Glitch by Heather Anastasiu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
In the Community, there is no more pain or war. Implanted computer chips have wiped humanity clean of destructive emotions, and thoughts are replaced by a feed from the Link network.
When Zoe starts to malfunction (or “glitch”), she suddenly begins having her own thoughts, feelings, and identity. Any anomalies must be immediately reported and repaired, but Zoe has a secret so dark it will mean certain deactivation if she is caught: her glitches have given her uncontrollable telekinetic powers.
As Zoe struggles to control her abilities and stay hidden, she meets other glitchers including Max, who can disguise his appearance, and Adrien, who has visions of the future. Both boys introduce Zoe to feelings that are entirely new. Together, this growing band of glitchers must find a way to free themselves from the controlling hands of the Community before they’re caught and deactivated, or worse.
In this action-packed debut, Glitch begins an exciting new young adult trilogy.
For the longest time, I have been eager to get my hands on this book and read it. The cover itself was incentive enough, but like they say, you can't judge a book by its cover. However, though the book itself did not
WOW me as much as the cover did, I was not disappointed.
In
Glitch, we meet Zoel Q-24 (aka Zoe). Zoe has been experiencing glitches in her "programming" for a while now. Glitching is dangerous to do in the Community, therefore Zoe must do her best to conceal her "anomalous" behavior- a phrase that is used a lot throughout the book. AS if glitching weren't strange enough, Zoe also develops some sort of secret power.
The world itself where Zoe lives was completely messed up, in all honesty. People were pretty much walking computers; they lacked feelings, emotions, personality, uniqueness. Everyone walked around in the same uniform, drone-like state of mind, oblivious to how wrong the whole idea was. They also lived underground and never seen the surface because those above them say it's unsafe. Apparently, according to the government, humanity had faced some sort of D-Day that wiped out everything and nearly everybody. The cause of this supposed "D-Day" was because people had feelings, which apparently are a bad thing to have in their eyes. Yet, the government themselves are complete hypocrites and liars.
Zoe tends to blame herself a lot for things that happen during the book so she is always carrying around this heavy load of guilt which was annoying at times. However, she is also very determined to try to save everyone from the unjust lifestyle they have been forced to live. Adrien was sweet and caring, and an overall great guy. Max was quick tempered, and too obsessed with feeling "passion". He also only cared about what HE wanted, regardless of whether or not it was the right thing to do. I didn't like him all that much.
Now, onto the dreaded love triangle. I adored Adrien even though he was slightly cheesy at times, but there is nothing wrong with that. Max on the other hand...yeah, he was a bit of a creeper. At one point he asks to see her genitalia, and I was just like, "WHATT?!" I mean, I get that he has never experienced all the emotions running rampant in his mind before now, but that was just...just no. I don't know what to say to that. Though when it comes to Max's true feelings, I found it hard sometimes to figure out if he truly had genuine feelings for Zoe or if it was just more of a lust type thing because he was the only other Glitcher he knew.
Overall, the book wasn't bad. I'm very interested to see where the next book
Override (planned for release in Feb 2013) takes us. I recommend this book to anyone who loves dystopia, and tense reads. Though some parts were a tad predictable, I did come across a few surprises as well :)
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