Sunday, May 11, 2014

Review: Rebel by Amy Tintera

Title: Rebel (Reboot #2)
Author: Amy Tintera
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopian
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Source: HarperTeen via Edelweiss
Goodreads | The Reading Room


Note: I would recommend not reading this blurb as it's super spoilery.
The sequel to the action-packed Reboot is a can't-miss thrill ride, perfect for fans of James Patterson, Veronica Roth, and Marie Lu.

After coming back from death as Reboots and being trained by HARC as soldiers, Wren and Callum have finally escaped north, where they hope to find a life of freedom. But when they arrive at the Reboot Reservation, it isn't what they expected. Under the rule of a bloodthirsty leader, Micah, the Reboots are about to wage an all-out war on the humans. Although Wren's instincts are telling her to set off into the wilderness on their own and leave the battle far behind, Callum is unwilling to let his human family be murdered. When Micah commits the ultimate betrayal, the choice is made for them. But Micah has also made a fatal mistake . . . he's underestimated Wren and Callum.

The explosive finale to the Reboot duology is full of riveting action and steamy love scenes as Wren and Callum become rebels against their own kind.
Review by Nara


Warning: anyone wanting to read this book shouldn't read the blurb. IT'S SO FREAKING SPOILERY. It literally completely ruins this one major plot twist (which does happen fairly early on, so I suppose it isn't that bad, but still). Thankfully I have this weird policy of not reading blurbs for sequels of books so I wasn't spoilered, but seriously, who the heck wrote that synopsis? Not on, people. Not on. Also, I seriously thought this series was going to be a trilogy, the way things were headed, but everything is very nicely wrapped up in two books. Well played, Tintera.

Surprisingly, Rebel is actually told from two points of view- Callum and Wren. The dual perspectives were done pretty well. I had no idea that the sequel would be dual POV, because I'm pretty sure that Reboot was only from Wren's perspective. So when I opened to Chapter 1: Callum, I was like WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?! And I have to be honest, I'm always slightly nervous when there's a POV split in a series, because that often means that the two characters are going to be separated somehow (and the POV split is therefore necessary to tell the whole story). I'll let you find out for yourself whether that actually does happen mwahaha.

The non-spoilery part of the blurb states that Reboot is "full of riveting action and steamy love scenes" but I'd probably agree with only the first part. There was definitely a lot of fast-paced action throughout the entire novel- no places to catch your breath because there was almost constant battles and break-ins and whatnot. In terms of the "steamy love scenes", if there's one really small nitpicky flaw that I would pick out for Rebel, it would be that the romance is a little bit over the top. Pretty much every scene where Callum and Wren appear together, they're holding hands/Callum squeezes Wren's hand/kissing/hugging etc etc. I mean, it was cute the first couple of times, but then it happened EVERY FREAKING TIME and I was all "Get a room!" I wouldn't necessarily call it "steamy" per se, though.

Well, in any case, I really do recommend giving this duology a go. It's very action-packed and there's a shippable romance and the conclusion is very satisfying. And omg look at that cover. LOOK AT IT. I love how they did the highlighting of 178 again. GAH THE TWO COVERS LOOK SO GOOD TOGETHER *FLAIL*. At the very least, the books will look excellent on your shelf ;)

p.s. anyone know whether it's Rebel as in the verb or Rebel the noun? I don't know which way to pronounce it when I tell people about the book haha

Incredible

Ratings
Overall: 9/10
Plot: 5/5
Writing: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 5/5