Glitch (Glitch - Trilogy) [Paperback]

*The publisher provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for review.*

Clearly 2012 is the year of the Sci-fi novel. Glitch inhabits a world somewhere between Robocop, X-men and The Bionic women. I have read books similar to this already this year and Glitch slots itself right in the middle of them meaning I have read some better and I have read some worse.

I liked the general idea. I thought it was well thought out and put together. Unlike other books of this genre Glitch's technology was easy to understand and visualize which made all the difference to the flow of the story.

The writing was good and there were a couple of scenes that were outstanding. There is a train crash sequence that I thought was just amazing.

Another thing I liked was Adrien. There was something about him that I just found likeable and cute. He was kind and patient and just generally a nice guy. He made a good love interest and I think it should have just stayed with him instead of bringing in a love triangle that just didn't work for me.

The other person in this love triangle is Max (grits teeth) I understand that sometimes you have to find characters unlikeable, but you should never hate a character so much it makes you almost give up on the book. Literally every scene he was in was painful for me. I couldn't bare him at all and to have him as another potential love interest was just seriously unbelievable, simply because no one in their right mind would ever find this person attractive. I may sound harsh but read it and you will see what I mean. He is probably the worst male YA character I have come across. He is selfish, arrogant and sex obsessed. He doesn't understand what no means and has a head bigger than the US continent. Yeh...he just wasn't for me.

The main female character fell between Adrien and Max for me, I neither liked nor hated her. Zoe is head strong, brave and most the time pretty smart but she tends to blame everything on herself and has a horrible habit of falling in `insta-love' with guys which is a pet-peeve of mine. There were times in the beginning where I thought she was terribly weak and I didn't have much hope for her at all but she does change and by the end of the book she is strong and has more courage than you could shake a stick at.

Glitch is by no means perfect there is a lot about it I didn't like it has its good and bad moments. But I think that it sets up the next book in the series to be extremely exciting and if I had to hazard a guess I would say that I will enjoy the second book a lot more than the first. It ended with a lot of future potential.

*** Review copy supplied by publisher***

I have to say I was so so excited to get my hands on this book. The blurb sounded fantastic and just my kind of book. But when I read this my heart started to sink, it was the fast paced and edgy book I was hoping for. This one is a real slow burner and it took me quarter of the book to really get into it. I thought OK, maybe a shaky start and I can forgive it for that, but then it just flatlined after a couple of really exciting chapters. There just didn't seem to be the action and excitement factor in this book.

I felt like picking this book up and pretending it could be a snow globe, shaking it, and then mixing it all up to get a bit of movement going. It was lucky I never hurled it across the room in frustration.

I don't think I really got to know the characters in depth either, this didn't help, I have to feel connected to at least one of the characters but it just wasn't there for me. I can't really give this any lower than a three star rating as I have to admit after a wobbly start to the series I do see potential. So Heather Anastasiu I will give this series one more book before I give up on it.

It does leave a bad taste in the mouth when you are really expecting great things from a book and sadly it doesn't deliver. Dont' let my review put you off, it just wasn't for me........

I liked 'Glitch' in that Anastatsiu was pretty careful putting her world together and mainly because she's goes to almost painstaking lengths to explain the V-chip; how it works, where it is and how they put it in to the point where the whole thing is plausible to me and I can accept the fact that it might happen. My knowledge of the brain and neurology etc. is quite limited, many other people may disagree with me but as someone of average enough intelligance it was plausible. The world is a dystopian one where humanity has fled underground after a nuclear war, it's a grim place and the little details such as nosebleeds from poor air circulation make it interesting.
I liked the idea of dampening peoples emotions to make them obedient but I can remember seeing that idea in the movie 'Serenity' and the emotionless thing is also a bit similiar to Nalini Singh's psy series (i think i got author and series right there!). However, although not completely original I think Anastatsiu portrays the idea well. Zoel, or Zoe, is convincing enough and shows her naivety when it comes to love and relationships, she doesn't understand the emotions she's feeling and is rightly so a bit frightened. Adrien, the eventual love interest, is likeable and grows on you whereas you hate her new frend Max but I can understand his aggressive behaviour where he seems only to think about having sex all the time. Max has only been glitching for a few months (the v-chip glitches every now and then, stopping working and unleashing emotion and colour), so all of a sudden he is a teenage boy with hormonal urges and all that malarkey that he has trouble controlling.
Not a bad book there are a few good plot twists and bits of action, the writing is a bit simplistic and this may not be the best dystopian novel out there but hopefully the second book will step it up!