Book Review
Title: Reboot by Amy Tintera (Reboot Book 1)
Genre: Science-Fiction, Dystopia, Young Adult
Rating: 3.75 Stars
Reboot has been on my radar for years and taking up space on my shelves so I finally decided to pick it up. We are introduced to Wren Connolly who has the number 178, which refers to the amount of minutes she was dead before she rebooted. Rebooting is a side effects of the KDH virus which wiped out a lot of the population, these reboots are taken in and trained by HARC after the reboots lost the war with humans. Although these reboots have been put to work, they are still hated by most humans as they are ranked by their number, the higher the number, the higher their rank. The higher their number also means that they have less emotions from when they were human. Wren is one of the trainers for new reboots as this is where she meets Callum Reyes, 22, meaning he is still practically human. Callum immediately attaches himself to Wren despite being looked down on by other reboots and wants her to train him. However, she doesn’t train low numbers because she gets first pick of the newbies to train but she begins to think that there might be something about her training method that makes better reboots regardless of their number and considers taking Callum as a trainee. The opening was interesting and sets the world up nicely but I can already tell this is going to be a romance at some point from the interactions between Callum and Wren.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Wren is struggling to train Callum because he isn’t like anyone she has trained before but she is intrigued by him. She begins looking into his reasoning behind making the decision to sit and talk with her even when others avoid her and she is beginning to see that there isn’t a rule against but rather the reboots created it themselves. However, a lot of this section is taken up by Wren’s concern for Ever as she begins displaying some unusual and disturbing behaviour and she confesses it is because HARC has been experimenting on the under 60s and she thought she was safe because she was so close to 60 but that isn’t the case. Wren doesn’t know what to do with this information but she desperately wants to help her friend.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, we can see the attraction between Wren and Callum developing but Callum is struggling to adjust to life as a reboot because he has so much of his humanity left which instantly makes him a target. Even when Wren is trying to help him, he doesn’t see it that way because he hasn’t been a reboot long. On one assignment, another newbie ends up unleashing their rage against Leb and Wren takes a stab wound for him to save his life but it does mean that the newbie ends up dead which was horrifying for Callum to witness. He later refers to Wren as a monster who enjoys hunting humans and this deeply hurts her feelings but the only beside Callum that catch this emotion is Ever. Callum tries to speak to Wren afterwards but she ignores him because he has forced her to confront what HARC has turned her into and she isn’t sure if she likes it anymore. She explains to Callum she was young when she died and has been with HARC for the better part of 5 years meaning that they have had a long time to condition her behaviour and she never questioned it but she is now. On their next assignment, they capture someone called Milo who claims there is a Reboot Reservation where freed reboots can go and while Wren doesn’t believe this she also doesn’t turn Leb in for working with them because he only wants his daughter, Adina, back.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Callum doesn’t seem to be improving because he is holding himself back and continues to disobey HARC commands. However, Ever’s behaviour has been getting worse and when other under 60 goes feral and ends up biting chunks out of Callum, he is forced to confront the brutal nature of reboots and what happens when they step out of line. After this he begins training harder with Wren and improving but something is going to give soon and it does. Ever who is losing her humanity decides to take matters into her own hands, she attacks Wren before killing several humans guards eventually leading to her own death in a form of suicide. This deeply impacts Wren as she checks out emotionally so when she is sent on a kill mission she isn’t prepared for what is to come. They have to capture or kill an adult reboot, the fight is hard and leaves Lissy and her trainee dead in the field but they capture the man. However, Callum is ordered to kill him and refuses which Wren knows will result in his death and she asks Leb for help but he refuses. Wren ends up getting them spared by claiming she is at fault for not preparing Callum properly but she is also warned they are going on another kill mission and if Callum doesn’t follow through then Wren will be forced to kill him which she doesn’t want. At this point, she is done with HARC and tells Leb that if he can get her and Callum to the reservation she will retrieve his daughter and they begin planning for their escape.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Wren and Callum are sent out on their next assignment and Wren hasn’t heard anything from Leb about their plan but tonight has to be the night otherwise Callum will be forced to kill someone. As the pair head to the meeting spot initially they think Leb isn’t there but he does arrive and removes their tracker giving them the information the need before they head off. Immediately HARC begin tracking them down and they don’t have the best luck hiding in Rosa since humans are terrified of Wren in this area. However, they do get some help from unlikely sources before keeping their head down for the night. The next day, HARC is still looking for them but they do manages to find a replacement helmet for Callum, some clothes and food. Getting out of Rosa is the hard part as the electric fence is heavily guarded but the pair being stronger and faster manage to make it with minor injuries. Now they have to get to Austin and find Adina without getting caught but Callum is determined to visit his family while they’re there despite Wren’s insistence that it isn’t a good idea.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Wren and Callum makes it to Austin but it is becoming clear that Callum was infected with whatever Ever had and the closer they get the more of a problem it becomes. Callum uses skills from before he rebooted to find them food and eventually they arrive at his parents house but they were made homeless. After visiting a friend who doesn’t seem scared of him they find out his parents are living in the slums and head over there. During the trip there, Callum becomes crazed like Ever and Wren gets him meat from a local restaurant but they need proper help for Callum and soon. In the slums, Wren begins to experience more memories from her human life which is scary for her but Callum helps her through it. When he finally meets with his family again it doesn’t go the way he was expecting and we can see why Wren didn’t want him to see them again. While this is heart-breaking for Callum as he held out hope his family would be glad to see him, it is probably for the best especially if the reservation is real and they disappear again. Now, the only thing left to do is find Adina when she is on assignment that very night and I can see this book ending in one of two ways and I am excited to see which route Tintera takes.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, we get to see Wren and Callum met up with the rebels after rescuing Addie only to learn that Callum doesn’t have long left if he doesn’t get the antidote. This means Wren and the rebels only have hours to come up with a plan to break into HARC and get the drugs and get to the reservation without being killed in the process. Wren is obviously going through with it, with or without the rebels helps but it soon becomes clear she wouldn’t have made it without them. Overall, there was nothing specific or unique about Reboot apart from an interesting premise but I did end up really enjoying it. I wasn’t sure where the second book could take the series since this could work as a nice standalone as it rounds off Wren and Callum’s character arcs nicely. Despite that I think the second book is going to focus on taking HARC down for good and I will pick up Rebel at some point in the future.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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