Review: Reboot by Amy Tintera

Reboot

Author: Amy Tintera
Series: Reboot, Book One
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian/Science Fiction
Format: Hardcover, 365 pages
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Source: Mid-Columbia Libraries

Synopsis from 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.

My Review:

I had heard so many good things about this book and I was so excited when I picked it up to start reading. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it. I did. I thought the plot was interesting and the characters were likeable, but I just wasn’t thrilled with it as a whole. I think it was because it started off kind of slow for me. We learn about the Reboots and that they have super human strength and are nearly invincible. The HARC uses them to capture criminals. There was quite a bit of action in this book, but none of the action scenes had me on the edge of my seat. I just didn’t feel as though I were a part of it. I like to get completely lost in the books I read, so much so, that I feel like I am right there with the characters and this one just didn’t do that for me. I did, however, really enjoy the characters.

Wren, the main character has the highest number of all other Reboots at 178. This means that she was dead for 178 minutes before she “rebooted”. The longer you are dead, the less human emotion you retain when you come back. I loved seeing Wren reclaim her humanity throughout this book. At the beginning she sees herself as unfeeling, completely stripped of all emotion, but as the story goes on she begins to realize that she does still feel. I think that by the end she has sort of accepted this, but still struggles with it. She had lived without emotion for five years and it was hard for her to deal with it all coming back.

Callum, number 22, on the other hand still has all his human emotion. Callum was funny and absolutely adorable. I thought of him like a puppy dog. He really shows Wren how to feel. It’s ironic because Wren is training him, but I think in the end, she learns more from him.

Something that I didn’t like: so these people come back from the dead and everyone’s natural thought is zombies. Which this book is not at all. But then some of the Reboots started going crazy and tried to eat humans.  I was disappointed. This wasn’t supposed to be a zombie book and I just thought it was stereotypical and kind of lame.

Overall, this book was okay for me. My favorite part was the characters. They were genuine and real (although the romance was kind of cheesy). The concept was extremely interesting, I just don’t think it was properly executed. It had tons of action, but it just didn’t seem real to me. I just couldn’t seem to connect with this one. But that could just be my opinion. Different books work for different people. Happy reading all!   

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