REBOOT (Reboot #1)
Amy Tintera
Many spoilers below
Summary: Years ago, the KDH virus spread, killing many people... and also bringing back from the dead a lot of them. There was a war and the "Reboots" (name given to those who have come back to life) lost it, so now we have the HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation). The HARC controls the Reboots, using them to arrest (or kill) people. Which works just fine for the Reboots, because the longer they've stayed dead, the less emotion they feel.
Characters: Our main character, Wren, was dead for 178 minutes, which is a record. She loves running after the "criminals" and doing whatever the HARC wants her to do.
Then, a new Reboot arrives. His name is Callum and he was dead for 22 minutes, which is also a record... but a pathetic one.
Wren decides to train Callum and has a lot of trouble because he's pretty much still a human, while she's almost a machine, no emotions or anything like that.
Review: I was very interested in this book, as I had really liked the concept. And then... it didn't work. Here's why:
Everyone who was dead over 120 minutes is (emotionally) colder, faster and stronger. The ones who were dead for less than 60 minutes are too emotional, not as agile nor as strong as the others. These are the "Reboot" universe rules. And yet... Wren is constantly having a lot of feelings.
Wren, the coldest Reboot ever
She is always almost smiling, almost laughing, almost crying... the only reason why she doesn't do any of those is because she doesn't want people to see her expressing emotions. The thing is... she wasn't even supposed to have said emotions in the first place.
As soon as Wren meets Callum, she goes from this calculating, cold, killer Reboot to... a silly teenager with a crush. Oh, don't get me wrong, she still kicks ass. But wow, two days after first seeing Callum and she's a whole new Wren. No development whatsoever, she just blinks and that was that.
As for our love interest, Callum... he's supposed to be a guy who's really... hmmm... human. Translation: he's weak, emotional and also dumb. Apparently, being human means you have no survival instinct at all. The coldest, strongest girl ever is going to punch you until you punch her? Give her a nice smile, champ!
"Oh, they want to kill me? That's fine!"
Amy Tintera had an amazing universe right in front of her. The Reboots who were dead for less than 60 minutes were being used as guinea pigs, having drugs injected to them that made them go crazy, as seen with Wren's roommate, Ever. Leb, a human officer, was in touch with a rebel group that wanted to free the Reboots from the HARC.
It could've been a really awesome story of people who had realised they were nothing but slaves, gotten together and decided that enough was enough. Instead, we got the least emotional person ever having a lot of emotions. And let's not forget Callum, who somehow manages to be faster and stronger than he was supposed to. Would that be a result of Wren's great training abilities... or simply the power of love?
Well, I guess Dumbledore would agree with that...
All things considered, "Reboot" is what I'd call a "wasted potential". Sorry, Tintera. I'm very romantic and love, well... love. But you pretty much threw the concept you had AND Wren, our main character who could've been the best kick ass heroine ever, for... teenage drama. Badly written teenage drama that made no sense at all.
2.5/5
