Review: Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Series: Glitch #1

Pages: 371

Received: Received from Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: August 7, 2012
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca

Goodreads Synopsis:

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 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.

In this action-packed debut, Glitch begins an exciting new young adult trilogy.

My Review:

The cover of this book is really interesting and drew me in right away. Then after reading the synopsis I was even more intrigued with this story. I feel bad that in the end I was a little disappointed with the story (I think it has a lot to do with the dystopian stories all being very alike).

The story itself was very well thought out. Anastasiu did a great job with the idea of computer chips being implanted into people's heads to have them all thinking in a communal way. I enjoyed Anastasiu's writing throughout the story, she could really bring out some of her characters emotions through her descriptions at times. Anastasiu has a way of describing Zoe's view of her sight changing from grey to colours that is very thorough and I found it quite charming. She also did a great job of writing some of the more disturbing scenes. Highlight for a little spoiler: There is a part that deals with Zoe going through an underground tunnel and Anastasiu writes about a pack of rats running towards her and literally overtaking the character. I literally found myself shivering because I could picture it and it was just so disturbing to me.

There were also some great scenes throughout that had some action which kept me interested in the story. But I found those scenes a little too few for the book. There was also some great twists closer to the end of the book that I enjoyed and really did not see coming which I like. I thought I knew what was going on, and at times I did see some things coming but at others times I did see myself getting a surprise.

In the end there were a few things that distracted me from the story that I couldn't wrap my head around. For one, I felt like Zoe did not have much characterization in the story. She was very dependent on Adrien all the time and never really got confidence for herself. And there was of course the somewhat love triangle which did not make sense to me. One character stood out more than the other, and I found myself disliking Zoe the more she spent time with the other character because of his attitude towards things.

I am interested to see what happens next in the story but it's not a book I will be holding my breath for sadly. In the end I just felt like this book was like many of the other dystopian stories out there.