Review: Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

Glitch (Glitch #1)

By Heather Anastasiu

Published August 7th, 2012

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Paperback, 308 pages

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. -Goodreads

3.5 Stars

Review

Glitch started out and seemed to be a promising read, but it was sort of disappointing. It was one of those books that lost its potential.


Okay, on to the main character, Zoe. She begins the novel with her V-chip (I never understood exactly what it was) glitching, causing her to feel emotions. She is, understandably, very confused,  because she has never felt emotions before and she doesn't know what to do and is all alone. With that said, I found her ability to comprehend emotions varied, sometimes she wouldn't at all get some emotions while somehow being able to pick other emotions up very quickly, like her insta love for Adrien (I will get to him later). What also annoyed me was how she didn't really even use her  power until it was suggested by someone else, you think if you had an awesome new power you would experiment with it a bit.


I think my biggest issue was with the romance. Normally, I don't mind love triangles too much, but this one wasn't even a love triangle, it was very obvious that Max was just thrown in there, and that Zoe would never end up with him. Also, Max is a possessive and creepy person, basically only wanting Zoe for a physical relationship. I understand that Zoe wouldn't know what to do with Max and wouldn't want to hurt his feelings, but she doesn't have any romantic feelings for him and he just keeps pushing himself on her. I get it, but really, come on. JUST PUSH HIM AWAY. My theory about Max is that Anastasiu, the author, intentionally made him an extremely dislikable person so he could then become a villain.

The other love interest is Adrien. Insta love between them? Yes *groan*. Besides the immediate connection/love he and Zoe share (which is slightly more understandable as Adrien already knows about Zoe from his visions, therefore could fall in love with her quicker) he is an average character. It is insta love, yet not, because of an unfortunate event, Adrien does have to start over and work for Zoe's love. Except his weird swearing did annoy me at first, but I eventually got used to it.



The writing was okay, nothing much to day about it. So all in all, I will probably go on to read the sequel if only to find out what happens (stinky cliff hangers), and I hope the sequel might redeem Glitch.

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