Book Review: Glitch (Glitch #1) by Heather Anastasiu

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:

Release Date: August 7, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
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.

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Review:

Huh. Well… This book had a lot of faults, in my opinion. Too many faults for me to really enjoy it.

Glitch is the story of a girl, Zoel, or Zoe as she prefers to be called. Zoe has been having "glitches" of emotion and awareness in a world where emotion and disorder are cause for death or "deactivation." Everything in this novel is electronic and futuristic. 

The futuristic tone of this novel was one thing that really troubled me. Because I'm not very knowledgable about technology, and that's an understatement, I had trouble following along with all of the new ideas that Glitch produces. Not only did I get mixed up with that part of the novel, but with the exaggerated plot, I was confused on what was happening like forty percent of the time. I had to reread several parts to make sure I was reading correctly. Yes, it hard to understand what was happening, but it didn't help that the plot also moved a the strangest pace. Sometimes it went quickly, other times, I felt like I was reading in slow motions. That was extremely frustrating. It took me so long to finish the book.

Another hardship was that I didn't like Zoe. We just didn't click. Her actions and thoughts were so overwhelming and she was constantly crying. When a character cries all the time, I get really annoyed. Maybe that's insensitive seeing as she's reacting to emotion for the first time in her life, but come on. There are other emotions besides sadness. Plus, her understanding was so inconsistent. There were some things that she didn't understand like what "sorry" means. Really? They don't make apologies in the future? And though she didn't know what "sorry" meant, she knew what terror was before anyone explained it to her? It just doesn't add up.

Adrien is really the only character I liked. And liked may even be a stretch. Everyone else, Molla, Zoe, Max… I want to kick them all. They are just weak and unlikable characters. I didn't feel sorry for any of them. The feeling provoked by their descriptions and actions was closer to contempt.

There's a love triangle in this novel. Kind of… I actually really don't know how to describe it. The "love triangle" made me want to stop reading. The second love interest was a total jerk. Every time Zoe forgave him, I wanted to slap her. He's seriously awful. A horrible "human" being. So that made it hard to read at points because I did not understand the attraction. Even thinking about him makes me want to tear out my hair. He might even be worse than… *gasp* Christian Grey.

But overall, I kinda-ish liked it. The idea was interesting. I didn't like the characters at all, but I am curious about what's going to happen next. 

I received and e-copy of this novel from the publisher through Netgalley for my honest opinion and review.