Reviews

Hard Reboot by Django Wexler

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veronica0mcdougall's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

abarnakwn_ourcolourfulpages's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

‘Hard Reboot’ by Django Wexler is a book about old Earth and fighting robots.

Kas is a researcher on a mission to older Earth who gets suckered into wagering a bunch of money on a robot fight. When she follows the loser, Zhi, after the fight, she discovers a secret that may help her get her money back, but it will involve helping somebody from old Earth. Zhi the scrappy Mech fighter can use all the help Kas can give her.

I liked this futuristic story of fighting robots. I liked the World building, especially the swarm of viruses circling in the Earth's atmosphere. There were enough surprises to keep me guessing all the way all the way to the end.

patricknight's review

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adventurous challenging reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

kris7's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

lezreadalot's review against another edition

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4.0

“You should see it move. Like lightning.” She gave her gap-toothed grin again. “Quick-an’-smart beats big-an’-dumb every time, yeah?”

3.5 stars. Such fun! There's just something primal in the back of my brain that responds very favourably to the idea of big robots punching each other. This provided all that and more. Kas is an off-world academic come back to Old Earth to hopefully get in some research on the big machines, but instead finds herself benched and duped into a wager by a fast-talking, quick-witted native. What follows is a story filled with action, romance, and a lot of cool worldbuilding. I always love when a novella can fit in a lot of good worldbuilding and character work in a relatively short period of time, but still make it all entertaining and plausible. I liked the glimpses we saw of Earth's history and space flight and the different waves and what it all meant. Zhi was so fun, and her and Kas' courtship was really cute. The stakes felt real, and I was so invested in that last fight.

Listened to the audiobook as read by Morgan Hallet, which made for a quick and entertaining read. Really enjoyed my time with this one, which is something I always take pleasure in saying about a novella.

Content warnings:

Spoiler

murder, blood, gore

izziei's review

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4.0

Super fun, quick read!!

beckermanex's review

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4.0

Great novella with an interesting premise and world building that you’d love to see translated into a full novel or broadened. Characters are defined but with so little room to explore them you feel somewhat cheated and detached only because of the format. Writing is quick and flows well.