Audio Book Review: Rebel by Amy Tintera
Media Type: Audio Book
Title: Rebel
* Series: Reboot #2
Narrator: Khristine Hvam, Mike Chamberlain
Publisher: Harper Teen
Format: MP3 Download
Length: 7 hours and 59 minutes
Source: Audible
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Content Screening: Mild Violence
HDB Rating: 3 Keys to My Heart
Recommended to: Fans of the first book in the series!
The sequel to the action-packed Reboot is a can’t-miss thrill ride, perfect for fans of James Patterson, Veronica Roth, and Marie Lu.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.The explosive finale to the Reboot duology is full of riveting action and steamy love scenes as Wren and Callum become rebels against their own kind.
If you’ll recall, I rather liked Reboot, the first book in this series. It was one of those books that you have to suspend disbelief to enjoy, but it was a fun ride. When Rebel popped up on my recommendations in Audible, I was excited! Khristine Hvam narrates both of these, and she’s one of my all time favorite narrators. I was definitely ready to drop back into a world filled with reboots. Ready to see what atrocities HARC would commit now. I guess I was just ready for some action.
Talking solely about the audio book aspect of this, the first miss for me was that there are two narrators this time around. Mike Chamberlain takes on the voice of Callum, our male protagnoist, and I wasn’t a fan of him at all. His voice is flat. It never changes, despite switching characters or having certain emotional cues. He drove me crazy. Of course every other chapter it would switch to Wren’s perspective, and therefore to Khristine Hvam’s wonderful voice, and all was well with the world. I wish they would have left her as the sole narrator. I could have done without an actual male voice for Callum.
Where the first book blew me away with its action and originality, Rebel just felt like it was rehashing a lot of the same things. The big cliffhanger at the end of Reboot left you wondering where Wren and Callum would go next. We find that out right at the beginning of this book, and I was less than impressed. Micah was an okay villain. His plot to bring about devastation and change a decent plot tool. The problem was that I didn’t feel like anything new was being done. The first book had daring escapes, shoot outs and secrets. This one just felt lackluster compared to that.
What I will say is that Amy Tintera does her readers a solid by answering any and all questions that might have been left lingering. Everything I wondered about came to fruition in this book. I couldn’t help but smile as Wren and Callum were closer than ever, and Wren’s emotions finally started to turn into something almost human. Do I feel like there was a bit too much romance here? No. It balances out nicely with everything else. Actually, I would have almost liked to see a little more action. I missed my kick-ass Wren. I really did.
