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. (From Goodreads)
I was trying to explain how I felt about this book to my manager at the bookstore and she condensed my babbling into..."So it's solid good?" Yeah. So I'm stealing her words. This book is solid good. It doesn't quite reach great because it falls into the traps of your typical dystopia and these repetitions are really beginning to push me off the dystopia band wagon. I honestly guessed the ending pretty early on in the book - not because it's obvious but because it's what I've come to expect from dystopian novels. Still, the ride was enjoyable and reading was pleasurable.
It was interesting seeing how Heather Anastasiu handled both the fact that the main characters in this book are feeling emotions for the first time, and the fact that their teenagers - a time when you emotions are already naturally on overdrive. Watching them try to name what they were feeling, while feeling it so intensely, and seeing how they managed to sort out (or fail to sort out) what each emotion meant was the best part of this book. I was worried initially that the love story in this book was driven based on the fact that Zoe was just latching on to the first person that felt something too. But, that was actually countered quite well with the introduction of Max.
Yeah, there's a love triangle. But don't let that discourage you. This love triangle is incredibly lopsided and it seems to actually serve to give Adrien a leg up. Max was a frustrating character, but he was also very well written. His side story became complicated and I still don't really know what to make of him. He made some interesting choices and his motivation isn't always entirely logical. Adrien on the other hand, was almost way too sweet for his own good. He didn't really have flaws, or if he did they were pretty minor. But he and Zoe seemed to work really well together.
There's a lot of double crossing, not knowing who to trust, and lots of secrets that were actually erased from the characters' memories. These were the elements that kept the story moving along - wondering when memories would resurface, trying to decide who was worth trusting, and - well, I guess, wondering if Zoe and gang would make it out of the Community without being deactivated.
So yeah. If you're a dystopia fan then give this one a shot. There's a bit of science fiction mixed in there as well if you like that. Honestly, though, it's not the world that's created that drew me into this book - it's the characters and their issues that kept me interested. It's not a book that I'd gush about, but it's one I would include when talking about this genre. Solid good.
