Author: Amy Tintera
Series: Reboot
Pages: 352
Genre: Young
Adult – Sc-Fi
Publisher: Harper Teen
Amazon pre-order: Reboot
Release Date: 7th May 2013
Synopsis. (Goodreads)
Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the
chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to
heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are
when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas.
Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement
and Repopulation Corporation).
Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet there’s something about him she can’t ignore. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line—or she’ll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows if she does, she’ll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.
The perfect soldier is done taking orders.
Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet there’s something about him she can’t ignore. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line—or she’ll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows if she does, she’ll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.
The perfect soldier is done taking orders.
Review: 3 out of 5 stars
Reboot is Amy
Tintera’s debut novel and was kindly provided to me by Harper Teen/Edelweiss in
exchange for my honest review.
Seventeen
year-old Wren Connolly was dead for 178 minutes after being shot in the chest at the age
of twelve before coming back as a Reboot; with limited emotions and enhanced
abilities she is now the property of a government agency known as HARC.
Wren wasn’t a
character I immediately connected with, she was feared by other reboots because
of the amount of time she remained dead and had lost part of her humanity
as a result; but I think with the life she held as a human it didn’t seem any
different, her emotions were lacking but she still ‘felt’, especially with the arrival of newcomer Callum.
Callum had
only been dead for twenty-two minutes before becoming a reboot so his survival
rate was quite low, we are often told about his beaming smile which was
completely not the norm, he was adorable and had retained a lot of his humanity
and often questioned his orders now he was a reboot, his abilities
weren’t as enhanced as the others, he lacked the speed and strength needed for
certain tasks so a target had more or less been painted on his head and it was
up to Wren to train him, a hard task with that constant smile and his knack for
making her feel things she shouldn’t be feeling.
The romance
was sweet and was definitely a focal point, we get Wren who was quite cold and distant and Callum who was touchy feely with great charm and charisma – they were
complete opposites but I felt Wren progressed from the emotionless character we meet
in the beginning to someone I quite liked.
The plot was interesting
and flowed well but there were a few aspects I still questioned; despite the initial reboot and character information dump, I found parts of the background history were lacking, I needed to know more about the world
they were living in, the KDH virus & why it only affects a certain few; we
are given tidbits but nothing concrete about their scientific purpose for
actually being - I find with sci-fi & dystopians I need more information about how everything came to be to fully grasp the world they are now living in so I hope we get more in the next book.
The mystery
surrounding HARC and the humans/reboots is something I am keen to also learn more
about in the next installment, we see a few things happen to other reboots,
including Wren’s only friend, Ever so I am curious to learn more about what is
going on.
Overall, if
you are after a story with character progression, ongoing action, enjoyable
writing and an intriguing plot then you would quite enjoy Reboot.
Thank-you to
Harper Teen for the opportunity to read and review Reboot.
I'm sorry Reboot was a little disappointing! The concept sounds really truly fantastic though; I'm glad the romance worked out! However, I'm wary now that you say there's an info-dump, but the world/building is still lacking. :( I'll still be checking this book out just because of curiosity, but thanks for the lovely review! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Jen, It was a wonderful concept and an entertaining read I just needed to have more of a connection to the overall story and the purpose of it all. I hope you enjoy it when you read it, I can't wait to see what you think x
DeleteI prefer to have a lot of backstory in my sci-fi as well, though I dislike the information dump tactic. It's more interesting when it's woven throughout the story, I think. This sounds like an entertaining read, though I'll probably wait to see what the sequel's about. Thanks for the review! :)
ReplyDeleteAlyssa
The Reader's Refuge
Thanks Alyssa, I need a back-story to know how the world came to be so I hope this is further developed in the sequel.
DeleteThis is one that I'm really looking forward to reading. I don't like the sound of the information dump but I am glad that Wren develops over the course of the book. I'm really interested to see how I'll respond to her now. Great review!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle, I look forward to seeing what you think. In some instances I don't mind an info dump when its out of necessity in explaning certain aspects but in this case it all seemed to come at me all at once.
DeleteThis defo sounds interesting and I am enjoying more YA sci-fi lately!
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely an intriguing concept, I am really enjoying YA Sci-Fi as well :-)
DeleteYeah, this was a middle-of-the-road review for me too, Sharon. I didn't connect with Wren or Callum, though I did LIKE them both. And I felt like we weren't given enough information about the world, the virus, its origins, etc. Other than the information we got at first, which was it, I think I was hoping for more world-building. Glad you enjoyed it though!
ReplyDeleteThanks Molli, I needed 'more' so I hope it is given in the sequel. Sorry you didn't have a connection with the MCs, I felt disconnected from Wren initially but I warmed to her as the book progressed, I did like Callum though.
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