Mandafofanda Reads Lots

Interesting concept - what if infected humans who came back to life after they died (basically zombies) were enslaved by the general population and trained to become unemotional super-soldiers?

I enjoyed the first half of this book the most. Wren 178 is the least "human" Reboot in the Texan complex, being, at 178 minutes, the girl longest dead before coming back to life. She's ruthless, unemotional and good at her job. That is, until new recruit Callum 22 arrives and starts to wreak emotional havoc on her.

I adored their interactions. Callum is all "Oooh, a cute girl" and acting friendly while ignoring or protesting against the unwritten boundaries that Wren has rigidly lived by for so long. Wren is all confused and feeling attraction for the first time and finding many of her coldly logical arguments cracking. I just wanted to hug her in all her social awkwardness, though I'd be scared to because she wouldn't have any compunctions against snapping both my arms in the blink of an eye. There is a very [b:Divergent|13335037|Divergent (Divergent, #1)|Veronica Roth|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328559506s/13335037.jpg|13155899]-esque feel in the beginning half as Wren becomes Callum's trainer in hopes of getting him to become the tough soldier that the corporation needs.

I liked that the author included themes of class division, what it means to be human, and slavery, so it wasn't just a mindless fluff dystopian read.

In the second half of the book, the two begin to uncover a sinister plot with Reboots becoming more feral and try to escape the complex. The action keeps the pacing of the book up, but I just didn't enjoy this part of the story as much and it wasn't as original as the beginning.