Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Override by Heather Anastasiu [ARC REVIEW]

TITLE: Override (Glitch #2)
AUTHOR: Heather Anastasiu
PUBLISHER: St. Martin's Griffin
PUB DATE: Feb 12 2013
Summary from Goodreads:

"Zoe is free. She has escaped the enslavement of the Community, disconnected from the hardware that had controlled her every thought and emotion, and evaded capture by the Chancellor intent on killing her. She is finally free, but she is far from safe.

Zoe and Adrien hide themselves from detection at the Foundation, an academy that trains teen glitchers to fight in the Resistance movement. Together, Zoe and her new team of superhuman fighters must risk their lives to rescue other glitchers and humans from the Chancellor's control. Challenges abound at every turn, and Adrien, who has become silent, distant, and tormented by his visions of the future, only adds to the growing certainty of defeat. But worst of all, as Zoe's team fights against impossible odds, distrust and betrayal leads to the terrible discovery that their greatest threat could already be lurking behind the safe walls of the Foundation.

Full of high-adrenaline action and shocking twists, Heather Anastasiu's Override is an exciting continuation of this popular young adult trilogy."

Rating:

On my review of Glitch last year, I have probably done a lot of belittling over that book, to a point that I wasn’t really expecting myself to read the rest of the series. But seeing an advance copy of book two made me think otherwise. Right now, after reading Override, I think I’m just about to eat my words. I even imagine Heather Anastasiu going: “Ha! In your face, bitch!” She didn’t really say that of course, but I’d take it if she did. Haha!

Anyway, Override was the kind of book I least expected to love and enjoy. For one thing, I found Zoe typical in the first book, so the changes she went through in book two was admirable. From being someone once so powerful then having no control at all, and to be able to harness it once again, well Zoe I really got to give it to you. As struggling as you felt at first, nice job! Not to mention being told that she was supposed to lead an army of rebels, without her having any idea about how to do that was really pressuring, and I couldn’t help but feel compassion towards her.

With Glitch, I wasn’t completely sold on the love triangle going on between Zoe, Adrien and Max. I thought it was simply a ploy to spice things up. But... wow! Turns out Max really has a significant role in all this. That scene where Zoe found out he intruded the rebel facility – I think my mind just blew to bits! Even though I hate Max, I have to admit that was one hell of a tactic!

I love the development that occurred with the rest of the characters, just as much as Zoe’s. It’s safe to say that each and every one of them (taking part in the Resistance) have issues of their own, and coming together for one purpose was not easy to leave all the baggage behind. Add the fact that they have grudges and opinions with one race and the other (glitchers, drones, ex-Regulators, etc), the whole set up was crazy and unstable. Still, it was an interesting mix.

Now on to the whole “glitchers having superpowers” thing, to be honest I really thought it was a common idea. Zoe even reminds me so much of Jean Grey from Marvel’s X-Men, so I kept thinking why she came to be so special, with her telekinetic powers, among the characters in the book. Told you I belittled so much, but then I saw how Zoe’s powers evolved... that was brilliant! If I thought Max’s powers were cool, this is something else, and it feels like there would be more surprises up and coming.

It’s amazing how Ms. Anastasiu was able to mash up one super power with another in a way that doesn’t seem awkward or forced. She has every bit of a “logical” explanation towards how they came to be. They were very well thought off that I couldn’t help but find myself agreeing that they aren’t far off from being possible.

Speaking of explanations, you should have seen my face when it came to the scientific talk. I was like: I’m sorry... What?! *insert clueless reaction* Really. The terminologies make me either zone out or just feel lost. Uhm... English, please? Haha!

It has been a rare treat for me to find a YA Sci-fi story that leaves me satisfied. Although the ending was a bit sad [over what Adrien has ended up being after], with high-speed thrilling escape scenes, action packed rescue missions and breath-taking superhuman battles, reading Override was such a gratifying experience!

*Thank you, St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for the copy of Override.