reboot – Heart Full of Books

This year has definitely been the year that we discovered duologies. They’re perfect! The trilogy has been done to death, and usually they follow the same pattern: the first one is the best, the second one takes a dip and depending, the third is either a nose dive to disappointment or a jump to satisfaction. With a duology, there’s less chance of what we like to call ‘Second Book Syndrome’.

So, which ones are well worth reading?

Fearsome Dreamer and The Illusionists by Laure Eve

Not only do you get a beautiful set of covers, these two books are absolutely phenomenal. For only two books, it feels like you’re reading seven because of the different point of view and locations explored throughout. The world is extremely well built, the characters are so varied, your bound to love at least one of them, (Rue and White, forever ♡) and the story…boy, I can’t even describe it. Imagine Under the Never Sky mixed with The Chronicles of Prydain and you’re pretty much there.

Pivot Point and Split Second by Kasie West

These books are perfect if you love the paranormal and contemporary genres. Addie has the power to see outcomes of a choice. Should she live with her Mum or her Dad, and what consequences will that have on her love life, her best friend, and the secret mind-power society she lives in? You get to read the two outcomes, both action packed and loveable, and be shocked and thrilled by what Addie chooses. The second book adds her best friend, Laila’s perspective to the mix, and deals with the aftermath of Addie’s choice. Seriously, could not recommend enough!

The Perfectionists and The Good Girls by Sara Shepard

Love Pretty Little Liars? This is practically the same thing, but in two books instead of sixteen! Perfect! These are about how six girls are affected by the murder of the high school’s most popular guy, Nolan Hotchkiss. Each girl is suspected in a slightly different way, and deals with a lot of personal drama amongst a murder inquiry. Are the girls really as perfect and good as they appear? And who’s going down for a murder they may or may not have committed?
Packed with the same drama and plot twists as PLL, this is a fast paced duology bound to leave you with an open jaw on the final page.

https://heartfullofbooks.com/2015/07/05/review-vivian-versus-the-apocalypse-by-katie-coyle/

Vivian Versus the Apocalypse and Vivian Versus America by Katie Coyle

This duology takes a completely different turn to the other recommendations. About a girl called Vivian and her best friend Harp, trying to survive the aftermath of a religious cult takeover, stealing family members and bringing about the second coming. If it sounds intense, that’s because it is! But, despite the manic plot, the relationship between the girls

Breathe and Resist by Sarah Crossan

If you hate to see trilogies suffer from second book syndrome then the Breathe duology is perfect for you! It’s a fast-paced dystopian where the amount of oxygen you’re allowed is controlled by the Pod Leaders. The books are told from four different PoVs throughout the series so you get to see every part of the world, both Inside and Out, rebel and victim! If you liked the Under The Never Sky trilogy then this should definitely make your TBR!

Reboot and Rebel by Amy Tintera

After death humans can reboot, but the longer it takes the less human they are when they return. It took Wren Connolly 178 minutes to reboot, making her one of the toughest girls around. In the facility where the reboots live, Wren trains the newbies where she meets 22 Callum. This duology has something for everyone, romance, conspiracy, and a ton of action that will have you on the edge of your seat!

Reboot by Amy Tintera
Genre: Apocalyptic, Sci-Fi, Romance, Action
Published by: HarperTeen
Pages: 365
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I’d wanted to read Reboot for a while, but was unsure on the premise, because it seemed like something I perhaps wouldn’t enjoy, however I was pleasantly surprised.

I thoroughly enjoyed Wren’s character development. She was dead for 178 minutes before she rebooted, which meant she was the ‘least human’, however I felt this was sort of forgotten. In the very beginning she seemed to have a wide scope of emotions, perhaps this was because she’d been conditioned by her roommate to be a little friendlier, but it would have made more sense for her to take on a more robotic personality. Wren is supposed to be one of the toughest Reboots, because of her number, but when it comes to training a new Reboot, she picks Callum, the 22, when she normally goes from the highest number available. Without reading the blurb you knew this was where the romance was going to start, and it made for a very interesting dynamic as the pair are pretty much opposites…or so we think.

The majority of Reboot focuses on Wren training Callum to be more resilient, so that he’ll take orders, and therefore not get shot. It’s a brutal life, but then another layer is added to the story in the form of Reboot testing, and one of the characters to receive these injections is Ever, Wren’s best friend. In my opinion this is where the story really picks up, because Wren starts to realize that her life in the containment facility isn’t that great, and so the logical next step is, of course, escape.

Wren and Callum overcome a lot of difficulties in their escape, namely having to trust humans, planning how to get out in the first place, mourning the loss of friends and just generally trying to survive. Reboot ends on a cliffhanger so I made sure to pick up Rebel straight away. Other than learning about the world and the two main characters not a lot happens in Reboot apart from the testing conspiracy and their escape, so I set my expectations higher for the sequel.

Rebel by Amy Tintera
Pages: 340
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

Rebel is written in a dual perspective, and I have to admit that I didn’t really care for Callum’s point of view, because Wren seemed to have the more action packed sequences.

One thing that did surprise me is how they stick together through thick and thin, and they’re always working to get back to one another. There’s no ‘save yourself, because I love you’ it’s ‘we need to get out together, because I love you.’ They managed to escape to a compound build by Reboots who then help them, but they have their own agenda. Micah, 163, understands Wren’s potential so some panic and Rebellion ensues.

What more could we expect from the title of this book. It was fast paced and answered the majority of the questions that I still had left over from Reboot. More importantly, things were rounded off nicely, and Wren finally came to the conclusion that she wasn’t a monster, and justice was served. On the other hand I do feel that this book was almost like a waiting game. Again, there was a lot of preparation for the next step and then the step after that. More new characters are introduced, such as Isaac, and I’d be really interested to have had chapter or excerpts from his perspective.

As much as I did like this duology, I was expecting more because of the fantastic premise. I didn’t find myself becoming attached to any of the characters in particular, and although I did feel sympathetic towards their situation so me things felt more forced than others, and with a bit of communication a lot of their problems could have been solved. These books dealt with issues like prejudice extremely well, but even so I wanted a clearer, stronger ending. We’re left without any real indication of whether or not the world continues to work after the rebellion. As often is with these sorts of plot lines, it’s the next five chapters after the ending that I’m really interested in reading. Overall, I thought it was a fun, interesting, and definitely different, read that I would recommend to those of you that like more serious characters and situations.