Author: Heather Anastasiu
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-fi, Dystopian
Publication: August 7th 2012, St Martin's Press
Pages: 371 Pages, Ebook
Source:Thank you so much to Shane at Itching For Books and the lovely author, Heather Anastasiu, for hosting this tour. You can check out the rest of the tour stops here.
Blurb from Goodreads:
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 I received Glitch to review for a blog tour I was extremely excited, hyper ventilating you could say. The premise was intriguing, the cover was absolutely stunning and it sounded perfect to read as I am on a major dystopian/sci-fi kick. And I am seriously glad to announce Glitch definitely didn't disappoint!
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.
When I started reading it, it took me awhile to figure out what was going on and to learn the basics of Zoel's world, but once I had found my footing I was immediately hooked. From the first page you learn about her glitching and how it feels when all of those beautiful emotions, colours, sights and smells come rushing towards her. I liked that you get to see her as a human and you can compare her to the way of the robotic people living in the Community.
As the author painted the imagery of Zoe's (Zoel's) life, I realised just how painful it was for her. All the people around her were basically robots, unable to feel any emotion, I felt so sorry for her as she was really trying to hide the turmoil she was feeling inside and knowing that she had to keep a stony face on at all times, because if someone noticed her glitching...it might be over for her.
The author did a really good job of world building, I could just imagine the greyness, the bleakness and the orderliness in the Community, I really would hate living life that. Her family weren't really like her family, they only ate together and lived in the same housing unit, they weren't able to show any love or compassion towards each other which was really saddening to read about. At points during the book I just kept thinking, all she needed was her mother, to talk to and to be told she was loved, but that couldn't happen in her world.
The plot was really enjoyable, there were a LOT of twists and turns that kept me at the edge of my seat, brow furrowed and eyes popping out. And at some of them, there were tears forming in my eyes, thinking of how Zoe was still learning about emotions and struggling to come to grips with her new feelings and then someone would betray her or send her into a spiral of depression and before she could recover from learning about another lie she was told, she would be faced with another one, but she coped and was determined to make everything better.
I loved the ending. The action, the truth behind all the lies, Zoe's power - oh my gosh, Zoe's power. They way she forced all that energy out of her towards the end was just phenomenal. I will always remember that scene, playing It out in my head. The ending tied up Glitch well, but the author left a lot unsaid which will make the next instalment equally, probably even more, exciting.
I really liked Zoe. I liked how she was willing to help others, even if it meant losing her life. At times she was strong and determined and I liked that. I really think she matured throughout the book, in the beginning she was more of a nervous, weak type of person, and as she was discovering herself and the real way of living, you could watch her confidence and knowledge grow, which was immensely satisfying.
I liked the pace of Glitch, most of the time it was equal and evened out, other times I felt like it was going to quickly and it was hard trying to keep up with its gathering speed, but it evened out when it needed to and I would be left feeling happy and sitting with a big, cheesy grin on my face.
The only that I really didn't like about Glitch was the love triangle and the insta-love. The relationship between Zoe and Adrien moved way too fast, one minute I was reading about her staring him from afar, distancing herself from him and afraid of him and the next they were stating that they couldn't live without each other. I just felt that their love shouldn't have happened over night, but that they should have slowly built up the trust for one another and become better friends first before their romance.
The love triangle was just way too exaggerated and expected. Max was a complete and utter jerk at times, and it infuriated me when he touched Zoe and exclaimed how much he loved her, but when she was hesitant to try new things with him, he started shouting at her and being melodramatic. I also sometimes wish Zoe would've fought back a bit and not let him walk all over her, but you can understand that she doesn't want to hurt the only person at that moment who could show her love. I know he is a teenager boy, but I think some of his actions were completely unnecessary and quite embarrassing to read about. I also thought he treated Adrien terribly and sometimes he came across like he treated Zoe more like a possession than a human being.
Adrien was sweet, I thought he was loyal and protective of Zoe and it was really cute to see how they interacted and how he was trying to teach her all that he knew of emotions and stuff from the Old World. One thing that did annoy me about him was his use of "slang words", every time he said "Cracking Hell", I would sigh and groan. I also thought that sometimes his mood did fluctuate too much, not as bad as Max, but still a bit too much for my liking.
Overall, I really enjoyed Glitch, the author created an emotional roller-coaster of a ride and I learnt how it would feel if we didn't have any emotions and how dull and colourless life would be. I adored Zoe, she was a sweet girl, that was determined to help the people around her. The boys were okay, Adrien was nice but I do think he could be a bit too emtional at times and Max...he was a jerk, but I could understand what he was feeling. Like Adrien also said, they were learning to cope with all these new emotions in such a short period of time, whereas they should have learnt how to cope with the feelings from a much younger age. Glitch is a beautifully written story and Heather Anastasiu is a really talented author. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series. If you are a fan of dystopian sci-fi, I would recommend you picked this up instantly!
I give it: 4/5 CUPCAKES!
