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kelli_novel_elli's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Man, this book seemed to be written in a rush. The plot was okay, the characters were very 1 dimensional and the dialogue was so — fake? Very unrealistic dialogue that seemed like everyone was trying too hard to be proper. Idk….it’s a good idea, just executed poorly. Plus a lot of grammar,editing errors.
bberk's review
4.0
Really enjoyed this one!
This isn't my typical read, but I did thoroughly enjoy it. The ending, ohh I can't wait to read the next one!
Quite a few grammatical errors, but the story was great and I was able to look past them for the most part.
This isn't my typical read, but I did thoroughly enjoy it. The ending, ohh I can't wait to read the next one!
Quite a few grammatical errors, but the story was great and I was able to look past them for the most part.
seachellereads's review
3.0
The story premise is great. Writing is slightly weak. The ending is just rude.
tifflesy's review
3.0
I received a review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The premise of ReSet is a good one, but it seemed to be a bit bare-boned plot-wise. Too much of the storyline was about Charlie, even though the book should have delved into more details on how the Chosen were chosen. So many characters were thrown in but didn't really add anything to the narrative.
It felt like a Hunger Games attempt that fell flat, and I'm not sure that leaving a cliffhanger in order to flesh out a second book was a good idea. I hope that the sequel redeems the story.
The premise of ReSet is a good one, but it seemed to be a bit bare-boned plot-wise. Too much of the storyline was about Charlie, even though the book should have delved into more details on how the Chosen were chosen. So many characters were thrown in but didn't really add anything to the narrative.
It felt like a Hunger Games attempt that fell flat, and I'm not sure that leaving a cliffhanger in order to flesh out a second book was a good idea. I hope that the sequel redeems the story.
nicholemwillden's review
2.0
In a world of books that cannot usually surprise me, Loy’s ReSet did!
Synopsis:
This book takes place in a United States that has been overrun by an evil dictator. He has saved only a small number of people he deemed worthy of life: the “good” ones. (Whether or not these people can be considered good when they agreed to help annihilate the rest of humanity is not a topic deeply explored in this book.) Most of the story takes place in a series of flashbacks showing how various people ended up in a new city under constant surveillance. When a citizen makes a mistake, the behavior bar climbs. If it reaches 100%, the whole city is ReSet: all people are killed.
Review:
I am a big fan of dystopian books. I was highly fascinated by the idea of ReSet and it’s tagline “Be Good, Your Life Depends On It”. I was eager to see how a town full of people had to work together to make no mistakes. I was captured immediately in the prologue and entered the book with eagerness. The book ended up falling flat for me due to some developmental issues. The flashbacks within flashbacks kept me very confused. There were some overall inconsistencies that made this a difficult read. Yet the premise for this story was unlike any dystopian I have ever read. It was a fascinating concept and has a ton of promise. I’m hoping the other books in the series will explore in more depth the concept of “good,” especially under surveillance.
Synopsis:
This book takes place in a United States that has been overrun by an evil dictator. He has saved only a small number of people he deemed worthy of life: the “good” ones. (Whether or not these people can be considered good when they agreed to help annihilate the rest of humanity is not a topic deeply explored in this book.) Most of the story takes place in a series of flashbacks showing how various people ended up in a new city under constant surveillance. When a citizen makes a mistake, the behavior bar climbs. If it reaches 100%, the whole city is ReSet: all people are killed.
Review:
I am a big fan of dystopian books. I was highly fascinated by the idea of ReSet and it’s tagline “Be Good, Your Life Depends On It”. I was eager to see how a town full of people had to work together to make no mistakes. I was captured immediately in the prologue and entered the book with eagerness. The book ended up falling flat for me due to some developmental issues. The flashbacks within flashbacks kept me very confused. There were some overall inconsistencies that made this a difficult read. Yet the premise for this story was unlike any dystopian I have ever read. It was a fascinating concept and has a ton of promise. I’m hoping the other books in the series will explore in more depth the concept of “good,” especially under surveillance.
michealafaye's review
4.0
3 1/2 stars - rounded up to 4.
This book reminds me a lot of the Wayward Pines trilogy. It is set in a world where one man decided that the world is flawed and he was going to single-handedly going to repair it. However power ultimately grows and nefarious things start to happen. Until another individual decides enough is enough.
I loved the idea that they would have separate towns, five year limits, etc. It had some really good world building. Although I really didn’t like reading “Mother” and “Father” constantly. Using their names or allusively referring to them would have been sufficient. Also at some point the main character mentioned making the world great again. Both of these just gave me the ick. I also really enjoyed the backstories for how people were chosen, what deemed them as good, etc.
I’d really like for the author to elaborate on the world leading up to the New World ReOrder. How did they pull it off taking out the entire United States? What does the rest of the world think of this? Why hasn’t another country (i.e. Canada) stepped in? The present had good world building but I have a lot of unanswered questions.
I’ll definitely give the sequel a read.
This book reminds me a lot of the Wayward Pines trilogy. It is set in a world where one man decided that the world is flawed and he was going to single-handedly going to repair it. However power ultimately grows and nefarious things start to happen. Until another individual decides enough is enough.
I loved the idea that they would have separate towns, five year limits, etc. It had some really good world building. Although I really didn’t like reading “Mother” and “Father” constantly. Using their names or allusively referring to them would have been sufficient. Also at some point the main character mentioned making the world great again. Both of these just gave me the ick. I also really enjoyed the backstories for how people were chosen, what deemed them as good, etc.
I’d really like for the author to elaborate on the world leading up to the New World ReOrder. How did they pull it off taking out the entire United States? What does the rest of the world think of this? Why hasn’t another country (i.e. Canada) stepped in? The present had good world building but I have a lot of unanswered questions.
I’ll definitely give the sequel a read.
molly_grue's review
3.0
Good premise!
I want to start off by saying I definitely liked the story and think it's an interesting dystopian novel overall! Some potential mild spoilers.
The idea of a mass obliteration of "bad" people and the strict control of the remaining population is interesting. I would have liked a deeper look into the history and process. As it it's written, we as readers are really looking in from the outside and don't get a solid picture of how it all happened. We're given bits and pieces in a manner of "this is how it is." I felt a little like I was watching a group of D&Ders who were already mid-campaign and I was trying to piece together the backstory they already knew. As others have said, it felt kind of rushed, the story would have benefitted from some deeper world building. Same thing with the characters, I didn't feel like anyone was developed enough to where I really understood or cared much about them.
There were a lot of time jumps that were really confusing to me. I'd be reading and suddenly it was kind of like "oh btw, it's been 8 months" and "they had been working on this project all along and made so much progress in such little time," but we weren't really given any sense of what happened in that timeframe.
I personally don't like an omniscient point of view. It's one thing to have a focus on different characters in different chapters in a more limited third person, but here we'd read about how several people felt and thought on the same page and it felt very muddled.
I also think the book as a whole would really benefit from a tighter editing/proofreading process as I found lots of little errors. Also, paragraphs were excessively long, some spanned several whole (Kindle) pages and I'd actually take breaks from reading right in the middle of paragraphs because it just hurt my brain to try to get through huge passages like that.
This is a minor thing but I think the blurb should be reworked a bit. It talks about how this is a book about Tommy putting the whole city in trouble but Tommy was honestly a very minor character in comparison to the Newsome family, especially Charlie--it seemed like the story revolved almost entirely around him while Tommy didn't really come into the picture very fully until near the end.
I feel like I'm just coming across as very critical with my feedback and I don't mean to... I do think the author has a ton of promise and good ideas, just needs to work a little more on the world building and character development. I felt both rushed and as though it took forever to get through the book because I just wasn't totally hooked (that may just be me as I've seen lots of readers who loved it and became very invested in the characters and story). I'm undecided at this point if I'll be continuing with the duology/series even despite the cliffhanger at the end. With the book having only 200 pages I feel like it was a rush to get the first book out when it could have either been expanded or both books made into one.
I want to start off by saying I definitely liked the story and think it's an interesting dystopian novel overall! Some potential mild spoilers.
The idea of a mass obliteration of "bad" people and the strict control of the remaining population is interesting. I would have liked a deeper look into the history and process. As it it's written, we as readers are really looking in from the outside and don't get a solid picture of how it all happened. We're given bits and pieces in a manner of "this is how it is." I felt a little like I was watching a group of D&Ders who were already mid-campaign and I was trying to piece together the backstory they already knew. As others have said, it felt kind of rushed, the story would have benefitted from some deeper world building. Same thing with the characters, I didn't feel like anyone was developed enough to where I really understood or cared much about them.
There were a lot of time jumps that were really confusing to me. I'd be reading and suddenly it was kind of like "oh btw, it's been 8 months" and "they had been working on this project all along and made so much progress in such little time," but we weren't really given any sense of what happened in that timeframe.
I personally don't like an omniscient point of view. It's one thing to have a focus on different characters in different chapters in a more limited third person, but here we'd read about how several people felt and thought on the same page and it felt very muddled.
I also think the book as a whole would really benefit from a tighter editing/proofreading process as I found lots of little errors. Also, paragraphs were excessively long, some spanned several whole (Kindle) pages and I'd actually take breaks from reading right in the middle of paragraphs because it just hurt my brain to try to get through huge passages like that.
This is a minor thing but I think the blurb should be reworked a bit. It talks about how this is a book about Tommy putting the whole city in trouble but Tommy was honestly a very minor character in comparison to the Newsome family, especially Charlie--it seemed like the story revolved almost entirely around him while Tommy didn't really come into the picture very fully until near the end.
I feel like I'm just coming across as very critical with my feedback and I don't mean to... I do think the author has a ton of promise and good ideas, just needs to work a little more on the world building and character development. I felt both rushed and as though it took forever to get through the book because I just wasn't totally hooked (that may just be me as I've seen lots of readers who loved it and became very invested in the characters and story). I'm undecided at this point if I'll be continuing with the duology/series even despite the cliffhanger at the end. With the book having only 200 pages I feel like it was a rush to get the first book out when it could have either been expanded or both books made into one.
robinganderson's review
5.0
Oh. My. Groceries!! If you don’t like cliffhangers, then wait for the sequel or don’t read it! LOL If you choose not to read it, then you’re going to miss out on a great book!
This book is amazing. It’s so unique. I’ve never read anything like it. It started off a little slow for me, but it’s only because you HAVE to have the backstory and the why. TRUST ME!! Stick with it. Chapter one and two WILL make sense in the long run.
The characters are so well developed and the storyline sucks you right in and you don’t realize the ending in getting ready to slap you in the face!!
I HAVE TO HAVE THE NEXT BOOK!!!
This book is amazing. It’s so unique. I’ve never read anything like it. It started off a little slow for me, but it’s only because you HAVE to have the backstory and the why. TRUST ME!! Stick with it. Chapter one and two WILL make sense in the long run.
The characters are so well developed and the storyline sucks you right in and you don’t realize the ending in getting ready to slap you in the face!!
I HAVE TO HAVE THE NEXT BOOK!!!
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