Representation: N/A
Trigger warnings: Physical assault and injury, blood depiction, death of people, murder, gun violence, military violence and war themes
Score: Six points out of ten.
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It's time. It's finally time. I wanted to read Reboot for a while but never got around till now. I eventually picked it up, but not before glancing at the blurb, which made Reboot seem like a swift and intriguing read. However, the ratings said otherwise. When I closed the final page of Reboot, it was only okay.

It starts with the first person I see, Wren, training in a boot camp run by an antagonistic organisation. She, like many others, is a reboot, a former person who has been dead for almost three hours until she came back to life stronger but less human. This world is now split into two sides—the humans and the reboots, but Wren wants to change that by rebelling. The pacing is unpredictable as sometimes it can be monotonous and other times the opposite. It would've been better if the pacing flowed more consistently, and the removal of filler pages would also be an appreciated touch. There was romance interspersed in Reboot, but not much, much to my liking. The conclusion is enthralling and suddenly ends. I might enjoy the second and final part of the duology, Rebel, but not the one written by Marie Lu. ( )

Dark and unique take on what an epidemic might do to young people. After an illness wipes out much of the population, teens and younger kids start coming back after dying. They're renamed by numbers equivalent to the length of time in minutes they were dead. The higher the number, the more dangerous and emotionless they are. 178 is at the top in her cadre and is tasked with training 22, but he's still too 'human', an impairment to his training and leaving him too emotional. 178 is frustrated, then intrigued, but must decide whether to obey or rebel when told to eliminate him. Part dystopian, part thriller and part romance, all skillfully blended. ( )

Interesting premise but poorly executed. I really like the idea of having a fairly emotionless main character who grows throughout the story, but I don't think the author had the writing chops to pull it off. The writing is serviceable but not engaging; Wren's narration came off as dull and flat, and granted she is supposed to be detached from her feelings, but I couldn't help but think it could have been done much better. Wren had so much potential to be a really cool character but the author never managed to make her interesting enough.

I didn't particularly care for Callum's character either. He just seemed like a totally weak and useless person who never took anything seriously. His only saving grace was his humanity, but I don't think the author ever used it well-- he just came off as far too much of a bleeding heart at the expense of his common sense.

And I think that is the main problem with this book-- it's about a boy who shows an emotionless girl how to be in tune with her feelings, but nothing in this book rang emotionally true to me. I don't really see how Wren came to like Callum; it happened far too fast which made me very unconvinced by them as a couple. I can see why they might be good for each other, but I felt like the author skipped over the process of them falling for each other.

In any case, I couldn't help but think this book could have been great had a stronger writer tackled it, like Cynthia Hand (who writes incredibly relatable and emotionally true characters) or Julie Kagawa (you can bet Wren would be a total badass and the worldbuilding would be much better).
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what a book - that was an interesting concept and honestly I kind of thought by the name they were robots - pleasant surprise though this was a very well written book theres just a few issues for me but nothing I couldn't really look past and enjoy the book. I really thought that it was going a whole different direction up until the last bit though honestly what's a weird society like that without some trouble - I am excited for book 2 ( )

A solid dystopian with a great hook: sentient zombie teens as highly trained government fighters. I'd put it on par with [b:Legend|9275658|Legend (Legend, #1)|Marie Lu|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333909141s/9275658.jpg|14157512] for enjoyability. My one tiny wish is that the catalyst for the main character's change in routine/behavior wasn't the romantic interest. I would have found the whole thing more engaging and interesting if Wren's best friend jump started the story's action, but I'm also not the target audience. Maybe more teen girls read dystopians with romance angles? ( )