Reboot by Amy Tintera

Reading Level: Ages 12 and up
Hardcover: 365 Pages
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Narration: First Person: Wren
Genre: Dystopian/Paranormal
Challenge: Paranormal/Debut Challenge

The Reboot Series:
Book One: Reboot
Book Two: Unknown (2014)
Book Three: Unknown (?)

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation).

Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet there’s something about him she can’t ignore. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line—or she’ll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows if she does, she’ll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.

The perfect soldier is done taking orders.

My Review:

"5 Years Ago, I Died.

  178 Minutes Later, I Woke Up."

Well....I was, and still am, confused about my feelings towards Reboot. Since I decided to skip out on reading reviews, I was left to my own devices to try and figure out which direction this story would take. My guess? Way. Way. Off. I should've expected something more zombie related, considering the slogan/saying on the cover pretty much screamed "The Walking Dead," but for some reason, that thought never crossed my mind. Despite the obvious signs, I was still expecting some sort of science fictiony based novel that focused on scientists who somehow devised a method to upgrade humans with a "Reboot" that allowed them to run faster and have quicker reflexes than the average person. I feel sort of stupid now.

Wren, the protagonist, was one of the main reasons why I got so confused by this book. I went into it expecting a cold-hearted, detached soldier who was ruthless in her decisions and actions, because she didn't have any emotions to get in the way. And she was like that, to a certain extent, just nowhere near the extent that I expected. Even before Callum, love that name by the way, walked into the scene, she still retained a wide range of emotions from her past human life. Maybe I'm imagining things or reading too much out of situations, but one thing I definitely know for sure is that the statement, "No. There was no human left in me," was completely false. And when Callum did come into the picture? *Facepalm* She completely lost her Reboot personality and transitioned into someone who blushed every time her crush was around.

The intriguing premise was the only reason I kept on reading. It was so interesting, innovative and unique. This is, essentially, a zombie story, but to be honest, it didn't feel like it. Trust me, if it did, I would've been running the opposite direction, screaming like there was no tomorrow. Zombies freak me out like no other, and I'm pretty sure that I would rather stab myself repeatedly with a pencil before picking up another Zombie related book. I digress, anyways, Reboot had a theme that I've never encountered before, and considering how many YA books that are out in the world today, that's saying something. Amy is incredibly talented with world-building and weaving together an intricate world, down to the details of the very houses in the slums of Austin. Any author can describe surroundings, pff even I can do that, but very few are able to describe it in such a way that would leave you with the image seared into your brain even once you've finished.

I wasn't a huge fan of the romance. The love interest, Callum, was a decent guy. He had his admirable moments, and I liked the fact that he held tightly to his morals. However, he did seem to be lacking in the self preservation department. Sometimes I just wanted to scream at him to be just a little bit more subtle in his methods of defiance, instead of openly insulting the very people who could call his elimination. Rebel? Of course, but please do so in an intelligent manner! Even though something said or done can fix the here and now, it doesn't always fare well in the long run. Although he irritated me a lot, I was still fine with their romance, at least until they escaped their prison. Nothing irks me more than when two people start making out while there fleeing for their lives.

Overall, Reboot was not what I expected. The premise turned out to be way off from what I originally thought, but what I found instead was so much more enthralling. The characters all took me off guard as well,  but this time, they didn't end up surprising me in a good way. Wren was nowhere near as badass as the synopsis made her out to be, and she still retained many of her human emotions, even after her Reboot. She was the same as any other Reboot girl, and I still don't see what made her so important. Not sure if I'll read the sequel when it releases, but I might give it a shot if I have some free time on my hands.

Heroine- 2.5/5

Romance- 2.5/5
Comedy- 3/5
Action- 3.5/5
Overall- 3/5

Undeadly by Michele Vail

Paperback: 272 Pages
Release Date: November 20, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genre: Mythology/Zombies
Source: Netgalley

The Reaper Diaries
Book One: Undeadly
Book Two: Unchosen (2013)

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Goodreads Synopsis:

The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...

Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper—and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she's shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite boarding school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath.

Life at Nekyia has its plusses. Molly has her own personal ghoul, for one. Rick follows her there out of the blue, for another...except, there's something a little off about him. When students at the academy start to die and Rath disappears, Molly starts to wonder if anything is as it seems. Only one thing is certain—-Molly's got an undeadly knack for finding trouble....

My Review:

Finally got enough time to squeeze in a review! To be honest, I should be studying trig right now, but ehhh procrastination does seem to be my specialty. xD So in the past week, I was fortunate enough to receive an ebook version of Undeadly by Michelle Vail from the awesome people at Netgalley! When I first read the synopsis, which was a long LONG time ago, I was practically jumping up and down in glee. Why, you ask? Because I'm a HUGE mythology buff, and after reading Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles (Based off of Egyptian Mythology, if you don't know. :), I was practically salivating to glean more information about the mysterious Egyptian legends and gods. However, after reading more than a couple of not-so-great reviews, my excitement slowly dwindled. In fact, it diminished to the point where I was literally flinching, when I finally psyched myself up enough to open the book.

Undeadly both proved my expectations wrong and right, simultaneously.

Here's a detailed description why......

The protagonist, Molly Bartolucci, was immature and annoying in the beginning. Her sense of humor, at times, was amusing. But 80% of the time, it made absolutely no sense or was so cheesy, that I was fighting the urge to set the book down and vow to never open it again. I believe that the author was attempting to give Molly a more teenish attitude and outlook on life, but she wasn't able to hit the nail on the head. The slang that Molly and her friends used were not things that normal mentally sound teenagers would say, at least not in my opinion.

Aside from her corny jokes and annoying style of speaking, she also took alot of TSTL (Too stupid to live) actions. There was this one particular scene near the end of the book, when I had to fight the urge to strangle the living daylights out of her. For example, lets say someone points a gun at your head and threatens to kill you if you don't do what they say. Would you A. Panic and run away screaming. B. Keep your composure and silently plot your escape or C. Fall to your knees and beg for mercy. In Molly's case, she chose D. None of the above. Even after everything that her attacker did to her and all the questionable actions she took, Molly still didn't know if that person was friend or foe. Really?

However, even though she was a few fries short of a happy meal, she still grew in character.....a little bit. Near the end, she learned to stop, force herself to stop talking for a minute, and listen. She learned to take in her surroundings, keep a calm expression on her face during stressful times, and think of a way to solve whatever messed up situation she got herself into. Although I didn't really like or connect with Molly's character in this novel, I'm hoping I'll grow to like her more in the next installment.

Wow. I think that's the most I've ever written on a protagonist. Moving on to the love interests. In Undeadly, we have an almost there, but not quite, love triangle. We have Rick, the golden boy who always does what's right, and Rath, the dark, brooding, and mysterious bad boy. Sound familiar? Before reading the novel, I already knew that I wasn't going to like Rick, and my guess ended up being correct. Why didn't I like him? He was a bland character to me. There was nothing mysterious about him. I never had questions like, "Who is he really?" or "What's his real motive?" swirling around in my head. ***Minor Spoiler to those who haven't read summary*** And the way that Rick died? He just happened to turn around, trip, and crack his head open? It sounded so....unrealistic and hard to believe.***End Spoiler*** Rath I liked more. He had the cryptic and dark vibe thing going on, and being the total girl I am, I couldn't help but be drawn to it. Don't ask me why girls tend to gravitate toward bad boys, because I honestly don't understand it either.

The action was the only saving grace for this novel, besides the cool Egyptian facts of course! I never got bored with Undeadly and the premise was interesting as well. I was expecting the necromancers and zombies to be more hidden and secret. Something mere humans wouldn't be able to see. However, this was not the case! Zombies and necromancers, in this world, are common knowledge to everyone. Zombies could be anything from slaves, pets, or maids. Although they could still eat you whenever they had the sudden craving. I'm not a huge zombie fan, in fact I usually despise zombies with a passion, but this novel made me enjoy them more.

Overall, Undeadly had great potential but fell flat for me. It reminded me of my first feelings towards Jennifer Estep's Touch Of Frost series. However, since those novels progressed into the awesomeness they are today, I'm more than likely going to read the next installment in this series. Who knows? Maybe Michelle will follow in Jennifer's footsteps. If your a huge fan of both zombies and Egyptian mythology, then you might enjoy this novel more than I did.

Heroine- 2.5/5
Romance- 3/5
Action- 4/5
Comedy- 2.5/5
Overall- 3/5

*An ebook copy was provided by Netgalley

in exchange for a honest and thoughtful review.*

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Alice In Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Hardcover: 416 pages

Release Date: September 25, 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Genre: Fantasy/Zombies

 

White Rabbit Chronicles

 

Book One: Alice In Zombieland

Book Two: Through The Zombie Glass (2013)

 

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Amazon Summary:

 

She won't rest until she's sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that's all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real.

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn't careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies.

 

My Review:

 

Ahhhh. The wonderful world of soul sucking zombies. Riveting.

When I first saw this book on some WoWs from fellow bloggers, I didn't even spare it a glance. I mean zombies? Really? NOT my thing. But after Alice In Zombieland was released, this book was EVERYWHERE! And I do mean literally everywhere. I saw it on blogs, posters, and recommendations from Amazon and Goodreads, so I finally relented and reluctantly opened my very first zombie book.

When I first started this novel, I enjoyed it thoroughly. I loved Gena's style of writing and how she incorporated humor into her characters, especially the protagonist, Alice. I found myself grinning at Alice's inner dialogue and eager to read more about Alice's life. I felt really bad for her, since in the beginning she thought her dad was a nut job for believing that monsters wanted to hurt them. Little did she know, that everything her father had told her, was true. She was denied the childhood that she should of gotten, the friends she should of made, and the activities like school dances that she could never attend because she was never allowed out after nightfall. Alice was a strong character at the start of the novel, she dealt with her father's madness (or so she thought) and was a great friend and sibling to Emma, her adorable eight year old sister.  Her reactions were realistic when her parents died in the car crash. She didn't want people to keep telling her "I'm sorry for your loss," when they really didn't care. She reacted just like any other teenage girl who just lost everything that they ever loved within the blink of an eye.

However, after she moves in with her grandparents in a nearby town.....things started to go downhill. There was a Insta-Love connection between Alice and her love interest Cole *Gags*. Cole was the very embodiment of the Alpha Male. He was demanding, aggressive, and super possessive of Alice even though they were complete freaking strangers. Cole pushed her around and she seemed to enjoy it. *Aggravated sigh* Even though I didn't really like Cole there were some times when I grudgingly admired him. He could be sweet and caring when he wanted to be, and you could see that he put Alice's safety above all else. But.......mostly just a broody testosterone filled boy who growls when he doesn't get his way.

I didn't really see much of a connection with Alice in Wonderland. The most I ever saw was the white rabbit which reminded me of it. Alice In Zombieland was mostly based on teen drama, relationships, rumors, lies, and secrets rather than on the amazing storyline that captured so many children's hearts. If you hoped that this novel was a retelling of the famous Alice In Wonderland just with the added bonus of zombie monsters, you are terribly mistaken.

The humor at most times was witty and amusing, but sometimes Gena took it a littleee bit to far, and it veered toward corniness.

Overall, not a great retelling. I will not be reading anymore Zombie related books in the nearby future. The protagonist, Alice was at times the strong heroine I hoped for her to be and at other times was a little pathetic and stalkerish. However, if your looking for a story with a mostly amusing comedy, high school drama, and have a fetish for soul eating zombies, then Alice In Zombieland might be worth checking out.

Heroine- 2.5/5
Romance- 2.5/5
Action- 3/5
Comedy- 4/5
Overall- 3/5

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