Early Review: GLITCH by Heather Anastasiu

Title: Glitch

Author: Heather Anastasiu

Series: Glitch #1

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publication Date: August 7, 2012

Source: Publisher

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Synopsis:
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.

Review: 
I love the concept of this book! I’m a bit of a SF nerd, so I love SF elements in my book. I like the thoughts of all those gadgets and future technology, even if it’s not a focus of the book. So in Glitch, everyone has a chip controlling their emotions. Humans are basically emotionless drones all Linked to a central computer. When Zoe starts to Glitch, meaning she’s falling from the Link, she starts to feel emotions she’s never allowed to feel. Now, she must hide her glitches from the Link or otherwise risk being reprogrammed or deactivated.

I really enjoyed the way this book was laid out, with Zoe and Adrien at the beginning and then what happened afterwards. It added a lot more drama to the book. I instantly cheered for Zoe and Adrien to be together. However, since Zoe couldn’t feel, a lot of the book was focused on learning emotions, so it made kind of slow reading at parts as they discussed emotion. As with all books, love ended up being the ultimate emotion, so there was a romance intertwined within the plot. Zoe and Adrien’s romance was pretty cute, but it still felt too fast for me. Since Zoe’s never known emotions, it was way too early for her to “love” Adrien. Love, being indefinable, wasn’t something you could decide/discover right after someone attempts to explain it to you. A huge part of the book focused on the romance sometimes to the point that I felt like I was reading a contemporary romance rather than a dystopian.

As for the characters, I'm neutral toward Zoe. She has a powerful Gift, but as the heroine discovering the evil of her society, she doesn’t really know much and so she can’t do much, even if she wanted to. A lot of the times it's about what other people are telling her to do. She’s basically the good girl who wants to save everyone even if it means risking herself. However, she’s very relatable as a teenage girl. Even without growing up with emotions, she has a bunch of confusing emotions just as a teenager would feel, which is why I forgive her for how she dealt with Max. I love the little curveball thrown in about her past though. It totally took me by surprise!

I don’t have anything good or bad to say about Adrien, so let’s talk about Max. I hate him, but only because he’s written to be hated, to be the bad guy. He’s the epitome of the stereotypical horny teenage boy and all he wants to do is have sex. Forget about fighting for freedom. Any chance he gets he tries to get into Zoe’s pants. Max and Adrien are pretty much yin and yang. Max is everything that’s bad about human emotions – greed, pride, selfishness. I just wanted to reach into the book and strangle him! It’s also frustrating because he has redeeming qualities. He obviously cares deeply for Zoe, beyond just the physical. It makes me sad to see him walking down the wrong path. I also didn't consider him as a love interest as all because I knew who Zoe was going to choose. It wasn't even that Zoe was conflicted between him and Max, more like that Zoe had to learn the difference between love and friendship.

I had several favorite parts in the book. Whenever technology showed up, I let out a little squeal of happiness. The latter half of the book also just flew by! The best part of the book, however, is the ending. Holy crap! Zoe proved herself in the end. Yeah, that’s what happens usually in the end, but I’m still super impressed. The book neatly ties up some loose ends while introducing new problems. This series has so much more potential with Zoe’s growing powers. I can’t wait for the next book!

*Huge thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not compensated for my review.