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.
In a genre that’s reached phenomenal popularity, Reboot manages to extricate itself from the norm and stand out amongst titles like Delirium, Unwind, The Hunger Games and Divergent. Seeing the genre build and expand over the years has proved to be awarding, especially with books like Reboot on the rise. The possibilities are endless, and they seem to be getting funner and funner. Lyrical writing and astounding world-building complimented the story in all the right places, making this thriller more than just any other dystopian.
Reboot hooks readers from the get-go. The action-packed pick up is startling and makes for a great opener, paving way for the pulse-pounding roller coaster to come.
Watching Wren’s struggle with humanity and the emotions she’s not sure of unfold with the help of the very human-like Callum Twenty-two was fun and added a twist to what’s expected from normal in the genre currently. It was refreshing to have the relationship take an unlikely turn and was, if anything, way more enjoyable. While just as bad-ass as the rest of our ever-so popular dystopian female leads, Wren’s character traits were logical and understanding as well as totally original. Experiencing the cracks in her shell forming over time was surprisingly as emotional as it was beautiful. Her self doubt over whether to believe in what she’s been told all her life or what she’s only beginning to feel in her heart was a great angle to take up inner conflict on her part. Side characters like Ever and Callum gave an interesting portrayal of all the different ways teens were affected by their “reboot” and made for an excellent cast.
Wren and Callum’s relationship, though argued as insta-love, felt advanced but natural. The two together are day and night but chemistry was there from the beginning, and as otherworldly as it might have been, it felt fitting. Wren’s friendship with Ever Fitfy-six was heartwarming and despite being short-lasting, the long-term impact made was moving and left me choked up time and time again.
Reboots ending leaves readers feeling optimistic and fulfilled while keeping them prepared for the long battles and losses that are to come in forthcoming additions to the new series. While I might have hoped that the novel would have ended on a more open note, and as demented as it may sound, a less skippy-dippy one I have no doubt good things are still to come from Tintera so I leave my trust in her hands fully.
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Easily the best book I’ve read all year to date,—and I’ve read eighty-four, so far, not to toot my own horn— Reboot is a fresh dystopian tale about what it really means to be human in a world where humanity has seized to exist.
Rating: 10/10
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