Reviews

These Deadly Games by Diana Urban

labunnywtf's review against another edition

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3.0

Crystal Donavan is a gamer. A major gamer. She and her group of 5 friends are obsessed with the game Mortal Dusk, and are determined to qualify for a tournament with a huge payout. This tournament is all she can think about, and anything distracting is just a nuisance.

Until the ultimate distraction: a message on her cell phone. A video of her little sister Caelyn, bound and gagged. Her kidnapper wants to play the ultimate game. Play, or your sister dies. And each seemingly innocuous task paints a bigger picture. The kidnapper doesn't just want Crystal to suffer. They're going after her entire team.

This is definitely a YA thriller.

That's not to say it's a BAD thriller. But YA has the ignominious stereotype of being "less than" the more adult counter parts. And this one feels like it's on the bottom of the YA half of the spectrum. As in, we're dancing in Christopher Pike territory, not Courtney Summers.

And Christopher Pike clearly has his place in YA thrillers, even if he hasn't been well known since I was in high school back in the dark days, before accessible internet and when mobile phones were the size of a brick.

But I digress.

This book is less stand alone YA, and more gateway YA. The pacing and realism are off quite a bit, and while the story is enjoyable, you do get taken out of the moment regularly. The red herrings are extremely clunky.

Though I will say, while I did figure out whodunnit pretty quickly, the twisty bits were a welcome surprise, and that is always a plus with any thrillers, no matter the genre.

Great for someone just getting into the world of suspense and thrillers, but maybe not for someone who's already dived into the pool.

mtayl341's review

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

bookishghoul_96's review

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5.0

Mind blowing, edge of seat thrilling!


Need a sequel ASAP!

I want to say I would pull a Liam Neeson in this scenario , but my asthma says death in first game.

shelbyanoel's review

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adventurous challenging tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

swiftlyreviews's review

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5.0

I enjoyed this book so much! The story was very interesting from beginning to end, with twists that I didn’t not expect. Highly recommend! I would definitely read this again!

thepagelady's review

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4.0

Intense, fast paced & addictive! Those are the first three words that come to mind when I think about this book! And thank God I have boys that love video games! Lol! Anyways, with the suspense & the twists & turns I was glued to this! Definitely the perfect YA thriller! The pace is non-stop & the minute you think it's about to settle down it's like a light switch & the action starts all over again! I haven't read anything by this author before but I love her unique writing style! Definitely a great book!

Thank you Turn The Page Tours for having me on this tour!

bejack3d's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.5

Loved this YA mystery novel! Gave pretty little liars and one of us is lying vibes. Really great twists, though they were a little predictable for my adult brain. I would’ve thought this was a 5 star book in middle school. 

another_flanders's review

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emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

3.0

noras_nibbles's review

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tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

beastreader's review

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3.0

I feel in love with Diana when I read her first book, All Your Twisted Secrets. I could not get enough of that book. Thus, I was very excited to read her next book, These Deadly Games. So, while I did like this book, I felt that it moved at a much slower pace than the first book and therefore it took me longer to finish.

Where in the first book, all of the characters were more engaging, and the heightened intensity was stronger. In this book, the other characters did not really play a major role in the story. It was mainly Crystal against the kidnapper. I will say that the games that the kidnapper had Crystal play were no "kid's games". Overall, I did like this book and do plan to read the author's next one.