Book Review and Apoc Love Interview: Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

Cybernetically-enhanced teen Zoe Gray is glitching, and if she's found out by her rigid underground society, she'll be reprogrammed or even deactivated. As she learns to stay hidden and control her developing telekinesis, she discovers other glitchers including two boys that vie for her affections - Adrian, a boy who can dream the future and Max, a shapeshifter.

If that last sentence makes you think "oh no - not another love triangle", fear not, because the triangle is not the core of the emotional journey (though it does have some rather cool implications plot-wise).  Because Zoe has effectively been dead to emotion all her life, her glitching opens a whole new world for her. Her interactions with Adrian are so affecting because she has no artifice. Though he's a long term member of the resistance, Adrian renews his investment in the cause because he's so inspired by experiencing the beauty of the world through her innocent eyes.  It's an incredibly tender romance with an underlying current of sizzle - and that's why it gets the Zombie Chicken Merit Badge for Romance.

The novel has so much more to offer too.  An interesting world, high stakes, and a killer of a twist ending. Zoe's journey from naive follower to empowered fighter is exciting, emotional and kick-ass fun.

Since Heather's an Apocalypsie, we also get an Apocalypsies Love interview with her today!

What is your favorite scene in the book?
Picking a favorite is so hard! I will say there’s a scene—between Adrien and Zoe at his mom’s house when they first get to really talk—that was one of the scenes stewing in my head long before I ever actually started writing the book, so it definitely stands out to me.

What is your favorite line in the book?
“I opened my mouth to his and tried to take him in so deep that my soul, if I had one, would remember what my brain forgot.”

On it's own, that line might seem a bit over-the-top, but because of the scene it follows, it's absolutely perfect. What setting was most fun to write?
There’s this scene on the Surface that was fun to write because I got to play with being an unreliable narrator. It’s one of the things I love about writing in first person. If things start getting crazy for your main character, then the narration starts getting warped too. VERY fun to write!

Who is your favorite supporting character - one you could see getting a spin-off book - and why?
Book 1 of the trilogy is pretty narrowly focused in on just a few characters, but they’re all main characters. But say, if I could write a spin-off book where I got to tell events from a different point of view, it would definitely be Max. He’s got some bad boy tendencies, and he’s so much fun to write.

What has been your favorite part of your publishing journey so far?
So far, nothing has beat the high of first selling the trilogy, getting the phone call that it sold to a great publisher here in the US (St. Martin’s), and then getting another call the next week that it had sold to France and Germany too. It was this amazing feeling of: oh my gosh, this is really happening, my book is going to be published and be on shelves around the world!!!

Thanks Heather!

GLITCH will be available August 7, 2012.  Find out more about it at Heather's website.  See also the GLITCH preview interview she did last Dystopian August.

See index of all dystopian reviews at Presenting Lenore

FTC disclosure: The author sent me this book for review.