Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

The time is in the undetermined future where nuclear wars have destroyed most of the surface of the world and those surviving have moved underground. Whole communities have built below the surface with the governing body called The Community. When a child is born, they have a chip embedded into the base of their skull. It’s to null emotion and other senses.

Zoel has been glitching lately though. Those that glitch have rare moments of emotion, taste, smells – things that are otherwise grey when they are in the link, the computer components that make up their world. She knows that if she is caught, she will be repaired or even worse, deactivated. However, she has another secret that she wants to keep hidden, her new telekinetic powers. 

She loves having the sense of self and wants to escape The Community where they are basically drones. But she knows that if she goes to the surface, the air is toxic,  and she will die. But when she finds another boy who is glitching as well and realizes that there may be more of them out there, waiting to be discovered and needing help,  they realize they are not alone.

With the help of Adrian, another boy whose face appears in her dreams, even though she knows she just met him, they try to get the glitchers together to escape The Community and join the resistance,  a group who want freedom for all.

GLITCH is a fresh dystopian adventure with romance, action and a well-built post-apocalyptic world that had me up late turning the pages, thoroughly invested in the story. The characters are likable, but it is the world that Anastasiu has built that kept me riveted with all of the details and how the plot unfolded and came together in a nail-biting,  action-packed ending that will leave readers begging for the next installment, OVERIDE, due out in February 2013.