Book Review: Override by Heather Anastasiu

Override
Author: Heather Anastasiu
Series: Glitch (Book 2)
Publication: St. Martin's Griffin (February 12, 2013)

Description: Zoe is free. She has escaped the enslavement of the Community, disconnected from the hardware that had controlled her every thought and emotion, and evaded capture by the Chancellor intent on killing her. She is finally free, but she is far from safe.

Zoe and Adrien hide themselves from detection at the Foundation, an academy that trains teen glitchers to fight in the Resistance movement. Together, Zoe and her new team of superhuman fighters must risk their lives to rescue other glitchers and humans from the Chancellor's control. Challenges abound at every turn, and Adrien, who has become silent, distant, and tormented by his visions of the future, only adds to the growing certainty of defeat. But worst of all, as Zoe's team fights against impossible odds, distrust and betrayal leads to the terrible discovery that their greatest threat could already be lurking behind the safe walls of the Foundation.

Full of high-adrenaline action and shocking twists, Heather Anastasiu's Override is an exciting continuation of this popular young adult trilogy.

My Thoughts: This is the middle book of the Glitch trilogy. It is a dystopia about a future Earth where the majority of people are controlled by chips in their brains which make them obedient and unable to feel emotions. For some reason and for some people, the chip instead causes young people to develop psychic gifts.

The resistance is gathering these young glitchers to try to build them into an army that can defeat those in power. But a the Chancellor is also gathering glitchers to create her own army and the Chancellor has a secret glitcher power of her own. She has the gift of compulsion that works on everyone but the main character of this story.

Zoe is a strong telekinetic who is on the run from the Chancellor. She is also having some problems getting control of her telekinetic gifts. She is not used to feeling emotions and the new emotions are making her gift hard to control. It doesn't help that her boyfriend Adrien, who has visions of the future, has seen her as the leader of the revolution who changes the future.

This middle book is concerned with Zoe getting control of her gifts. She is also learning that the revolution's current leaders don't really trust the young glitchers but are eager to use them as weapons.

When a raid to free some glitchers under the Chancellor's control goes horribly wrong, odds are looking good for the revolutionaries. Even worse, Adrien has taken to avoiding Zoe and she can't understand why.

This book has action, excitement, twists and turns, and a main character who is growing into her gifts, and just enough romance. Fans of dystopias will enjoy following this series to its conclusion.

Favorite Quote:

"Then why ---?" I stopped myself.

"Why fight?" He finished. "Why risk everything for something we might not win?" He turned his face back to me, his aqua eyes sparking to life just like they always used to when we talked. "Because if we don't fight, we've already lost. Without hope, without trying, there's no point. There's no future. And you, Zoe," his voice softened. "I would fight forever to have a future with you."

I bought this one Feb. 14, 2013. You can buy your copy here.