Thursday, July 24, 2014

Review: Rebel by Amy Tintera

From Goodreads: 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. 

My Rating: 4 stars 

Thoughts on the Novel: Picking up right after the events of Reboot, Amy Tintera’s Rebel remains packed with action, but was also a more contemplative read that enabled its characters to develop further.

Narrated by both Wren’s and Callum’s distinct voices, Rebel allows the reader to see just how different these two characters are in thought and action. For example, while Callum morally opposes killing, Wren has no qualms about doing so. At the same time, despite their contrasting views, they remained a solid couple. In fact, I think they became more similar to each other in Rebel because Callum comes to realize that perhaps violence may be a necessary means in some situations whereas Wren learns that there are limits to when she will kill. I also really liked the addition of Micah as a contrasting figure for Wren to determine the type of leader that she wants to be. 

My favourite characters in Rebel though turned out to be the snarky Addie and Riley. As Wren’s trainer at HARC, I expected Riley to be this emotionless soldier, but instead, he continually teased Wren like an older brother so that she would lighten up.  

An excellent sequel, Rebel was released by HarperTeen in May 2014. 

Comments About the Cover: I like how it matches with Reboot’s cover and continues to highlight the number 178. 

In exchange for an honest review, this book was received from the publisher (HarperCollins) for free via Edelweiss.

7 comments:

  1. Hmm..zombies aren't really my thing, Z so I'm not so sure about picking this one up. I'm glad you enjoyed it more than the first book though.

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  2. Well yay! I was hoping this would be a solid sequel, I so enjoyed the first one! I like that both Callum and Wren start to see that things aren't so black and white in this one, and they take steps from the opposite side of the spectrum more toward the middle:)

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  3. I was curious about the first one, but I haven't read it yet. I'm glad to see you thought the sequel was solid.

    -Lauren

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  4. Sounds like it has a pretty good balance between character development and action, which is really good for a sequel. I haven't read the first book but I do want to!

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  5. Right on, this is just what I want to hear about a sequel! And something I don't hear often enough about them, sadly. I like that this one seems to have a good balance between characterization and action, so I'll have to look into this series sometime.

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  6. I actually thought the second book was better than the first, which is rare. But the two of them together are just excellent. I read Rebel not knowing that it was the last one and while I was happy with how it ended, I really wanted more.

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  7. Great to hear that you liked Rebel. I wasn't that much into Reboot but knowing that Amy Tintera takes some more time to find out more about the characters could convince me to pick it up rather sooner than later. Thanks for your review :)

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