Review of Reboot by Amy Tintera
I am not the biggest fan of sci fi but love a good romance so decided to try this one. Here’s my Review of Reboot by Amy Tintera!
Reboot by Amy Tintera
Published on May 7, 2013 by HarperTeen
Source: e-ARC from the publisher
Plot Summary of Reboot by Amy Tintera:
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.
Now Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Her favorite part of her job as a soldier is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s seen.
Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are slow, he asks too many questions, and his smile is freaking her out. But there’s some thing about him.
When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line. If she fails, she has to eliminate him.
Wren has never disobeyed an order. If she does, she’ll be eliminated too. But she has never felt so alive as she does around Callum.
Review of Reboot by Amy Tintera
Originally published on YA Romantics on May 3, 2013.
As I was reading, I was wondering why on earth I requested Reboot. Scary-violent post-apocalyptic zombie stories are not exactly my thing. But, you know, it’s always important to keep an open mind.
And, guess what? I liked it!
Okay, first off: the Great Zombie Debate. My blogger pal Heather of Flyleaf Review tried to convince me that the reboots are “robotic.” Like a computer that is in sleep mode and then restarts. I say if a person is dead and then their corpse rises up and becomes the Animated Undead, that spells zombie. But we can agree to disagree about that part.
So … what did I like about Reboot? I liked Wren, who has to be the most ironically named YA character I’ve come across in a while. A wren is a little brown bird.
Wren 178 is a petite blonde bundle of scary. She’ll break your arm as easily as she says hello. The Reboots are all teenagers stricken by the KDH virus, which kills most of its victims, but causes some of them to reawaken after they die. They’re stronger, faster, able to heal quickly … and emotionally dead. They serve as soldiers for humans, an undead police force. They also train the new Reboots.
Enter Callum. He was only dead for 22 minutes before he rebooted, so he’s not as emotionally undead and, as a result, also a source of great exasperation to Wren. He’s goofy. Uncoordinated. Wisecracking. For reasons that escape Wren, she volunteers to train him.
I love the tough girl/sweet guy dynamic. I loved it in Velveteen by Daniel Marks. I loved it in This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen. And I love it here.
I thought the world building in Reboot was good — the extremely brutal conditions that the Reboots live under are especially well-portrayed. The plot got a little draggy toward the end and I began to sense a trilogy brewing. Rebootrelies for suspense on some mysterious injections that some of the lower-level Reboots are being given and the rumor of a group of Reboots living in freedom in a secret location. I’m getting a little weary of dystopian and/or post-apocalyptic books that have the protagonist join up with a group of “rebels” who are wandering around in the woods. I’ll take arm breaking over woods wandering any day…
That aside, I really enjoyed Reboot.Tough girls with a soft heart get me every single time. And Callum. He was all puppy eyes and a sense of humor. He cracked me up:
“You’re not going to break anything else, are you?” he asked.
“No. Not right now.”
“Oh, so later, then? Great. I’ll look forward to that.” He winced as he looked down at his arm.
I loved Wren, loved Callum and loved the way that he brings out human-like feelings in Wren that she thought were long dead. Reminds her of her lost humanity. Brings out all her protective instincts. This book has something for everyone. Flesh eating? Arm breaking? Hand holding? It’s ALL in here.
My favorite part of this book was the romance and I'm thinking it's because of that dynamic you mentioned. This Lullaby is my favorite Sarah Dessen and one of my favorite books of all time and although I didn't realize it until you mentioned it, it does remind me of this in the best way possible!
Glad you agree. I just love that relationship dynamic. I was trying to think of other examples. Maybe I'll do a post on that…
I am definitely not a zombie person but I think my vision of the reboots (from the synopsis)were kind of like how Heather described them. I really do want to read this one. Wren and Callum sound great!
I just started reading The 5th Wave yesterday and I see you are reading it too! 🙂
I'm not a zombie person either. I just like to give Heather a hard time. In truth, the Reboots are probably somewhere in between robotic and zombie…
Yep, I keep trying to read it and getting sidetracked by other books that have to be read first.
Great review hon! It's funny, I thought I had this from Edelweiss and was getting ready to start it last night and realized it was one that I passed on. Lol!! Oh well, I have so many other books to read that it's probably a good thing. I will eventually get this one probably.
This book is PERFECT for you!!
Arm breaking AND hand holding… be still my heart.
If you are into that kind of thing….
loved loved loved this book – so glad you enjoyed it. I loved Wren!! and of course Callum. *sigh* I loved how fearless he was with her when everyone else cowered… and how he shows her that her emotions didn't just die when she did… love!!!
thanks for the giveaway and wonderful review!!
xo
jaime
Your Goodreads review made me smile 🙂
I'm really looking forward to this one! I have an eARC though so I'm not entering to win. Hope you have a good weekend!
I think you will love it!
I don't really like zombies, but this one sounded really good when I originally added it to my Debut Author Challenge for this year. I'm so glad you liked it! I probably won't like the flesh-eating stuff, because I just don't, but the rest of it sounds fabulous! This is one I didn't get approved for too, so I'll have to get a hold of a copy sometime.
I was skeptical at first. The first couple chapters are pretty dark. Then the romance kicked in and I was hooked!
haha Your review made me laugh so hard. I LOVED that quote from the book! It makes me want to read it ASAP! And I don't even like zombie books!!! Well…I say that but…I've never actually read one. I did that with Hemlock "i hate vampire books" and then I totally fell in love! LOL Great review! 🙂
Callum is hilarious. And to me, the book really needs that comic relief….
"Scary-violent post-apocalyptic zombie stories" Definitely my thing. If you love this despite not being a fan of the genre, then I'd probably love it too. This book sounds so interesting, I love the way you describe the characters and I can't resist goofy guys in YA. There needs to be more of tough girl/sweet guy dynamic.
It will definitely appeal to people who love that scary stuff too…
Thanks for the linkage, chica:)
Ok: I know she is a zombie, I mean yes, she definitely fits the description. She rose from the dead. She thinks she smells dead (which, according to other characters is debatable.) But the whole loss of humanity/ loss of emotions thing always made me think ROBOT. Or, like, Spock-ish— (WOO HOO, letting that sci-fi fan freak flag fly!) Or like, artificial life. Maybe artificial life after death?? Anyway….
And the name Wren? I think I have read no less then THREE books recently where the MC is named Wren! Isn't that weird? But yes, this Wren is totally a bundle of scary!
This is the first dystopian/ post apoc. books I have read in a while that totally didn't make me roll my eyes as I read. I'm looking forward to the sequel!
Sorry to give you a hard time. From the cover and the title, I was totally expecting a Terminator kind of thing too. Then I was reading and felt like I'd been tricked!!! I'm firmly anti-zombie. But I really liked it!
Haha, " Scary-violent post-apocalyptic zombie stories are SO not my thing" Take out the word not and this could have come out of my mouth. 🙂 BTW, I totally agree with you, I read the reboots as zombies, not robots. (TEAM ZOMBIE 4 LIFE.)
I love the tough girl/sweet guy combo too (and I also loved it in Velveteen!). I really enjoyed this book, and am glad to hear you did as well, even though it's outside your normal reading wheelhouse. Great review!
Okay, all you people on Team Zombie can go stand way … over … there. Where I can keep an eye on you…
This sounds really good! I am totally on Team Zombie. 😀 I just finished reading The Immortal Rules and The Eternity Cure (which I see you have on your shelf now) and the 'rabids' are like vampire-zombies. Spooky stuff right there.
Sabrina @iheartyafiction
If you liked those books, you'll like this *shudders*
I thought this was more about robots based on the title, so I wasn't at all interested. But it's about zombies?? Sign me up. It's been awhile since I read a good zombie book. Well, except that I just started Mira Grant's Feed on audio today. But before that, it had been awhile. ;0) Also, you've reminded me that I still need to finish Velveteen.
Nope, even though the title seems to suggest that…
I'm a little wary about reading this book after hearing that there's such a focus on the romance. But the world-building does sound fantastic, and I also like it when the female is the tougher character. I hope I have as positive an experience reading this book as you seemed to!
It wasn't that this book was super-romance-y– their relationship doesn't even progress that far — but her caring for Callum was what made her feel like less of a monster…
I'm excited to read this now. My indie store just pass this on to me. WOOHOO