Perfect for those who enjoyed Divergent and Ender's Game, The Amplified Trilogy follows teenager Mari Quillen as she develops hidden strengths and explores a society where no one has to make any effort as long as they know the right thing to say. Includes The Amplified, The Dissenters, and The Restrainers.
The Amplified box set is a collection of three novels that follow Mari, who is 15 years old when the series begins. The Community is a dystopian world that is divided into the Regulars, the Amplified, and the Restrainers. Everyone is born as a Regular, but some can choose to become Amplified. Since this collection has the complete Amplified series, I am worried about giving away too much of the plot of each book away because, of course, the early books become the foundation of the later books. So I will just give her a brief description each below.
Amplified: In the first book of the series, Mari is not yet Amplified when it begins. When her Amplified older brother returns from duty, she is surprised--and not in a good way--about how he has changed since he has become Amplified. Still, though, she decides to go through the amplification process herself, which includes getting an implant as well as training. Amplification makes the recipients stronger, faster, and better able to attain and retain knowledge. But things are definitely not what they seem; as you might imagine, the government uses these devices for multiple nefarious purposes. In this book, I really enjoyed Mari’s character. Even though she is young, she seems to be one of the few who questions this system.
The Dissenters: In this installment, we learn more about the dissenters. Because of Mari’s unique abilities, she becomes in danger from her fellow Amplifieds who cannot resist obeying commands. What will Mari do to protect herself? Are there others who can help protect her?
The Restrainers: Knowing all that we know about Mari, it seems a surprise that she's now a Restrainer. But, of course, she has her own agenda. This installment is fast-paced--sometimes a little too much, as I would have liked to have seen some pivotal moments expanded more--and the ending came as a complete surprise, which is so abnormal in this genre.
If you enjoy books like the Divergent series, you will find this series to be quite similar. Mari is a strong heroine who thinks, so she is enjoyable to watch as she tries to figure out this dangerous system that she is a part of. She is multifaceted and becomes even more so as she matures, yet she is not without flaw. All of that is hard to create in one young character, but the author has done a remarkable job. Other people suffer in this society as well. The Community appreciates physical prowess to an extreme. People who are slow or overweight are censured, even if they are good people or do decent things. The series certainly gets you thinking about topics like peer pressure, accountability, personal responsibility, and societal conditioning.
Unfortunately, there were a few problems with grammar, punctuation, and usage. Sometimes wrong words were used like loose/lose consciousness. They were some spacing errors around quotation marks.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
I liked this. And I didn't. But mostly, it kept me wondering. It was something that grabbed my attention and made me think about it, trying to guess and predict where the author would take this. I wasn't surprised at the romance, but I probably raised my eyebrows when I realised how she'd twisted the- Oops, almost gave something away there. I enjoyed the characters, and I thought the world-building was pretty neat. The development of both was well done, the grammar was good, and the plot was pretty well developed. It wasn't a complicated book. It was simple, to the point, fast-paced, and easy to follow. Even though she did well in ending the first two books in mini-cliffhangers. -- Content: - implied teen pregnancy. like, generally implied and glossed over. talk of romance, and so on. some kissing. - violence was moderate. not overly bloody, but definitely some fun action. - language was n/a, as far as I remember.
I'm surprised there are so few reviews for this. As dystopian YA books go, it's up there with the good ones. If you liked Uglies, Unwind, Gender Game, Qualify etc, you'll probably like this. It doesn't drag on endlessly, the protagonist is tolerable and despite a couple of spelling errors is quite well written.
I just loved this series! In a futuristic technological age, a young girl's world is turned upside down when everything she thought she knew turns out to be a lie. Fighting a government who has ulterior motives, she discovers who those around her really are, as well as her true self. This "Big Brother" type of story is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent, 1984, and others. It encapsulates romance, action, technology and self-discovery all in one trilogy. I can't wait to see what Ms. Flauding comes up with next!!!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The author has clearly read The Giver, but not Strunk and White. It's its when it's a possessive and it's when it is the contraction of it is! Basic English. Her writing style is more like a high schooler in Creative Writing than a professional writer. Grammar and spelling errors abound and this book of a girl who doesn't know if she wants to be like everyone else and is in love with a renegade who pulls her into the revolution is, as I said, very much influenced by The Giver. The concept of the amplifier is interesting, but predictable and the Governor is the spitting personality of Donald Southerland in The Hunger Games. I wouldn't recommend it.
The Amplified Trilogy: The Amplified Books 1-3 by Lauren M. Flauding is an amazing box set that I have read.I loved reading this box set very much and the fact that my teenangers could read it with me is priceless. I highly recommend this box set to everyone who loves reading about Sci-Fi and sweet romances in their stories.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I liked the storyline. Sometimes the characters were one dimensional and just followed stereotypical norms, and cue the teenage angst, but ah well, a certain amount of that is to be expected in a YA novel, dystopian or not.
A lot like Divergent, but with enough differences to be its own unique story.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I enjoyed this dystopian story about Mari, a girl stuck in a world where being amplified seems to be everyone's dream. But nothing is simple.
There are secrets, lies and treachery, while heroes battle villains, the pursuit of power is the main theme.
There is plenty of action. Interesting characters set in an intriguing world make for an entertaining read. Despite the grammatical errors, it's well-written and fast-paced.
This is a review of book one only. Mari lives in a place where people aspire to become amplified. To be amplified you must be tested, trained, and implanted. These implants are supposed to enhance your abilities but also give you additional strengths. Some use it for the advancement of their people and others use it to advance themselves. Do you really control your own motivations or does someone higher up have their own agenda for these recruits?
I actually paid money for this book!!! Don't! The desriotion said it was a mix of a couple of my favorite books which it is I guess but its ridiculous in the way it describes people and their behavior and so many things even with it being a science fiction book are just unreasonable.
There are some familiar themes to this story. It is often something familiar that makes a good yarn. If we are comfortable with a concept, we can more easily focus on the adventure. Sometimes it's okay to just, kick back and relax and just enjoy a nice easy read and not be distracted with over complicated plots.
This set of three books grabbed me from the start and I couldn't wait to jump into the next book. The greatest thing was, I did not have to wait because I had this box set. A fabulous read with great characters, awesome storyline and compelling action.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I had quite high hopes for this book- but I felt that while the idea was really good, it could have been more fleshed out! The characters weren’t too bad, but some things could have been explained more or described better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Would like it if this one went to the silver screen as it would fit right in with the Insurgent and Hunger Games genre. I would go see it but not sure the world can handle another round of utopia.
It is a really interesting concept and the love interest developed well. The different ideas of perfection from the other Communities are quite concerning mirrors of humanity and their outcomes are a stark warning.
I could not put this book down and was really surprised when I finished it. A very good surprise. I highly recommend you to pick up this trilogy and read it. You will not be disappointed.