Shutdown by Heather Anastasiu Review

Shutdown by Heather Anasasiu
(Glitch, #3)
Release Date: July 2, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 320 pages

The battle is all but over, and hope seems to be lost. Zoe and her fellow Resistance fighters are on the run, having lost their home, their protection, and their leader. They are outnumbered and outmatched by the powerful corporation that controls the world, and the cruel Chancellor is inches away from completing a scheme that would kill most of humanity. Zoe's only remaining option is to chase the impossible dream of upending the Link system, freeing the world from the hardware that controls their thoughts and emotions, and hope it will trigger a revolution.

The plot requires a nearly impossible mission to infiltrate the dangerous Community, and it is a task that Zoe must unfortunately complete alone. With challenges and surprises at every turn, nothing goes according to plan. Adrien's visions of the future now show two possible outcomes: one in which they succeed, and one in which humanity falls. It all lies in Zoe's hands.

This is one of those series where it just gets better and better as the books go on. Shutdown was easily my favorite of the trilogy. It was heartbreaking, action-packed, so suspenseful that I found myself on the edge of my seat many times and unpredictable. (Parts were predictable but then she’d do something right after that you did not see coming).

Adrien, poor lovely Adrien. At the end of Override, after having part of his brain removed by the evil and wicked Chancellor, he lost all of his emotions. While he still had his memories of he and Zoe together he had no emotional attachment to them or worse, to her. We find out that Adrien is gone; at least the Adrien we've grown to love. We're left here with Adrien 2.0 which might appear rather depressing but it's actually amazing. Not only do we get to fall in love with Adrien all over again but so does Zoe. What person can say they're lucky enough to fall in love with the same person not once, but twice? He's not fully the same Adrien but there are pieces of the old Adrien still left in the new Adrien.

All you Max haters can go bugger off. I've liked Max since the beginning and even with all the bad things he's done throughout this series, I've always stood by him. I've been disappointed in him, sure, but he's had the best intentions. Sometimes people just don't use their head when they have one thing set in their minds. That one thing? Zoe. He wanted her and used what ever means to try and get her. What some people don't realize is if your intended doesn't want to be wanted by you, no matter what you do (good or bad) you'll never accomplish your goal. That's when you have cut your losses and move on. He is a father now with the mother of his child completely and utterly already in love with him. Focus on that but of course, this is Max we're talking about so it's not going to happen. All I ask is after reading this book, Max haters, are you still a hater? If you are . . . just back up and walk away. I can't deal with you right now . . .

That being said, this is a series that has just gotten better and better as it's gone along. While I enjoyed Glitch, I wasn't in love with it. Override changed my opinion on that, as I became in love with it. After reading Shutdown, I became depressed because I knew it was over. There was no more of this world, these characters - nothing. Done. That makes me sad but it was a fantastic conclusion to a great trilogy. It's one I'm definitely glad I stuck with. Though there were many times I wanted to put the book down and sigh, as there were many aspects that depressed me, there were other times I wanted to put my book down to run around, cheering. If a series can bring out that much emotion in a reader, the author is doing their job wonderfully.

Sci-Fi fans; Dystopia fans; Fantasy fans - read this. The books are quick reads so if you're looking at your huge TBR pile and laughing like yeah right, like I can fit three more books on there they won't take you long and you'll be glad you put a few days aside to just devour them. Plus, if you haven't started this series, now you don't have to wait months and months and months between the releases. I'm actually jealous of you. You finish one then you just pick up the next one and then the next.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for allowing me the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. And thank you, Heather Anastasiu, for making a fantastic trilogy that I will be going back and rereading again. Also, thank you for being so awesome and allowing us to interview you for both Glitch and Shutdown; it was a pleasure hosting you!