Reboot | Amy Tintera | Book Review

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Reboot | Amy Tintera | Book ReviewReboot by Amy Tintera
Series: Reboot #1
Published by Harper Collins on May 7th 2013
Genres: Young Adult, Action & Adventure, General, Science Fiction, Love & Romance
Pages: 400
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four-stars

In this fast-paced dystopian thrill ride, perfect for fans of The Hunger Games, Legend, and Divergent, a seventeen-year-old girl returns from death as a Reboot and is trained as an elite crime-fighting soldier . . . until she is given an order she refuses to obey.
Wren Connolly died five years ago, only to Reboot after 178 minutes. Now she is one of the deadliest Reboots around . . . unlike her newest trainee, Callum 22, who is practically still human. As Wren tries to teach Callum how to be a soldier, his hopeful smile works its way past her defenses. Unfortunately, Callum’s big heart also makes him a liability, and Wren is ordered to eliminate him. To save Callum, Wren will have to risk it all.
Wren’s captivating voice and unlikely romance with Callum will keep readers glued to the page in Amy Tintera’s high-stakes alternate reality.

Y’all, I am totally surprised at how much I enjoyed Reboot by Amy Tintera and the rate at which I devoured it. Seriously, I read it in like 3 days which is pretty good for a 360ish page book (note: I also tend to read multiple books at a time). I found myself really into the swoonworthy relationship within Reboot, y’all Callum and Wren are the deal and OMG who does not love it when the girl is stronger than the boy? Seriously, I love it when the female is the alpha of the relationship, which is basically what happens in Reboot.

Wren is a reboot, meaning that she has died and come back to life. She was dead for 178 minutes before she rebooted, which in the context of Tintera’s Reboot means that Wren is less human than all of the other reboots. Wren is content with her lot in life, being a reboot means she has shelter, clothing, and is fed regularly. Her life pre-reboot certainly was not that good – she lived in the slums with drug addict parents and experienced food uncertainty. In exchange for being fed, the reboots work for HARC, a sort of government organization. Reboots are a bit like soldiers, so they conduct missions to catch people that HARC deems to be criminals. Wren never questions this and has quite a bit of blood on her hands. With the arrival of Callum, or Twenty-Two, Wren’s outlook starts to take a change and she begins to wonder if she actually has retained some of her humanity after all.

Tintera really did well at character development in Reboot. Wren is a dynamic character, who goes from being a bit of a cyborg with no emotions to allowing herself to genuinely feel things. As a reader, getting Wren’s backstory in small tidbits and very, very brief flashbacks made me much more engaged in the story. It also helped me to understand why Wren is the way she is, besides her high number. Also, although Wren is incredibly strong and a fierce fighter, she is still vulnerable about some things, like her looks.

The world within Reboot is a tad bit confusing. You see, all that seems to be left of the United States is Texas. Texas is then divided into little city-states with Austin being the capitol. A virus has spread through the US, called KDH and it causes people to reboot after death. Adults who reboot turn dangerous, so they are immediately killed. However, when children and teenagers reboot, they are used as weapons and a means of control. There are also very wide income gaps in Tintera’s world, where the rich are called rico and live in walled areas. The poor all live in slums. Food is very scarce. However, there are the whisperings of a rebellion against HARC which starts to take seed in Wren’s mind.

If you read young adult for the romance, Reboot by Amy Tintera certainly will not disappoint you. There is neither instalove nor a love triangle within this young adult debut. The relationship between Wren and Callum unfolds at a logical pace and begins with attraction, but not love. It takes Wren a bit of time to acknowledge and realize that she has feelings for him. Although Callum is a very low number and a lot more human than Wren, their attraction makes sense. He makes her laugh, he listens to her, and he genuinely is not afraid of Wren like everyone else. Also, there is totally some kissing in Reboot, so if you enjoy that chances are you will love this book.

Tintera’s debut dystopian is a very quick read with short chapters. At first, the world she built is a bit confusing, but within 50 pages you will be able to understand what is going on and the world that you have been thrown into. If you are a fan of books about teenage rebellion, love stories and dystopian societies, you should definitely give Reboot by Amy Tintera a shot.

Disclosure: Received for review via Amazon Vine

Other reviews of Reboot by Amy Tintera:

The Flyleaf Review – “I can honestly say that I had no issues with the romance.
A Girl, A Book, And Other Things – “Is it perfect? not really, but it’s not bad
Hobbitsies – “a solid and enjoyable story

four-stars
The following two tabs change content below.
April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.
About April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

Comments

  1. SOUNDS SO COOL. Thanks for the recommendation !

  2. I keep hearing nothing but fantastic things about Reboot!! I suppose I really need to break down and actually read it – because I love Contemp YA, I always love the “Future US” worlds… although I have a serious Love/Hate relationship with Texas…

    Ok, I’ve rambled enough! I need to go get my hands on this book!

    -Jac @ For Love and Books

  3. For me, the romance was the best part of this book: I loved how Callum wore down Wren’s defenses. It just made me swoon!

  4. Great review! I’m glad that you liked it. I loved Reboot. I thought it was an interesting concept and that Wren was such a kick-ass character. If you’re interested, here’s my review of Reboot. 🙂

  5. I LOVED Wren! She was fantastic! And Callum…so cute (though I wasn’t the biggest fan of their romance). I enjoyed this book so much more than I thought I would, too.

  6. I think this is one of the first reviews I’ve seen for this book that’s been pretty positive! Most of the reviews I’ve read – although I haven’t read many – have seemed pretty disappointed with this one. Glad to see you weren’t! I may have to give this one a try now! 🙂

  7. I am so excited for this one. I feel like it’s flown under the radar a little, but everything I’ve heard so far has been pretty good.

  8. I LOVE it when the girl is stronger than the boy! And swoonworthy romance? That sounds awesome. It’s been a while since I read a book that had romance worth swooning over. The concept sounds fabulous as well. Great review 🙂

  9. Thanks so much for the very thorough review! I have been eager to get my hands on this one! The premise sounds so unique and intriguing, I’m definitely very interested. So glad to learn that there isn’t “instalove” or a love triangle. I’m so burnt out on both of those in YA stories. I think not having that makes the novel a bit more realistic. Because really, I’ve never once been involved in a love triangle and don’t know anyone who has. I also like the fact that the author gives you snippets of Wren’s past life. I think it adds so much more to the story. I can’t wait to read this!

  10. I’m definitely planning to read this as soon as I get my hands on a copy. It seems that generally poeple have been enjoying it, and I love that there isn’t insta-love or a love-triangle (blech). So excited to read this! Great review

  11. I do think one of the (many) reasons I loved Graceling so much had to do with the unconventional relationship between Katsa and Po, where she is physically his superior. I just love going against the traditional assumption that males are automatically the stronger ones. So that knowledge has been a huge contributor to my desire to read Reboot. It sounds like a fun read!

  12. I am also all over the girl wearing the metaphorical pants in the relationship. That does not happen often enough. Also, I’m liking so far how she really is a killer. A lot of the teen assassins manage to avoid doing much killing, but she enjoyed it and had no issues with it. Then watching her realize she wasn’t really emotionless but trained and sort of bored is pretty awesome too.

    The world is confusing though. Texas is all that’s left? OH DEAR.