Review: Reboot by Amy Tintera

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on May 6, 2013 | 11 Comments


Review: Reboot by Amy TinteraReboot by Amy Tintera
Series: Reboot #1
Published by HarperTeen (5.7.2013)
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Format: eARC, 352 pages
Source: Edelweiss
Buy on Amazon


4 Stars

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.

My thoughts

I must say my favorite part about this book was the world building. The idea was brilliant! I mean seriously, just read that synopsis. It was just as awesome as it sounds! I find the whole concept simply fascinating, and I have to give major kudos to Amy Tintera for coming up with such a fresh and original idea. It’s definitely unlike anything I’ve ever seen or read before.

But – at the same time, I would have liked to know more about the world building. Who exactly is HARC? When were they created? Why? They were kind of just a faceless enemy. Same with the KDH virus. What caused it? How does it work? All we got is that most people die from it and it causes some to Reboot. And why can’t adults reboot? ‘I think we (kids) adapt better’ isn’t a good enough explanation for me. The ability of adaptation depends on the individual. I find the world intriguing and I wanted to know much, much more!

This book was pretty much a zombie book without actually claiming itself as one, or using the term zombie. And I actually liked it. That’s a great accomplishment! (I usually don’t care for zombie stories. Maybe just because it tricked me by not stating that they were zombies? Hmm…) Yet, on further thought…maybe it was more of vampires than zombies? A few times Wren made off-handed comments about her ‘dead flesh,’ so they were undead, but this line:

After death, when the virus took hold and he body rebooted, the skin cleared, the body sharpened, the eyes glowed. It was like pretty with a hint of deranged.

Sounds more like vamps, right? They weren’t decaying like zombies. But – the only way to kill one was to destroy the brain. Hmmm. Something to ponder, I suppose!

The pacing was fast and kept me interested! Not to mention that the first line in the book is ‘They always screamed.’ That’s an attention grabber right there! Right from the first sentence I thought to myself, Ooohhh, this is going to be good! 
And good it was! I really liked it, but for some reason it lost some of its magic for me in the last half. I don’t know what happened! I was still enjoying it, but I wasn’t all Yeah! This is awesome! like I was in the first half. It’s probably just me being a picky ass, baha.

I didn’t connect to the characters quite as much as I’d hoped, but I did like Wren and Callum. Wren was a badass! Her number was 178 – which is the highest known Reboot. She was supposed to be emotionless, but she still felt emotion. She considered herself a bit of a robot, but as the reader I could see some emotion leaking through in moments, even if she didn’t realize what it was.
The romance was sweet. I like that Wren tried to brush Callum off at first. But his easy-going, undeterred personality was hard to resist for too long!

That ending! Gah! It’s like the end of A Million Suns. How can you leave us like that, Amy?! I’m very curious to see where the next book takes us and what’s in store for Wren and Callum!

quotes

“They’re terrified of us.”
“They should be.”

Overall Assessment

Plot: 4/5
Writing style: 4/5
Originality: 5/5
Characters: 3.5/5
World-building: 4.5/5
Pace: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Overall rating: 4/5

Jessi (Geo)

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11 responses to “Review: Reboot by Amy Tintera

  1. OMG I totally agree about the ending! It was INSANE O_O I loved it! Ahh! I’m so happy you loved this book too! It seems like people either really enjoy it or aren’t crazy about it. I’m glad you’re one of the ones who enjoyed it!! *hugs*

  2. This one was on my Waiting on Wednesday not too long ago, but I haven’t gotten to read it yet. The reviews that are coming in for it really get me excited! Especially since I’ve heard you say that you don’t normally like the same books that other people do :D You have me looking even more forward to this one. Great review! Jaclyn @ JC’s Book Haven.

  3. You’ve got me super intrigued with this book! I’m excited! Maybe they’re a mix between vamp and zombie? Like the author threw in the lore about both of them and created something new? I love world building and this sounds like a really interesting read. Fantastic review!
    Cheers!

  4. Fantastic review, Jessi! I’m so glad you loved the world-building. I can see where you might’ve wanted more world-building and would have wanted to connect more with the characters, but I’m glad that the pacing was really great and the zombie/vamp idea :)

    I’m glad you enjoyed this one! I may need to hunt this one down in the future :)

  5. EEK! I just got it in the mail the other day and I AM SO PUMPED TO READ IT! A bit of a zombie book? We shall see… But I’m glad you enjoyed the world building despite the unanswered questions, those are always a bummer. :/

    Great review, Jessi! <3

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