The Glitch

The Glitches Series, Book 1

By: Ramona Finn

Narrated by: Genevieve Kaplan

Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

On the brink of extinction, being human means more than just surviving.

In Lib's world, it's dangerous to deviate from the norm. In fact, for someone who doesn't live up to the Artificial Intelligence's standards, it's practically a death sentence. Lib learns this the hard way when she wakes up in a barren wasteland, with her memories erased, and only one thought lodged in her mind:

"It's all my fault."

Lib is a Glitch - an imperfect human component of the utopian world called the Norm. Now she's thrown out, Lib will be forced to team up with two other Glitches, Skye and Raj, and the mysterious Rogue Wolf and his clan to survive. Wolf only cares about the survival of his group, but Raj thinks they can hack the A.I. and change the Norm for the better.

Now, Lib will have to decide which path to choose - whether to go with striking loner Raj or stay with Wolf and his tight-knit group. Her heart is drawn to both, but she's carrying a deadly secret that could jeopardize them all. Will she be able to save her newfound family and stop the A.I. before it's too late?

©2016 Relay Publishing (P)2017 Relay Publishing

Really good start to a series

Any additional comments?

Really good start to a series. Entertaining, engaging and very enjoyable. It's a little different from anything I have read recently. While there are little things here and there that may remind you of another series/movie, it stands on it's own as a creative, interesting and original story.

A post apocalyptic/dystopian world that has been taken over by an over zealous AI.
When artificial intelligence takes over and decides what is best in the greater good the consequences are deadly. Not only for humans.

Even though the story starts off on the slower side it still pulls you right in. Immediately you are trying to figure out what is going on and what happened to this girl which keeps you glued to the story. Before you know it your deep into the story and can't stop listening. This is not a fast paced, non-stop action story, but it does move forward at a steady pace building the suspense and mystery as the story unfolds.

Great cast of interesting characters. It wasn't just the main characters of Wolf, Lib, Skye, Raj that were interesting, many of the secondary characters were just as interesting. Lib the main character is just as confused and unknowing about what is going on as the reader is. As she learns we learn. Wolf is an enigma, which makes him even more intriguing.

Genevieve Kaplan did a great job with the narration. Pleasant voice. Easy to listen to for long periods of time. Clearly spoken with a smooth even pace. Really good character voices. She was able to make you feel the emotions of the characters. She was able to bring the characters and story to life through her narration. Very enjoyable.

The audio quality changes throughout the book. It sounds hollow or like she's speaking through a tunnel at times.

I'm looking forward to the next installment in the series. Hopefully the rest of the series will be on Audible soon and she will be narrating them.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher.

Interesting YA story

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this YA dystopic, sci-fi story of a fight to survive in an inhospitable world where the controlling AI wants to destroy everything that doesn’t live up to it’s standards. I found the concept of this world to be fascinating, a bit reminiscent of a ya version of the Matrix meets Mad Max. The plot is not overtly complex but it still has enough intrigue, twists, and action to keep your attention. The narration in the audiobook brought the characters to life, you could feel Lib’s confusion, indecision and frustration, Raj’s hate of being away from the Norm, Skye’s uncertainty and her need for friendship, and Wolf’s struggle over his attraction to Lib vs his obligation to put the Clan’s needs first. The romantic aspect of the story was a bit strained in its development and it would have been better if Wolf’s character had been explored a bit more so that the reader could have seen more depth and a softer side to him. There were some glimmers of a love triangle in the story and I was happy the author didn’t head in that direction, as that has been flogged to death in so many other ya books. Bird’s character was fascinating and contradictory. Her struggle to interpret her visions caused her to flip back and forth between being friend and foe; it kept her interesting and unpredictable. I liked the slow development of Lib’s character as she went from having no memories of her past, to understanding who she is and making her own decisions as to what road her life will take. Overall, I enjoyed this interesting audiobook and will look forward to hearing the others in the series. I received this audiobook as a gift from the author in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influenced my opinion or my review.

Made me think of total recall + Logan's run.

Audio version.
This started a bit slow. But got better.
There were times when the narrative sounded monotone, times when it sounded like she was in a tunnel.
This audio book was given to me for free at my request from the publisher or author or narrator and I provided this unbiased review.
Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Action-packed, Easy-to-read, Great world building, Haunting, Original, Page-turner, Unpredictable, Wonderful characters.

Hoping it's a great start to a great series.

I'm definitely digging this series. I'm interested in Connie, Lib & Wolf. I am excited to see where this goes. It's a very interesting world that's created here. The cave living gave me glimpses of The Host.this is a good clean book. Young adults & teens will love it. Any fans of video games & science fiction will too.

Glitch notes audible app chapters (not actual chapter) 15 & 16 are the same. This happens a couple of times in the book, this is just one I thought to note as an example.
Definitely some editing issues there.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy at no charge by the author, publisher and or narrator.

Dystopia is no reason to get depressed!

Any additional comments?

The Glitch is a fine example of dystopian science fiction that isn’t mopey and depressing. So the world as we know it fell apart. There is no reason is adopt pessimism as a lifestyle choice. They don’t live as long as people who are optimistic, anyhow. Lib had nothing going for her. She was stranded in some desert wasteland, outside from her techno utopian home, the NORM. She had no memories of her identity, but a head full of useful information. Her new buddies, the Tracker Clan don’t easily accept outsiders, either. Despite everything, she kept hope and tried to make her situation better.

I normally give a book four or five chapters to let the author find the groove and for me to pick up on it before I decide if finishing the story is worth my while. With The Glitch, I was hooked right away. This girl with no memories is discovering a post-apocalyptic world and I was there with her.

I think Finn covered an important theme for the Young Adult genre in loyalty and interpersonal relationships. As we millennials (I’m the oldest in the group but still count myself among their lot) depend more and more on social media to supplement our interpersonal communication, it can be easy to lose track of what is truly important in human relationships, trust and comradery. Our heroine is a great example of someone who will really be there for you. If the Glitches and Tracker Clan were the cookie parts of an Oreo, Lib would be the cream center.

I received a free audible code in exchange for a review. Any review. That fact that it’s a good one is because the book is good. Which has nothing to do with how awesome I am. You’ll have to find that out for yourself @S_Shane_Thomas on Twitter.

The narrator’s voice was very easy on the ears. I dare say it is a pretty voice. I hope she keeps at the audiobook game.

Normally I’m preferential to third person limited point of view, but this first person adventure worked really well. The plot also covered everything needed to stand on its own two feet while also setting a larger stage for the series to play out on. I’m looking forward to the next installment!

Great premises but subpar execution

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Ramona Finn. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

A sixteen year old girl wakes up in the desert with complete memory loss. She finds a girl in trouble close to a metallic platform and she discovers that she can connect to it. The other girl, Skye, takes her to her camp to meet her people. She struggles to recover her memories, but she remembers little more than her name is Lib. The camp is composed mostly by rogues and just some glitches. Rogues are people born outside the Norm, and glitches are former techs at the Norm but discarded due to an error of fault. Lib will try to find out who she is and why she is hearing voices in her head and having strange dreams, and also what exactly is the Norm.

I loved the concept of this book and I wanted to like it so much, but I found its execution subpar. I do not think it is because it is a YA novel, since there is romance in it but not too overwhelming. I found the characters flat and did not care a lot for them. I found the descriptions and some of the events confusing. I think this could have been a great story because there is really good material to build something big, but the book feels just a bit more than a draft. This was disappointing.

I found the memory loss a bit weird. It is unusual to forget things like the sun but then, it could be justified in this case, but then the way she talks to herself implies that she remembers more than what she really does. Not sure if I am being clear. I found it a bit clanky.

I liked how Finn has the reader guessing all the time about what the Norm is and how it works. I think this is why I like dystopias so much. But here we just get some ambiguous details about it. Plotwise, there is a long build up but I felt the end of the book rushed and rather inconclusive.

Genevieve Kaplan's narration was correct but a bit flat. Chapters 20, 22 and 30 sound different than the rest, with clear reverberation. I also found the silence at the end of most chapters too short, sometimes shorter than the regular pause between sentences, which felt strange to the ear and broke the rhythm.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It seems interesting enough but fails in its execution. I wished to be something that was not, and that saddens me, because I foresee the same problem with the next books. I would like to see where the story goes but I do not know if I will be bothered to listen to it.

Dystopian with some surprising twists

Lib wakes up in the desert, having no idea where she is or even who she is. Another girl is with her, calling her a Glitch and saying that Lib saved her life. The girl, Sky, takes Lib to the clan she lives with, teaching her about the ways of the people. While trying to earn her place in the clan, memories are slowly returning to Lib, and she is not who they think she is.

I thought it was an interesting approach how the author described her world through Lib's eyes, someone who was just as uncertain about everything as the reader was. The reader then gets to have the world explained to them as Lib relearns what is going on. I thought this made the world building better, less in your face information dump, more exploratory as it comes.

That being said, it was really hard for me to get super invested in the story because I need strong developed characters to connect to, and Lib was not that. Instead, she was a girl who had no idea who she was, what she wanted or even where she was- and no I am not talking about her having an existential crisis, I mean literally she has no clue. By the end of the book she was a much more developed person that I could root for, and I was fully behind her feelings towards Wolf, which really, who wouldn't want Wolf. When I read the synopsis it made it sound like this was going to be a love triangle, but I did not see that at all- only one person ever peaked Lib's interest.

The narrator did a great job of bring the world to life and each character was given a voice and personalty that was easy to differentiate between. I struggled a little with the cadence of her voice though when seeing through Lib's eyes, because at times it felt like Lib was so emotionless, it was hard to empathize with her as a character. That may be part of the character though, or a narrating choice made to show she is a little bit off, I just don't know.

​It was very easy to see how this is just the start in a series (trilogy, I think) because this story sets up so much more to come. The world was well developed and the characters were just beginning to take shape (Sky hands down was one of my favorite characters so I hope she had a bigger role to come), and so many problems were left unresolved when this book concluded (and I did think the direction that the book was pointing in was a little weird). Be aware that lots of things are left unsaid, making book 2 a big must to find out more.

Solid YA dystopian sci-fi

Review of the story:
Glitch starts off by immediately throwing readers into a whirlwind of action. Our female protagonist (Lib) wakes up in a desert and remembers nothing- and I mean, nothing. Not her name, age, what she looks like, or even basic words at first. Over the course of the book Lib starts to have fleeting memories about who she may have been and her "purpose", but it's not until the end where we start to get big answers.

After Lib wakes up she notices another girl in trouble and instinctively saves her life. The girl (Skye) brings Lib to a group of people surviving outside the "Norm" (where Lib learns she was cast out from). The group of people is called a Clan and is comprised of Glitches like Lib, and Rouges, people born outside the Norm. It take a little bit longer than I would have liked to get an explanation to what a Glitch actually is, and this starts to enter spoiler territory so I won't go into it too much. I can say however, that Glitches are people who used to live inside the norm but were tossed out due to the AI who runs the norm deeming them as malfunctioned.

As the story progresses we see Lib struggle to gain the trust of her newfound friends and start to uncover truths about the Norm, the AI, herself, and the world that is falling apart around them. There is a little romance, but it definitely doesn't overpower the main story-line.

The Clan reminds me of the Grounders from the show The 100. The language that is more harsh and to-the point, the lack of technology, and the reliance on folk-like traditions showed similarities to that group. If you like that aspect of the show, I think you will love the world that Finn has built outside of the Norm.

My only complaint about the book is the lack of character development. I am very much a plot driven type of reader, so the action in this book was appealing to me. I do think however, it could have been slowed down a little for more character development. This would have allowed for more emotional connection not just to the protagonist, but also to the supporting characters that die throughout the book.


Review of the audio:
Genevieve Kaplan does an okay job at narrating the book. There were times where I felt like she rushed the words and I thought I was listening at 1.25x speed, but she would usually even herself back out within a few minutes. Her character voices were distinctive and I never had a hard time trying to decipher who was speaking.

Final Thoughts:
– Overall, the book was pretty good and I would recommend it to anyone interested in dystopian sci-fi. I will continue the series to see what happens to the group.

Cool concept/universe, expertly narrated

What made the experience of listening to The Glitch the most enjoyable?

Something different. Felt like a universe inside a computer network.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Glitch?

The bad-assness of the main character when dealing with the AI

What about Genevieve Kaplan’s performance did you like?

Able to build excitement when needed.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Not really, but enjoyable just the same.

I had to keep listening

Any additional comments?

This is a unique book. First, it is written in present tense. Second, it is about artificial intelligence. Neither of these interests me, but I was very interested in the dystopian aspect of this story. I am so glad I decided to try it. It was an incredible whirlwind story. I had to keep listening and find out what happened. The characters are strong and the plot kept pulling me back to the story (my silly kids get in my way of listening to books). It is a unique story blending cyberpunk and dystopia. It was very easy to see this story in my mind. I think the writing and use of first person only added to the strength of this story.