warrior anthology. In reality, it was a 500-word anecdote about the time he lit himself on fire in the third installment of the Darwin Awards books, and was the catalyst for writing Near Death by a Thousand Cuts.
For a minute, he had screen time on the Super Dave Osborne Show and even performed a trick on stage with Penn & Teller. He scored a goal at Maple Leaf Gardens and did an art swap with filmmaker Kevin Smith. A TV commercial gave him three seconds of non-speaking airtime, and don’t forget his appearance as a fighting unhoused person in a hip-hop video.
He writes, creates, snacks, and is a fan of golf, science, equality, and the Oxford comma. Andrew sometimes lets his love of attention override common sense. You can find evidence of this anywhere you find him.
He’ll say his first published work was Losing Vern as part of the Orange Karen: A Tribute to a Warrior anthology. In reality, it was a 500-word anecdote about the time he lit himself on fire in the third installment of the Darwin Awards books, and was the catalyst for writing Near Death by a Thousand Cuts.
For a minute, he had screen time on the Super Dave Osborne Show and even performed a trick on stage with Penn & Teller. He scored a goal at Maple Leaf Gardens and did an art swap with filmmaker Kevin Smith. A TV commercial gave him three seconds of non-speaking airtime, and don’t forget his appearance as a fighting unhoused person in a hip-hop video.
He writes, creates, snacks, and is a fan of golf, science, equality, and the Oxford comma. Andrew sometimes lets his love of attention override common sense. You can find evidence of this anywhere you find him.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 20, 2024
Picture a perfect world.
Global warming, poverty, starvation, unemployment, and acts of overt aggression—all relegated to a nearly unimaginable and distant past. Welcome to the Known Order, where everyone’s needs are satisfactorily met, and no one need worry about pesky things such as career choice or other troublesome thoughts. Commander will take care of all of that for you. All you need to do is follow the rules—the most important of which is to wear your Personal Multipurpose Interaction Device (PMID) as required—and all will be right with the world!
The story begins innocently enough with fifteen-year-old Katherine Webb enjoying some outdoor time while watching her five-year-old brother, Chadwick, as he renders impressive chalk drawings on their driveway, a small act of self-expression deemed tolerable by Commander. It’s an afternoon spent like any other, waiting for their parents to return from their respective jobs so they can eat dinner and enjoy the rest of the evening as the happy family unit they are. Everything is just fine until the next afternoon, when Katherine inadvertently smudges one of the drawings, prompting Commander to mandate its immediate removal. In her haste to comply, Katherine forgets to wear her PMID while outside, triggering her first official encounter with a Commander Compliance Coordinator—or MCC, for short. MCCs are the enforcement arm of The Association, called to investigate any potential violations of the Known Order, and meeting one isn’t on anyone’s bucket list. While the incident triggers little more than a slap on the wrist, it plants a seed of discontent in young Katherine’s mind, and in such fertile environments, what do seeds do best?
They grow.
Butters seamlessly transports us into the not-too-distant future, where we immediately become invested in his young heroine’s deepening plight. Katherine’s curiosity is a natural human instinct that has largely been tamped down within the general populace by an Association that has zero tolerance for thinking outside their artificially intelligent box, and despite their claims of equality for all, Katherine and her small group of trusted friends slowly begin to doubt the veracity of that winsome claim. Threatened by the increasing likelihood of spending the rest of her days in solitary confinement, Katherine sets out to upend the establishment and return choice and free thought to the people of our world.
It only takes one match to start a fire.
Riveting, provocative, and scarily plausible, I was invested from the beginning and given puh-lenty to think about long after the surprising but inevitable conclusion. Who would have thought that a guy with such a whimsical biography could pack such a knockout punch? I can easily see this as assigned reading for young academics. And he’s purportedly working on a sequel…
Yes, please.
Global warming, poverty, starvation, unemployment, and acts of overt aggression—all relegated to a nearly unimaginable and distant past. Welcome to the Known Order, where everyone’s needs are satisfactorily met, and no one need worry about pesky things such as career choice or other troublesome thoughts. Commander will take care of all of that for you. All you need to do is follow the rules—the most important of which is to wear your Personal Multipurpose Interaction Device (PMID) as required—and all will be right with the world!
The story begins innocently enough with fifteen-year-old Katherine Webb enjoying some outdoor time while watching her five-year-old brother, Chadwick, as he renders impressive chalk drawings on their driveway, a small act of self-expression deemed tolerable by Commander. It’s an afternoon spent like any other, waiting for their parents to return from their respective jobs so they can eat dinner and enjoy the rest of the evening as the happy family unit they are. Everything is just fine until the next afternoon, when Katherine inadvertently smudges one of the drawings, prompting Commander to mandate its immediate removal. In her haste to comply, Katherine forgets to wear her PMID while outside, triggering her first official encounter with a Commander Compliance Coordinator—or MCC, for short. MCCs are the enforcement arm of The Association, called to investigate any potential violations of the Known Order, and meeting one isn’t on anyone’s bucket list. While the incident triggers little more than a slap on the wrist, it plants a seed of discontent in young Katherine’s mind, and in such fertile environments, what do seeds do best?
They grow.
Butters seamlessly transports us into the not-too-distant future, where we immediately become invested in his young heroine’s deepening plight. Katherine’s curiosity is a natural human instinct that has largely been tamped down within the general populace by an Association that has zero tolerance for thinking outside their artificially intelligent box, and despite their claims of equality for all, Katherine and her small group of trusted friends slowly begin to doubt the veracity of that winsome claim. Threatened by the increasing likelihood of spending the rest of her days in solitary confinement, Katherine sets out to upend the establishment and return choice and free thought to the people of our world.
It only takes one match to start a fire.
Riveting, provocative, and scarily plausible, I was invested from the beginning and given puh-lenty to think about long after the surprising but inevitable conclusion. Who would have thought that a guy with such a whimsical biography could pack such a knockout punch? I can easily see this as assigned reading for young academics. And he’s purportedly working on a sequel…
Yes, please.
June 30, 2024
This story reminded me of 1984, but creepier!
Commander, a super-intelligent AI is not only watching, he’s all but sleeping in your bed and sharing your shower as every aspect of human life is monitored and controlled by the Association, a faceless body of men (and perhaps women) behind the Known Order. Every decision, however small, has to be confirmed by Commander. Nuts, eh? That is life under the Known Order and everyone accepts that that is how it is, because Commander knows best.
When Katherine Webb, a 17 year-old student finds a piece of paper hidden behind the paper dispenser in the community green space’s bathroom facilities, she manages to wiggle it out of its hiding place and takes it home to look at in private. What she finds sparks the rebellious spirit deep inside her.
Thus begins a deadly game of cat and mouse between Katherine Webb and the Association behind the Known Order. Sometimes, she is the mouse, but mostly, she is the cat. I really liked Katherine, because she never gives up, no matter what it thrown at her.
What makes this story creepier than 1984? 1984 was written in 1949, and George Orwell had to draw on his vast imagination to invent machines and computerized spy networks to write what is basically a horrific version of Romeo and Juliette. Known Order Girls draws on technology that already exists and which is growing all the time. Global warming is an actuality, as is global unrest and the threat of wars that could wipe out a large part of humanity. All these are close to our everyday lives, realities we can understand and fear. A must read!
Commander, a super-intelligent AI is not only watching, he’s all but sleeping in your bed and sharing your shower as every aspect of human life is monitored and controlled by the Association, a faceless body of men (and perhaps women) behind the Known Order. Every decision, however small, has to be confirmed by Commander. Nuts, eh? That is life under the Known Order and everyone accepts that that is how it is, because Commander knows best.
When Katherine Webb, a 17 year-old student finds a piece of paper hidden behind the paper dispenser in the community green space’s bathroom facilities, she manages to wiggle it out of its hiding place and takes it home to look at in private. What she finds sparks the rebellious spirit deep inside her.
Thus begins a deadly game of cat and mouse between Katherine Webb and the Association behind the Known Order. Sometimes, she is the mouse, but mostly, she is the cat. I really liked Katherine, because she never gives up, no matter what it thrown at her.
What makes this story creepier than 1984? 1984 was written in 1949, and George Orwell had to draw on his vast imagination to invent machines and computerized spy networks to write what is basically a horrific version of Romeo and Juliette. Known Order Girls draws on technology that already exists and which is growing all the time. Global warming is an actuality, as is global unrest and the threat of wars that could wipe out a large part of humanity. All these are close to our everyday lives, realities we can understand and fear. A must read!
December 24, 2024
Known Order Girls is a futuristic dystopian read about a young woman who lives and questions the Known Order – sentient AI that controls all decisions as a way to keep society an orderly society for the good of all. The people are taught from a young age the reason the Known Order is needed, and few question who/what/why of it all. The main protagonist is an intelligent teenage girl, Katherine Webb, who, with the support of her parents, starts to question and defy the leadership behind the technology that is controlling her world. This is a fascinating read that is difficult to put down.
The author, Andrew Butters, is a talented indie writer who can't be put into a single category or genre of writing. His works includes a heartfelt memoir, a humorous memoir, a wonderful short story, and more. I have read all but one of his books, and Known Order Girls is my favorite. I look forward to reading more.
The author, Andrew Butters, is a talented indie writer who can't be put into a single category or genre of writing. His works includes a heartfelt memoir, a humorous memoir, a wonderful short story, and more. I have read all but one of his books, and Known Order Girls is my favorite. I look forward to reading more.
May 29, 2024
I was fortunate enough to get a beta copy of this and loved it so much I read it in two sittings.
Why not one sitting? I have three kids under 10 and life's hard sometimes. Don't be so judgy.
It's one of the better sci-fi books that I've read in awhile with a protagonist is charismatic and you get the sense that she's up to no good pretty early on. There are some veiled references to current events in a book that takes place far in the future, but not implausible or over done.
The target audience is probably YA and kudos to the author for managing to write YA without a Mary Sue syndrome. Things don't wind up great for the protagonist, though I guess you could call it all a happy ending.
Why not one sitting? I have three kids under 10 and life's hard sometimes. Don't be so judgy.
It's one of the better sci-fi books that I've read in awhile with a protagonist is charismatic and you get the sense that she's up to no good pretty early on. There are some veiled references to current events in a book that takes place far in the future, but not implausible or over done.
The target audience is probably YA and kudos to the author for managing to write YA without a Mary Sue syndrome. Things don't wind up great for the protagonist, though I guess you could call it all a happy ending.
February 1, 2026
I had a hard time following the technical bits - don't as me how a PMID works lol. But the human side, I had no trouble with at all. Katherine is a fully fleshed out character, as are most of the supporting characters as well. I really liked Katherine and was rooting for her all the way through. I honestly didn't know how the revolution was going to come about. The author did a great job keeping his cards to his chest, and the ending caught me by surprise, as all good plot twists should. I would recommend Known Order Girls to anyone who enjoys far-future speculative fiction and strong female protagonists.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 25, 2024
Unexpected and thought provoking
I went into this book not knowing what it was about and still I was immediately hooked.
Katherine Webb is a smart girl from a smart family. In a dystopian world, reminiscent of Stepford, Kate finds something that opens her eyes to the inequality in the world around her. Soon, with the help of her friends, she starts a journey of dissent that will either lead to a life of confinement or true freedom.
I loved both the premise of this novel and its characters. I can’t wait for the sequel!
I went into this book not knowing what it was about and still I was immediately hooked.
Katherine Webb is a smart girl from a smart family. In a dystopian world, reminiscent of Stepford, Kate finds something that opens her eyes to the inequality in the world around her. Soon, with the help of her friends, she starts a journey of dissent that will either lead to a life of confinement or true freedom.
I loved both the premise of this novel and its characters. I can’t wait for the sequel!
October 1, 2024
I am a sucker for books with girls who buck the system! Katherine lives in a dystopian world where individuality is forbidden. If you know teenage girls, as I think this author does, then you know that won't fly. It was a great read, traveling along with the story as Katherine and her cohorts make their way. No spoilers here, but if you liked The Giver, 1984, Hunger Games.. you get it, and you should read it! You won't be sorry!
May 21, 2024
This book is a really extraordinary read. You'll never meet a main character you so deeply want to succeed as Katherine Webb, the protagonist of this story. I won't spoil it other than to say you seriously want this novel on your TBR list, and prepare to be picked up by your heart and swung around a few times.
June 20, 2024
I was highly anticipating Andrew Butters’ newest book and I was not disappointed. This is a great read - thought provoking and timely. Compelling plot and characters. I thoroughly enjoyed Known Order Girls!
August 24, 2024
This dystopian sci fi held me from cover to cover, and truly surprised me with an emotional ending. I’m going to pass it to my 11 year old next - it’s time she learns how to fight for the future we deserve.
May 21, 2024
This story about Katherine is one every woman should read. It’s entertaining and inspiring. I love it!
April 20, 2026
A quick and fun read with an unexpected twist at the end! The whole book has you wondering, what is Katherine Webb going to do?? Would be a great YA read as well.
May 21, 2024
In a future so far away yet so close, the perfect world has been designed so that no one can make mistakes that will affect civilization.
Is that a good thing?
Only if you want every single aspect of your life being dictated by a super computer program.
A young girl decides to step up and bring trouble to the brave new world.
I was carried away by this story from page one, and had to reluctantly let go of it because life got in the way. Beautifully written, to the point, with characters you'd want to count as your friends.
Still reeling from this tornado of a book. May need to read it over just to take it all in with a cooler set of nerves.
Is that a good thing?
Only if you want every single aspect of your life being dictated by a super computer program.
A young girl decides to step up and bring trouble to the brave new world.
I was carried away by this story from page one, and had to reluctantly let go of it because life got in the way. Beautifully written, to the point, with characters you'd want to count as your friends.
Still reeling from this tornado of a book. May need to read it over just to take it all in with a cooler set of nerves.
October 8, 2024
An indie dystopian fiction that’s medium-paced, adventurous, and mysterious. About a group of teenagers living in an AI-controlled world that decide to buck the system.
April 2, 2025
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a page turner. A good read in today's political climate, to keep you thinking. I loved the rise of feminine power and resistance. The cleverness of hiding an encrypted message in an artistic drawing to keep the message going is a wonderful idea.
I adored Katherines parents and their support for her rebellions. I wish they had more involvement and that she didn't hide too much from her parents. However, I understand the character's thought process in her doing so.
Overall a good read, highly recommend it.
I adored Katherines parents and their support for her rebellions. I wish they had more involvement and that she didn't hide too much from her parents. However, I understand the character's thought process in her doing so.
Overall a good read, highly recommend it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews