Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: A futuristic adventure, filled with choice, friendship, and strength, taken place in a fantastic world. Opening Sentence: I felt it coming this time.The Review: There has been a good amount of science fiction books. I’m a huge fan of science fiction, originating from the days of Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, and even Douglas Adams. When I was given Heather Anastasiu’s Glitch to review, I was intrigued. There were promises of futuristic societies, controlled thoughts, and implantation of computer chips into people. Glitch definitely delivered wonder and amazement, and so much more. In Glitch, a young girl stands apart from many others. Where the masses are connected and numbed from all independent thought, Zoe malfunctions. As someone who glitches, Zoe begins to have feelings, emotions, and eventually an identity. And because glitching is forbidden, she begins to hide the truth from everyone. Slowly, Zoe’s emotions are becoming uncontrollable, revealing another secret: her telekinetic powers. Struggling to control her glitching and her abilities, Zoe meets others like her. Zoe’s world is opened to a whole new truth that even she couldn’t fathom. Zoe is an amazing character. She was believable, despite the futuristic setting. Anastasiu allowed me to not only sympathize with Zoe, but to also want to become her. Despite the harsh reveal of the truths of her own world, Zoe experienced things in a new light. Zoe experienced art in a way that I never thought about. Zoe was a person with upstanding morals and overall positive personality traits. She was strong when needed and compassionate towards others. Zoe encounters two significant people throughout her glitching days. One is Adrien, who noticed Zoe at the beginning of her glitches. Adrien helped her escape in a time of need, and he opened her eyes to the Resistance. He loved her for who she was, and he watched over her when she least expected it. The other significant person is Max. I’m not sure if he was meant to be the other point in a love triangle, but I felt that he was a good support system for Zoe when she needed him. A childhood friend, Max proved his worth on many occasions. Despite a few wrong intentions, I felt that Max was a good plot twist in the story. Anastasiu’s world is amazing. The way that she built up the culture of Zoe’s world was detailed with vivid imagery. I was standing in the Community, plugged in with the others. I believed along with Zoe that the way to life was, “Community first. Community always.” And then Anastasiu flips it all around to show me the outskirts and the Resistance, a whole new community with a different dynamic and culture. Each entity and social group with their own beliefs, and each one with characters important to the story and to the plot’s cause. I was fascinated by the social dynamics written into Glitch. I appreciated the slow steps to revealing the different sides of the equation. It brought me back to the days of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I was fascinated with the Community collective, their dynamic with each other and the government, as well as the Resistence, their beginnings and how they came to be. There were so many levels of depth in this book, that it has quickly made its way on my favorites shelf. Anastasiu does not hold back in her writing abilities. From the world descriptions to the world building, and then to the depth of each character involved in the storyline, Glitch has the makings of a fantastic read. There are messages of experiences, loyalty, and personalities written throughout the story. Each one adding weight to the words on the page. I can’t say, “If you like [book], then you’ll love Glitch,” only because it stands out on its own. Notable Scene: The memory came with a jolt of fear, bursting temporarily through the solid Link barrier that kept my emotions silenced. I almost gasped, only barely managing to suppress it at the last moment. This had never happened before. Normally once the Link had taken complete control, I felt and thought nothing until I glitched again days or weeks later. Inside I flailed in panic, trying desperately to keep every muscle twitch, every shift of my eyes completely under control as the fear pulsed through me. I didn’t dare turn my head, but I looked around as discreetly as possible at the people near me in line. The small aluminum circle under the skin of my chest, my heart and vitals monitor, vibrated slightly in response to my increased heart rate. The subjects nearby hadn’t noticed the buzzing— they were too zoned out to the Link— but I knew that if I didn’t get my panic under control immediately, the monitor would start a loud beeping alarm, alerting the huge crowds of Market Corridor that I was anomalous, possibly defective. The Regulators I had passed moments before would drag me away. Would I be like the girl, and come back all fi xed and never glitch again? Or would I be like the boy, and never come back at all? The questions only made the panic rise higher.FTC Advisory: Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press provided me with a copy of Glitch. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
