Well now. So in the future, the perfect super soldiers are teenagers who came back from the dead. Oh, and apparently Texas is an independent nation. Yeah. It could happen. Totally. Well, that last part anyway. You know, about Texas being its country…
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.
I first came across this book in a YouTube review done by one of my favorite book vloggers. Her description of the book and review pretty much matches mine. If you have a few minutes, you should watch it. This Kat is delightful! You should subscriber to her channel! Her YouTube name is Katytastic. For real. She's adorable.
Any who, this book. Right. It’s a take on the zombie genre. I love zombie tales. They are fun. Zombie tales allow us to look at the different aspects of humanity when the shit hits the fan. But this tale…this tale is different. The story of Wren178 is that of dying and then waking up with your intelligence still in enact. However, you don’t get to go home. You get shipped off to a government facility to be turned into a zombie solider. The longer your dead, the stronger you are. The longer you’re dead, the less your humanity stays intact. This is Wren. She seems to be void of all emotion and just seems indifferent to the circumstances around her. The only thing that brings her any type of joy is training the newbie Reboots. And that is where we meet Callum…and that is when things just start going downhill. He challengers her every step of the way and questions everything. It truly does drive her crazy. On top of her 22 minute dead Reboot, there is some other things going on throughout the facility that she is at. The lower numbered Reboots are acting like…well, zombies. They are crazed and loose themselves in periods of frenzied animal behavior. Then the men in lab coats give them shots and they pass out, waking the next morning (almost) like their old selves. Wren soon begins to feel those troublesome emotions as if she were still a human. At that point, things do kind of go to shit.
Over all, I really enjoyed this story. Like all young adult tales, there is a romance element that develops between Wren and Callum, but thankfully, it is not the focal point of the story. The story is about Wren and Callum trying to escape the Reboot compound and the shadiness of a world that is using children/teenagers as some kind of super soldiers. How did all this happen? No clue. All we know is that Texas said “Deuces!” to the United States of America, making its own country and that there is a chance that if you die, you are going to wake back up. I’m okay with the lack of details of this world. For a story like this, it’s sometimes best for the author to tell the reader, “This is the way of world and I don’t have time to truly delve into the why. You just have to trust me.” And thankfully, I wasn’t stabbed in the back with trusting Amy Tintera and her story telling (Yes, I’m still bitter about Veronica Roth and the Allegiant fiasco). I didn’t have a problem attaching to Wren and following her on the rediscovery of her emotions and also the conspiracy theory that was developing about the Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation, or HARC. The action was well written and with Wren’s voice telling the story, it was easy to follow and conjure up those images of a badass Reboot. The tale ends with a great cliff hanger that begs for the second book, Rebel, to be read to see what happens with Wren and Callum and all the other Reboots in the Republic of Texas.
My only little niggle with this story was, of course, the budding romance between Wren and Callum. I know it’s what seems to be a staple in all Young Adult books. But for once, I would like to read about a two people who can just be friend and not develop forced affection for each out. Wren and Callum on the run from the HARC should be enough. Their banter back and forth was natural and easy. Two friends. So why must there be a romance? Maybe I should just be glad that there’s not a love triangle…
If you are looking for an interesting take on zombies and do really wish that Texas was it’s own separate country, then give this book a read. It is fun, the writing is good, and there is a good bit of butt kicking action.
Until next time!
Remember to be yourself. Unless you can be a pirate…then always be a pirate!
