Angie
Written on Jun 9, 2013
And that is how you end a series! I was worried about Shutdown in the beginning, but it ended up being a fantastic conclusion to the Glitch Trilogy! The end was completely satisfying and I don't have any lingering questions. It's not neatly wrapped up with a bow on top, since there's a complicated situation at hand. But it's clear that the characters are doing what they can and that peace will be restored with time.
The beginning of Shutdown was a little off putting to me. I found myself annoyed with Zoe due to mass amounts of self-pity and "woe is me" moments. She blames herself for things that are 100% out of her control and it really got on my nerves. It isn't until about a third in that she sucks it up and becomes more proactive. Then the book really picks up and I couldn't put it down! Zoe and the others in the Resistant are faced with complication after complication, but I didn't feel like these were unnecessary problems thrown in to make the book more exciting. They felt like real problems popping up that complicate the progress of their mission. Sure there's a lot of them, but when there's such a vast range of glitcher abilities, there's bound to be a lot of difficulties to navigate around. Zoe's allergies also play a much larger role, but at times I was annoyed by her constant reminder that she had to keep her mast cells in check.
I finally enjoyed the romance between Zoe and Adrien! I had not been sold on these two, but I suppose it took Adrien getting a personality transplant for that to happen. He's certainly not the same boy that Zoe loved, despite the Foundations attempts to restore him after his rescue. He realizes it, but Zoe is holding on to her memories of him from before. Adrien is mostly without emotion and thinks completely logically, although at times he comes across as needlessly harsh to Zoe. I actually enjoyed him like this and found him more interesting. It definitely complicates the romance, since he finds love to be an illusion and a weakness. I also really like the resolution to his predicament. If it had gone the other way, I would have been seriously annoyed.
Like I said, Shutdown was an amazing conclusion and was the best installment of the trilogy. I enjoyed watching Zoe realize the extent of her powers, even if one major thing she discovered made me roll my eyes. The romance actually became interesting, which I was thankful for. The ending wasn't easy and it was believable. I never saw that coming, but it worked. I definitely recommend this series to Sci-Fi fans!
Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.