Author: Heather Anastasiu
Release Date: August 2012
Published By: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 308
Goodreads Rating: 3.64 stars
Review: Implanted computer chips have wiped humanity clean of destructive emotions, but when Zoe starts to glitch, she suddenly begins having her own thoughts, feelings, and identity. As Zoe struggles to control her new telekinetic abilities and stay hidden, she meets other glitcher, and together, this growing band must find a way to free themselves from the controlling hands of the Community before they’re caught and deactivated, or worse.
GLITCH opened with an interesting enough premise, but there wasn't enough to it that really made it stand out among dystopian novels these days. The concept of a government-extremist-controlled utopia has been around for a while, and there weren't really any new spins on the idea to make it more original. What bothered me a little is that there are enough books like this that reading it makes it sort of blend in with the others.
I also found the love interest in general to be cliche. It's of the insta-love variety with a love triangle that made me groan a bit, and as with the premise, nothing new was really brought to the table. The book would have been better off without the romantic sub-plot because it didn't contribute much to the storyline and in fact I would argue it detracted from the overall experience of reading the novel, especially with Zoe's needless and disturbing toleration of Max's actions.
However, I don't mean to suggest that this book was all bad, because this definitely was not the case. Apart from my frustration regarding her romantic situation, I enjoyed Zoe's character: she was brave and smart, yet still had the same human flaws everyone did. Her emotional scenes were very well-written and allowed the reader to truly experience what she was going through, and I certainly was rooting for her the entire story.
All in all, GLITCH was a decent read that just didn't stand out as much as it could have. When it comes to the mass of dystopian novels being published, it does rather blend in, and the romance is lacking, but the characters were well-written. If you don't like dystopia in general, this may not be for you, but for hardcore dystopian fans, this may be another book for your collection.
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