Reboot by Amy Tintera
Series: Reboot #1
Published by HarperTeen on May 7, 2013
Pages: 365
Format: Hardcover
Buy on Amazon
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.

While the general plot of Reboot intrigued me, overall I felt let down and unsatisfied with this book. The characters were interesting, but not overly so. The pace was slow and, at some points, even came to a screeching halt. The last chapter, though, was enjoyable and left me eager to start book two.

As far as man characters go, Wren wasn’t a stand-out for me. In the beginning, especially, she was so detached from everything. I know she was supposed to be, because of how long she was dead. But it reflected in the tone of the writing. She (and the romance in this book, for that matter) was also very predictable; from early on, I knew that Callum would be the one to melt her icy heart and with that, she would become less detached. This became evident, especially, when she stopped referring to him as “Twenty-Two” and instead started using his real name. As far as character development goes, Wren had some but not enough, in my opinion. I wanted to see more from her by the end of the book. I’m still hoping to see more from her in book two.

I adored Callum. He was adorable, cute, sweet, kind, amazing… I could go on, so I’ll just stop here. But seriously, he was my favorite character in the book. Often, especially in YA, it’s the girl who finds out she’s got powers or a giant destiny or something like that. It’s the girl who is new and helpless to everything, who needs to learn to adapt. I kind of really liked the role-reversal in Reboot; it was Callum who was new and young, who needed to be told the rules and who fought against them. I found that to be unique and intriguing. Honestly, he’s the reason I kept reading and didn’t DNF this book. So I’m really excited that book two, Rebel, has his POV. I’m hoping that makes for a better book, honestly!

Normally when I read a book, there are at least a few secondary characters that stand out for me. Even though they don’t have a big role, there’s something about them that I like and I enjoy reading sections of the book with them. Unfortunately, there were only two stand-out characters in Reboot. One wasn’t in a lot of the book and the other met an… unfortunate fate. So I’m definitely hoping we meet more stand-out secondary characters in Rebel.

There’s a certain section in the book that I can’t discuss in detail, but I thought at that point in the book, things would pick up a lot. But if anything, the pace slowed dramatically at this point. I had so much trouble getting through the last 100 pages, I wanted to cry. I wanted to DNF. But I figured I only had 100 pages left and I loved Callum, so I kept going. The sad part is, the beginning of the book was amazing. The first chapter was dark and gritty and, immediately, I loved the Reboots and wanted to learn more about them and their back-story. I loved that this was a non-zombie back-from-the-dead book and I found myself intrigued by the plot. But, as I said, the second half of the book slowed to a crawl and it wasn’t until the last two chapters that things picked up again.

With that being said, the last two chapters were highly entertaining, especially the very last chapter. There was a lot of action and my heart was in my throat for a good portion of it. It absolutely left me dying for the second book. Overall, while I’m disappointed with book one, I’m eager for book two. I’m hoping Rebel doesn’t let me down the way Reboot did, especially with Callum’s POV to look forward to!