Monday 15 April 2013

ARC Review: Reboot by Amy Tintera



Reboot (Reboot, #1)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.

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.

10 comments:

  1. 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! :)

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    1. Thanks 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

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  2. I 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! :)

    Alyssa
    The Reader's Refuge

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    1. 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.

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  3. This 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!

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    1. Thanks 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.

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  4. This defo sounds interesting and I am enjoying more YA sci-fi lately!

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    1. It is definitely an intriguing concept, I am really enjoying YA Sci-Fi as well :-)

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  5. Yeah, 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!

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    1. Thanks 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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