Reboot

4.5/5 stars I have to admit I totally geeked out while reading this book. I am a HUGE fan of zombies. Of course, I have The Walking Dead to thank for that. After reading The Shining at the young age of 9 (or 12... I don't really remember, but it was far too early), I finally had read so much scary stuff, that I couldn't sleep at night. So, I kind of gave up all scary/horror stuff. And zombies was something I never got into. I was terrified to watch TWD, but my husband assured me I'd love it. And man, oh man, he was right. Before that I could only manage humorous zombies like Shaun of the Dead. Now I'm pretty sure I can take the biggest baddest zombie shows. But my ABSOLUTE favorite (besides The Walking Dead, because that is just brilliant television. Also, I call that drama with zombies in it, rather than a show about zombies) is The Returned. The Returned (Les revenants) is this brilliant French television show that came to the Sundance channel back in October. It's in French (duh!) so you have to watch subtitles, but it is worth every second. The show is dark and haunting, the cinematography is extraordinary, and the story is just too good for words. The idea revolves around a small city where people start popping back up -- people who have died. Except they look like everyone else. It freaks people out when they know them and they've been dead for 5 or more years, but regular people on the street have no idea. No one knows why, and it causes a lot of chaos in the quiet little village. Oh and they eat a lot -- like they can put away in one meal more than a hungry teenage boy eats all day. The word revenant means "one that returns after death or a long absence", so the title obviously fits. It also fits for Reboot, because essentially that is what has happened to the world (or the world as we know it in the books). An illness has spread and the KDH virus and vaccines leads to a hiccup in the natural cycle of life. Rather than dying, some people seem to come back or 'reboot'. When they come back, they are different, but also the same. They have the ability to heal quickly and can only be killed by a shot to the head (aka just like zombies). Unlike zombies, they function just like humans -- eat, sleep, shower, talk, think, etc. However, it became clear at some point that Reboots lost something that makes us human -- some emotions and essence. Rather than being happy that their loved ones were alive, people became terrified of the Reboots. And thus, war erupts. The thing about this book is we wake up in the aftermath of this world -- the virus is long established and the US has been destroyed by the war against humans and reboots. Humans have won and the reboots are now slaves to HARC under the guise of 'helping' them. So of course help means treating them like caged animals and experimenting. Because we humans are just so cool like that. I loved that the world was so well structured already, we weren't in the midst of when everything was happening, but we got to see what happens next. Most shows/movies are right at that moment when it all begins, but not many people talk about what happens next. Our story is focused on Wren, a young girl who happens to have died for 178 minutes, the longest anyone in the story has ever gone between death and reboot. The longer the time, the faster the reboot regenerates. And the less human they are. In the world of Reboots, your number is everything. She was just 12 when she was shot and killed, so she has been in a reboot camp for five years when she meets Callum. And it is like stepping into a warm bath, how Wren slowly wakes up. She 'defrosts' slowly around Callum, waking up human instincts and emotions that have long remained silent. Callum, who at just 22 minutes is the closest to human of anyone at the camp is the one who connects to Wren and makes her see that those emotions and human traits have been there all along. I just loved Wren and Callum -- they were a great, compatible couple and things between them progressed very naturally. I loved how Callum reacted to Wren and how Wren began to see her world differently because of Callum. It was interesting to see how Wren had just assumed things about the world, as she was so sheltered, and then see Callum help shatter those preconceived notions. The world building was great -- we get just enough information to progress through the story without information overload. I was able to grasp what was happening, but slowly learn more the farther into the book I got about what exactly had happened to get the world to this point. Overall, this book just emotionally clicked with me. There were so many brilliant little things I picked up on that I can't even begin to mention. And it was hilarious. Amy Tintera took a very logical-driven girl and made me care about her -- she made me laugh, sigh, swoon, gasp, and want more. And really, what more can you ask for in a book? For this review & more, visit Such a Novel Idea.

Oh, for the love of Pete, where on earth do I begin this review without freaking out and sounding all spastic? Can I just jump the gun and tell you all to go read it, RIGHT NOW?! Would that be okay, no review necessary? Nah, I'm only kidding...sort of. Let me paint you a picture: Dead kids who aren't dead anymore: some with emotions, some lacking basically all emotions. Strict, scary facility where you do what you're told, when you're told or else you'll have your head blown off. Insert a short girl named Wren, the most feared of all the Reboots. Nobody wants to come near her and they know not to touch her. She rebooted after 178 minutes of being dead. That's the longest anybody has ever been dead before they rebooted. Insert a tall, hunky newbie named Callum, fresh from being dead. He was only dead 22 minutes. That's pathetic in the eyes of all the other Reboots. There's no way he'll survive capturing criminals in the slums of Texas. A 22 and a 178 would never work together. But when Wren decided to try her luck at training such a low number, her life as the obeying, subordinate Reboot working for HARC changes forever. Alright, well since I'm here to review books, I suppose I'll get down to the nitty gritty. Wren, due to her high number, supposedly doesn't feel any emotions. She can capture--or kill if necessary--people from the slums without a second glance. She has no desire in boys or relationships and really doesn't have any friends, save for her roommate. When she meets and gets to know Callum, supposedly this is when she starts feeling real emotions. While I did see her become more laid back and giddy to be around him and concerned about his well being, I never really thought she actually lacked emotions. From the very beginning of the story, I never thought she was being as stoic and robotic as she was making herself out to be. She expressed discontent, a little pent up anger, and hated it when people screamed. She also enjoyed "the chase," as she called it, when capturing her assignments. These all seem like some sort of emotion, don't they? Maybe I was being a little too sensitive to her character and was looking way too deep into things, but I don't know. I knew going in that she supposedly felt nothing, but she didn't seem like a straight up cyborg as she was saying she was. Her change, emotionally, was noticeable but not as world shattering, "OMG I have ALL THE FEELS," as I thought it was going to be. I think this ended up being a small negative of the story to me. I just couldn't shake the feeling that I never felt her before-Callum and after-Callum was a big enough difference. Moving on to Mr. Callum Reyes. Man, oh, man did this boy infuriate me at the beginning. For an tall, hunky teenage boy, he sure did whine...a lot. Because of his extremely low number, he still had all of his humanity. Thank goodness, he toughened up and accepted where he was and that he was at the bottom of the totem pole. But good gracious, he was defiant! Somehow, amongst all of this which would normally completely turn me off, I couldn't seem to get enough of him! I was literally eager for him to appear on the page again. He is snarky and broke down Wren's tough outer shell and I loved him for that. He has some great one liners that I couldn't help but laugh and sheepishly grin at. Where can I get my own Callum?? I loved Wren and Callum's relationship. They are on my top 3 of favorite couples ever. Callum fell head over heels for Wren the second he laid eyes on her and Wren couldn't get away from him fast enough. She wanted no relationship and Callum definitely snuck up on her. She tried to keep the tough, trainer act up but come on, it's Callum, the goofy 22. There is one scene in the book that I think makes Wren realize she has feelings for him. I don't want to give it away because when it happens--hint: during a training session--I want you to melt all over the pages too. I probably said AWW out loud. Seriously, I love how their relationship progresses. The plot was a heart-pounding thriller that I could not set down for one minute. The premise was unique and a lot happens that the summary doesn't even touch on. If you're looking for an action-packed story with a killer romance, you definitely need to pick this book up. It's a real page turner, you never know what is going to happen on the next page. Tintera will have you screaming and your jaw dropping in Chapter 15, blushing and wishing you had a guy like Callum, and will have you on the edge of your seat, heart racing, not being able to read fast enough to see what happens next. While I thought some aspects could have been written a bit differently, this is a fantastic debut novel! I can't wait to see what happens next in this series!! Trust me when I say that you'll be eager to read the next book!

Amy, you have written a 5 star series starter. I liked that the characters challenged what had always been considered the norm. Although the concept of a reboot is to come back after death from a virus with varying degrees of emotion depending upon the number of minutes they had been dead, The groing relationship between Ren and Calum, and Ren's show of distress at the thought of not beingable to undo the damage done by the injecitons the under 60's were given shows the humanity in those considered not to be human. The beginning of this series presents some challenging themes and leaves a great deal of scope to craft what happens next.

This book does not feature as much detail as some of the others of its genre, however this is still an absolutely fabulous and fast-paced story, I zipped through it very quickly, but still thought it was an excellent read, I intend to buy book 2 immediately!

Das Buch fand ich sehr gut,habe den 1 und den 2 Teil gekauft.Beide Bücher fand ich spannend und gut lesbar.

I wasn't really paying attention when I bought this book, just read the cover and thought it was neat. Little did I know I was delving into the world of teen angst and romance deeper than the Marianas trench. Seriously. I read this book the day I received it. Pure gold. If you're into something a bit more gruesome than twilight with a much better love story, this book is for you.

Libro interesante, con una lectura amena y un inglés asequible para aquellos no nativos que quieran leer en inglés, de lectura fácil e interesante argumento