Book Review: Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

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.

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 visualise 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 likable 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 earth.  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.

2 stars

Published August 7th 2012 by St. Martin's Press.  A free copy was provided for review. Image courtesy of Goodreads

Review by Kate Phillips