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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.
CW: attempted suicide, violence, self harm, depression, blackmail
The God Game is the most peculiar, exciting and brilliant book I've read in a long time.
The writing is perfect, the characters well rounded and so real, so relatable (Alex and Charlie were really perfect) it hurts, the plot captivating and chilling.
Everything starts with a chatbot, the God game, that answer any kind of question, an AI that claims to be God and starts sending messages on Charlie's and his friends' phones, asking them to do something. It's a game, a wild one where it controls everything, can access everything, from phones, to pc, to cameras and so on. It's God, He sees and knows everything.
Intrigued by the ad, Charlie, Peter, Vanhi, Alex and Kenny decided to play this peculiar game, using their phone, accessing, in this way, a cool and peculiar virtual reality. The Game is simple. If you do well, you get Goldz and something good will happen in your life. If you do bad, you get Blaxx and more Blaxx you got more likely the player will be killed. And if someone dies in the game, dies in the real life. Skeptic and curious, Charlie and his friends decided to try the Game and they started doing quests, following instructions, running around the school at night, discovering it, through the virtual reality, full of mysteries, gods and quests to accept or to buy.
The game inspired by the religion is a wild one and day after day they each found caught up with missions and with the Game. From simple request to dangerous one, to lies and cover ups.
I loved many things about this book. The game itself is creepy, brilliant, controlling, managing to use its players like pawns, using them and turning them against one other. In a game where the difference between reality and virtual one is really slim, where they can't trust anything electronic, the characters move and act, in a giant chessboard, without knowing exactly what's the Game real goal, where are the others players, what will they do, what are the purposes of their missions. It rewards them if the player do what the Game asks and punish them otherwise. It's a crescendo of missions, lies, revenge and so on, pushing and threatening them into doing things they wouldn't have done, otherwise.
What I loved more about this book are its characters. I rarely read characters so real, authentic and raw. So multidimensional. So relatable and well constructed.
Charlie is a young man, who lost his mother to cancer and since her disease and death his life, his grades and relationship with his father is spiralling out of control. He feels resentment for his father, who fell apart when his wife got sick, basically leaving Charlie to do the caretaker and bearing his suffering alone.
Vanhi is a brilliant woman, a bass player, an Hindu girl who's struggling against her parents' expectations and their desire she will go to Harvard, hiding a bad grade and a paper forged from them.
Kenny is a cellist, the philosopher, from a very religious family and he too, like Vanhi, has to suffer his parents' pressures to do better, to do perfectly.
Alex is a nihilist, a young man who is abused at home, depressed and lonely, bullied and feeling himself suicidal.
Peter is the golden boy of the situation, the rich one, the carefully hidden deranged one, doing drugs and dealing, with his absentee father and a mother who left him when he was young.
They found solace in their group, called the Vindicators, doing pranks, supporting each other and doing the Game, that tested their friendships, morals and lives.
Each one of this characters, the main ones, are beautifully written and I was able to feel their rage, pain and frustrations. What it impressed me was that the side characters were amazingly well rounded too. There aren't sterotypes, like the girl to win over or the bad guy. We read about Mary, the perfect and beautiful girl, controlled and with a big secret to mantain. Kurt, violent henchman, with an homophobic father. Tim, violent and controlling, with his stealing father. There are no absolutely good or bad people in this book, but incredibly complex ones. Even Charlie and his friends nurture feelings that could hurt one other, like envy or bitterness or rage, raging against each other, hurting each other.
The Game, knowing everything about them and their dreams, manipulated them and everyone else in a big chessboard, moving pieces like it wants. Or He wants, according to the Game.
It was amazing reading about the augumented reality, seen through phones or glasses, reading about missions, packages, quests and it was disturbing and creepy see the characters being controlled more and more, until they try to quit the Game and be free. Reading they being so controlled and observed was suffocating and I felt their emotions, their warring thoughts.
I loved the characters in The God Game, because they were flawed and human. Charlie with his rage, Alex with his depression, Peter with his need to control everything, Kenny and Vanhi with their desires and family's pressures. It was moving reading how Charlie was so lost after his mother's death and how Peter, in his own, maybe debatable ways, was with him or how Charlie was so caught up in his own grief to not want to reach for Alex's pain, favouring the carefree and unconcerned Peter. Or how Alex was so in pain to get involved so much in the Game, that used his suffering to manipulated him. Or Vanhi's and Kenny's ambitions, their fear of disappointing their parents, their need to do the right thing, to be honest.
This book put forward interesting and moral questions. If it someone or something offered me what I want, would I accepted it? Even if it hurt someone? Could I hurt someone to save someone else, maybe a loved one? Someone else's pain is worth my friends' or family's lives or could I sacrife someone to save myself or my loved ones?
During all the book, from small and innocent missions, the characters found themselves debating moral choices, which path take. If someone is a bully he deserved to be hurt and humiliated? Can I ruin someone's life to life mine better?
What will you do if your life isn't yours to control anymore? If you didn't ever have any control on it? What will you do when you're so caught up in the Game and you can't see any way out other than the worst one? And the Game, in his infinite power, manipulated, fooled and tricked all his gamers, until the ending, showing them the free will was a difficult thing to achieve, in The God Game, to be free from the Game itself.
Charlie and his friends grew in the book, I loved reading about their development, their choices, their desires, their healing each other. I loved their relationship, how they all are so fallible, human, torn between doing the right thing and follow their desires, their selfishness.
Besides pushing the reader to think about moral choices, grey areas and religion, it's a book about friendship and relationship, mostly between fathers and sons, from the complex and incredibly frustrating one with Alex and his father to Charlie and his dad.
About friendship, because it was absolutely moving reading they going to the great lenght to save and protect each other, notwithstanding their small fights and misunderstanding.
It was a book that gave me hope, because its characters, even though they are hurt and flawed and will do mistakes in the future, go towards a path of growth, forgiveness, another chance to liberation, like one of the character say.
That things may seems bleak and awful, but you could go on, pick yourself up, glue the pieces together again and try to be better, to try again and harder. Not alone, of course. With friends, family and help.
This book is absolutely brilliant, pushing the reader to ask questions, to seek answers, to be moved by friendship and love
And, to be honest, to fear how far the technology, any AI, could go and do.
An excellent read. A 5 solid star. Danny Tobey's writing style is enthralling and his characters are alive and pulsing with life and choices.
“I'm a guinea pig in a fucking morality play that stops when I'm dead?”
His mind was a house of pain, all exits locked.
CW: attempted suicide, violence, self harm, depression, blackmail
The God Game is the most peculiar, exciting and brilliant book I've read in a long time.
The writing is perfect, the characters well rounded and so real, so relatable (Alex and Charlie were really perfect) it hurts, the plot captivating and chilling.
Everything starts with a chatbot, the God game, that answer any kind of question, an AI that claims to be God and starts sending messages on Charlie's and his friends' phones, asking them to do something. It's a game, a wild one where it controls everything, can access everything, from phones, to pc, to cameras and so on. It's God, He sees and knows everything.
Intrigued by the ad, Charlie, Peter, Vanhi, Alex and Kenny decided to play this peculiar game, using their phone, accessing, in this way, a cool and peculiar virtual reality. The Game is simple. If you do well, you get Goldz and something good will happen in your life. If you do bad, you get Blaxx and more Blaxx you got more likely the player will be killed. And if someone dies in the game, dies in the real life. Skeptic and curious, Charlie and his friends decided to try the Game and they started doing quests, following instructions, running around the school at night, discovering it, through the virtual reality, full of mysteries, gods and quests to accept or to buy.
The game inspired by the religion is a wild one and day after day they each found caught up with missions and with the Game. From simple request to dangerous one, to lies and cover ups.
I loved many things about this book. The game itself is creepy, brilliant, controlling, managing to use its players like pawns, using them and turning them against one other. In a game where the difference between reality and virtual one is really slim, where they can't trust anything electronic, the characters move and act, in a giant chessboard, without knowing exactly what's the Game real goal, where are the others players, what will they do, what are the purposes of their missions. It rewards them if the player do what the Game asks and punish them otherwise. It's a crescendo of missions, lies, revenge and so on, pushing and threatening them into doing things they wouldn't have done, otherwise.
What I loved more about this book are its characters. I rarely read characters so real, authentic and raw. So multidimensional. So relatable and well constructed.
Charlie is a young man, who lost his mother to cancer and since her disease and death his life, his grades and relationship with his father is spiralling out of control. He feels resentment for his father, who fell apart when his wife got sick, basically leaving Charlie to do the caretaker and bearing his suffering alone.
Vanhi is a brilliant woman, a bass player, an Hindu girl who's struggling against her parents' expectations and their desire she will go to Harvard, hiding a bad grade and a paper forged from them.
Kenny is a cellist, the philosopher, from a very religious family and he too, like Vanhi, has to suffer his parents' pressures to do better, to do perfectly.
Alex is a nihilist, a young man who is abused at home, depressed and lonely, bullied and feeling himself suicidal.
Peter is the golden boy of the situation, the rich one, the carefully hidden deranged one, doing drugs and dealing, with his absentee father and a mother who left him when he was young.
They found solace in their group, called the Vindicators, doing pranks, supporting each other and doing the Game, that tested their friendships, morals and lives.
Each one of this characters, the main ones, are beautifully written and I was able to feel their rage, pain and frustrations. What it impressed me was that the side characters were amazingly well rounded too. There aren't sterotypes, like the girl to win over or the bad guy. We read about Mary, the perfect and beautiful girl, controlled and with a big secret to mantain. Kurt, violent henchman, with an homophobic father. Tim, violent and controlling, with his stealing father. There are no absolutely good or bad people in this book, but incredibly complex ones. Even Charlie and his friends nurture feelings that could hurt one other, like envy or bitterness or rage, raging against each other, hurting each other.
The Game, knowing everything about them and their dreams, manipulated them and everyone else in a big chessboard, moving pieces like it wants. Or He wants, according to the Game.
It was amazing reading about the augumented reality, seen through phones or glasses, reading about missions, packages, quests and it was disturbing and creepy see the characters being controlled more and more, until they try to quit the Game and be free. Reading they being so controlled and observed was suffocating and I felt their emotions, their warring thoughts.
I loved the characters in The God Game, because they were flawed and human. Charlie with his rage, Alex with his depression, Peter with his need to control everything, Kenny and Vanhi with their desires and family's pressures. It was moving reading how Charlie was so lost after his mother's death and how Peter, in his own, maybe debatable ways, was with him or how Charlie was so caught up in his own grief to not want to reach for Alex's pain, favouring the carefree and unconcerned Peter. Or how Alex was so in pain to get involved so much in the Game, that used his suffering to manipulated him. Or Vanhi's and Kenny's ambitions, their fear of disappointing their parents, their need to do the right thing, to be honest.
This book put forward interesting and moral questions. If it someone or something offered me what I want, would I accepted it? Even if it hurt someone? Could I hurt someone to save someone else, maybe a loved one? Someone else's pain is worth my friends' or family's lives or could I sacrife someone to save myself or my loved ones?
During all the book, from small and innocent missions, the characters found themselves debating moral choices, which path take. If someone is a bully he deserved to be hurt and humiliated? Can I ruin someone's life to life mine better?
What will you do if your life isn't yours to control anymore? If you didn't ever have any control on it? What will you do when you're so caught up in the Game and you can't see any way out other than the worst one? And the Game, in his infinite power, manipulated, fooled and tricked all his gamers, until the ending, showing them the free will was a difficult thing to achieve, in The God Game, to be free from the Game itself.
Charlie and his friends grew in the book, I loved reading about their development, their choices, their desires, their healing each other. I loved their relationship, how they all are so fallible, human, torn between doing the right thing and follow their desires, their selfishness.
Besides pushing the reader to think about moral choices, grey areas and religion, it's a book about friendship and relationship, mostly between fathers and sons, from the complex and incredibly frustrating one with Alex and his father to Charlie and his dad.
About friendship, because it was absolutely moving reading they going to the great lenght to save and protect each other, notwithstanding their small fights and misunderstanding.
It was a book that gave me hope, because its characters, even though they are hurt and flawed and will do mistakes in the future, go towards a path of growth, forgiveness, another chance to liberation, like one of the character say.
That things may seems bleak and awful, but you could go on, pick yourself up, glue the pieces together again and try to be better, to try again and harder. Not alone, of course. With friends, family and help.
This book is absolutely brilliant, pushing the reader to ask questions, to seek answers, to be moved by friendship and love
And, to be honest, to fear how far the technology, any AI, could go and do.
An excellent read. A 5 solid star. Danny Tobey's writing style is enthralling and his characters are alive and pulsing with life and choices.
“I'm a guinea pig in a fucking morality play that stops when I'm dead?”
His mind was a house of pain, all exits locked.
Once you get sucked into The God Game, it does not let you go. This is true for both the book, and the fictional game inside the story. Danny Tobey has done really well crafting a gripping narrative that keeps you invested throughout. Stakes and tension are high, and pacing is excellent. You almost expect to receive a text message yourself, asking you to join the game.
Through the clever inclusion of theology, and specifically biblical imagery, a vengeful, old Testament God is evoked, playing with their victims and demanding absolute devotion. This can be taken as an allegory for the many things our society has taken to believing in, such as popularity, technology, and, yes, still, the various kinds of religion and hate still propagated today. This system gives you points for following the system, which rewards you with tangible rewards, and so-called Blaxx for resisting, which, when accumulating lead to real-life consequences… It is a very scary perspective on society, and all too possible in many parts of this world, making The God Game an incredibly timely novel. While most of the central characters are teens, I would not classify this as YA (Gollancz is also an Adult SFF imprint).
There are no good people in this book. All the characters are morally gray and struggling, although as the story progresses, some will show themselves to be rather more villainous than others. They are well crafted and human, something which is very important to me as a reader, and which I’ve been lucky enough to encounter in many of the books I’ve read recently. Through the story’s structure, their aims and goals are very clear, and there is a strong focus on the question what they are ready to sacrifice in order to achieve these.
Through the clever inclusion of theology, and specifically biblical imagery, a vengeful, old Testament God is evoked, playing with their victims and demanding absolute devotion. This can be taken as an allegory for the many things our society has taken to believing in, such as popularity, technology, and, yes, still, the various kinds of religion and hate still propagated today. This system gives you points for following the system, which rewards you with tangible rewards, and so-called Blaxx for resisting, which, when accumulating lead to real-life consequences… It is a very scary perspective on society, and all too possible in many parts of this world, making The God Game an incredibly timely novel. While most of the central characters are teens, I would not classify this as YA (Gollancz is also an Adult SFF imprint).
There are no good people in this book. All the characters are morally gray and struggling, although as the story progresses, some will show themselves to be rather more villainous than others. They are well crafted and human, something which is very important to me as a reader, and which I’ve been lucky enough to encounter in many of the books I’ve read recently. Through the story’s structure, their aims and goals are very clear, and there is a strong focus on the question what they are ready to sacrifice in order to achieve these.
“You are invited! Come inside and play with G.O.D. Bring your friends! It’s Fun! But remember the rules. Win and All Your Dreams Come True. Lose, You Die!”
The Vindicators a group of 5 high school students, Charlie, Peter, Alex, Kenny, Vanhi.
Just your average computer club until one day everything changes. The met G.O.D. Who gave them an invitation they couldn’t refuse. Play the game and all your dreams come true! Lose , You die! They think it’s just a hoax until things start looking up for them, more money and free stuff, however at what cost? When things start going bad can Charlie help the Vindicators make things right and leave the game...without dying in the process. I think Tobey did a good job of merging sci-fi with reality. If you are looking for a good thriller with a mix of lit rpg this book is for you. I loved the blending of the game with the real world and how they earned “Goldz or Blaxx” depending on if you were in G.O.D.s favor or not. I also liked that we were able to read from the point of view of all the main characters and even learn about those close to them, even their teachers. I loved how many twits and turns their were worth this book and was always reading on waiting for the next twist. The ending of the book left me wanting more and kind of hoping that a certain character would get his own novella in the future.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
The Vindicators a group of 5 high school students, Charlie, Peter, Alex, Kenny, Vanhi.
Just your average computer club until one day everything changes. The met G.O.D. Who gave them an invitation they couldn’t refuse. Play the game and all your dreams come true! Lose , You die! They think it’s just a hoax until things start looking up for them, more money and free stuff, however at what cost? When things start going bad can Charlie help the Vindicators make things right and leave the game...without dying in the process. I think Tobey did a good job of merging sci-fi with reality. If you are looking for a good thriller with a mix of lit rpg this book is for you. I loved the blending of the game with the real world and how they earned “Goldz or Blaxx” depending on if you were in G.O.D.s favor or not. I also liked that we were able to read from the point of view of all the main characters and even learn about those close to them, even their teachers. I loved how many twits and turns their were worth this book and was always reading on waiting for the next twist. The ending of the book left me wanting more and kind of hoping that a certain character would get his own novella in the future.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing and eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have many conflicting emotions regarding this book. There were things that worked for me and I enjoyed, and things that made me cringe and shrug my shoulders.
Let's start with the premise. A group of tech savvy teens come across a game, The God Game, where the AI operating it pretends to be god, and it tells them it can make their dreams come true. But, cause there's always a but, if they do things wrong, they will be punished. And to die in the game means to die in real life. I was sold on that straight away. It sounded thrilling, if a bit crazy, and I wanted to know what happens.
I wasn't entirely satisfied with what followed that premise. Though the book was engaging and fast paced for the most of it, the plot itself felt disjointed, partially because of constant switches in perspective. The way the eARC was formatted didn't help with distinguishing where one POV ended and other started. Overall I found the story enjoyable, but somehow unbelievable (don't confuse it with me saying it's unrealistic - of course it's unrealistic, it's sci-fi after all).
The characters really didn't work for me. I couldn't sympathise with any of them, I had no feelings about any of them, if not a mild dislike for most. I think they're the weakest point of the book. I wanted them more fleshed out, I wanted more character development. All of them stay pretty much the same, throughout the whole book. Kenny and Vahni, the most diverse of the characters got very little "screen time" compared to the other 3 characters, especially coming towards the end of the book. I usually have no problems relating to at least one character, or rooting for them, but in this case, I had no one. They're a group of friends who essentially treat each other like family, yet shit on each other and try and ruin their future to save their own asses. I mean, if there was some commentary there about human selfishness, I missed it and I guess that's entirely on me.
There was a case of insta love in there, too which kinda brought the book down for me.
Lastly, the book could do with more editing. The dialogue was so clunky at times, and honestly that's an easy fix. Some sentences were atrocious, which again is just the case of editing, as the whole book was written quite well. There's one particular sentence I have in mind which is the length of a sizeable paragraph and I'm baffled how it ended up in the ARC.
People draw a lot of comparisons between this book and Ready Player One, and honestly this one is much better (RPO is garbage - nothing can change my mind about it), so I guess what I'm trying to say is... although I had issues with some things, I enjoyed others, and I would classify this book as a fun, thrilling and quite spooky read and I would recommend it to any VR, video game, sci-fi fans, especially fans of RPO.
I have many conflicting emotions regarding this book. There were things that worked for me and I enjoyed, and things that made me cringe and shrug my shoulders.
Let's start with the premise. A group of tech savvy teens come across a game, The God Game, where the AI operating it pretends to be god, and it tells them it can make their dreams come true. But, cause there's always a but, if they do things wrong, they will be punished. And to die in the game means to die in real life. I was sold on that straight away. It sounded thrilling, if a bit crazy, and I wanted to know what happens.
I wasn't entirely satisfied with what followed that premise. Though the book was engaging and fast paced for the most of it, the plot itself felt disjointed, partially because of constant switches in perspective. The way the eARC was formatted didn't help with distinguishing where one POV ended and other started. Overall I found the story enjoyable, but somehow unbelievable (don't confuse it with me saying it's unrealistic - of course it's unrealistic, it's sci-fi after all).
The characters really didn't work for me. I couldn't sympathise with any of them, I had no feelings about any of them, if not a mild dislike for most. I think they're the weakest point of the book. I wanted them more fleshed out, I wanted more character development. All of them stay pretty much the same, throughout the whole book. Kenny and Vahni, the most diverse of the characters got very little "screen time" compared to the other 3 characters, especially coming towards the end of the book. I usually have no problems relating to at least one character, or rooting for them, but in this case, I had no one. They're a group of friends who essentially treat each other like family, yet shit on each other and try and ruin their future to save their own asses. I mean, if there was some commentary there about human selfishness, I missed it and I guess that's entirely on me.
There was a case of insta love in there, too which kinda brought the book down for me.
Lastly, the book could do with more editing. The dialogue was so clunky at times, and honestly that's an easy fix. Some sentences were atrocious, which again is just the case of editing, as the whole book was written quite well. There's one particular sentence I have in mind which is the length of a sizeable paragraph and I'm baffled how it ended up in the ARC.
People draw a lot of comparisons between this book and Ready Player One, and honestly this one is much better (RPO is garbage - nothing can change my mind about it), so I guess what I'm trying to say is... although I had issues with some things, I enjoyed others, and I would classify this book as a fun, thrilling and quite spooky read and I would recommend it to any VR, video game, sci-fi fans, especially fans of RPO.
https://thecaffeinatedreader.com/2020/01/10/the-god-game-blog-tour/
Content/Trigger Warnings: Physical abuse, cancer, racial slurs, homophobia, bullying, depression/mental health issues, suicidal thoughts/attempt(s), violence/murder, death of an animal.
Want to play a game?
Want that phrase to terrify you for the rest of your life? Then read this book!
Be forewarned, these characters are not easily likeable after like the first few chapters, I liked them, but I’m a Slytherin, so, I liked them probably more than I should have the whole way through. I mean at least three of them to have continually redeemable qualities, you can see them struggling with this game, which, is a dark and terrifying contender to deal with.
This Game will make you or break you, and it wants to break you. You can earn ‘Goldz’ in the game or, if it isn’t feeling gracious, you gain ‘Blaxx.’ The problem is though, there are no rules, and so any choice you make could result in a reward or a punishment, there’s no pause, and worst of all, there’s no way out.
God knows all, God sees all, and it rewards you for each time you do its bidding. So who in the group will want to win, to please God, and who will want out?
Stephen King meets Ready Player One, you get a dark gritty and terrifying tale about what happens when not only an AI is God but also what happens when people are given too much power.
Tobey does a great job of chilling you to your core and using theology and philosophy to do so too, I love that he had these elements in it and they weren’t so heavy that I couldn’t keep up. [Philosophy and I do not always get along]
But just because you’re done with the Game, doesn’t mean it’s done with you.
Four cups from me, thank you so much to Gollancz for sending me a copy of this in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the tour.
Content/Trigger Warnings: Physical abuse, cancer, racial slurs, homophobia, bullying, depression/mental health issues, suicidal thoughts/attempt(s), violence/murder, death of an animal.
Want to play a game?
Want that phrase to terrify you for the rest of your life? Then read this book!
Be forewarned, these characters are not easily likeable after like the first few chapters, I liked them, but I’m a Slytherin, so, I liked them probably more than I should have the whole way through. I mean at least three of them to have continually redeemable qualities, you can see them struggling with this game, which, is a dark and terrifying contender to deal with.
This Game will make you or break you, and it wants to break you. You can earn ‘Goldz’ in the game or, if it isn’t feeling gracious, you gain ‘Blaxx.’ The problem is though, there are no rules, and so any choice you make could result in a reward or a punishment, there’s no pause, and worst of all, there’s no way out.
God knows all, God sees all, and it rewards you for each time you do its bidding. So who in the group will want to win, to please God, and who will want out?
Stephen King meets Ready Player One, you get a dark gritty and terrifying tale about what happens when not only an AI is God but also what happens when people are given too much power.
Tobey does a great job of chilling you to your core and using theology and philosophy to do so too, I love that he had these elements in it and they weren’t so heavy that I couldn’t keep up. [Philosophy and I do not always get along]
But just because you’re done with the Game, doesn’t mean it’s done with you.
Four cups from me, thank you so much to Gollancz for sending me a copy of this in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the tour.
It was good, and the premise was really interesting, but something felt off. I think having the characters be high schoolers was an odd choice...
I enjoyed this read a lot. I flew through it and didn’t even realize it was almost 500 PAGES. I felt VERY connected to the teenage characters in this book, in fact that is one of my biggest praises. Somehow even though they were in these over the top horrible scenarios, their actions seemed real and believable.
Full review is now LIVE on my Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7BmnVdg9AH/?igshid=fz26d2hgbn83
Full review is now LIVE on my Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7BmnVdg9AH/?igshid=fz26d2hgbn83
When Charlie and his friends, the self-proclaimed "Vindicators", all receive an invitation to play the GOD Game. Promising to make all their dreams come true, this group of high school computer nerds soon find themselves embroiled in a deadly game that appears to only have one way out - death.
I honestly didn't think I'd like this book as much as I did. But only a few pages in, I was hooked. This fast-paced, high energy story grabs hold of you and does not let go. Some of the computer stuff went over my head - being a middle-aged, non-technical person for sure - but it did not make a difference in the enjoyment and understanding of the story. These are high school students dealing with the pressures of their age: college acceptance, peer pressure, feeling left out, parental expectations. I found all of the characters to be well-written.
Overall, this was a good book that will keep you reading later than you'd intended! The short chapters kept me definitely reading "oh just one more".
I received this book from St. Martin's Press.
I honestly didn't think I'd like this book as much as I did. But only a few pages in, I was hooked. This fast-paced, high energy story grabs hold of you and does not let go. Some of the computer stuff went over my head - being a middle-aged, non-technical person for sure - but it did not make a difference in the enjoyment and understanding of the story. These are high school students dealing with the pressures of their age: college acceptance, peer pressure, feeling left out, parental expectations. I found all of the characters to be well-written.
Overall, this was a good book that will keep you reading later than you'd intended! The short chapters kept me definitely reading "oh just one more".
I received this book from St. Martin's Press.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Win and All Your Dreams Come True™! ;)
This cyber sci-fi thriller revolves around a group of five high school geeks – the Vindicators. The tech-savvy teens are experts at code and pulling trivial stunts. That is until Charlie and Peter receive an invitation they can’t refuse. They receive an invitation to play the G.O.D. Game. If they play and win, all their dreams come true. But if they die in the game, they die in real life... What begins as some harmless fun soon warps into something more sinister. As the virtual reality interposes itself onto real life, will they be able to escape?
I was immediately intrigued by the premise of The God Game, and, from the outset, it was incredibly immersive. It felt like a Stranger Things and Black Mirror collaboration with the scare-factor amped up a notch.
As the story progresses, we gain an insight into the characters’ innermost thoughts and fears, their dreams of getting into Harvard, and the secrets regarding the problems they’re enduring at home. They see the game as a chance for all of their dreams to come true. However, the missions, lies and promised rewards crescendo until the game becomes a prime source of their paranoia. Did my Dad really text me that or was it the game? The group dynamic crumbles as the players become mere pawns to the manipulative, omniscient AI. Just like Big Brother, it knows all and sees all. There is no off button. There is no way out. Despite its hefty length, I raced through this like it was a novella to see how, or if, they escaped.
The tech and religious jargon were difficult for me to follow along at times and I thought the quick POV switches were sometimes jarring. Nonetheless, this is an entertaining, original and engrossing story that any fans of Black Mirror will enjoy.
Popsugar Reading Challenge 2020: A book with a robot, cyborg or AI character
Thank you, Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
This cyber sci-fi thriller revolves around a group of five high school geeks – the Vindicators. The tech-savvy teens are experts at code and pulling trivial stunts. That is until Charlie and Peter receive an invitation they can’t refuse. They receive an invitation to play the G.O.D. Game. If they play and win, all their dreams come true. But if they die in the game, they die in real life... What begins as some harmless fun soon warps into something more sinister. As the virtual reality interposes itself onto real life, will they be able to escape?
I was immediately intrigued by the premise of The God Game, and, from the outset, it was incredibly immersive. It felt like a Stranger Things and Black Mirror collaboration with the scare-factor amped up a notch.
As the story progresses, we gain an insight into the characters’ innermost thoughts and fears, their dreams of getting into Harvard, and the secrets regarding the problems they’re enduring at home. They see the game as a chance for all of their dreams to come true. However, the missions, lies and promised rewards crescendo until the game becomes a prime source of their paranoia. Did my Dad really text me that or was it the game? The group dynamic crumbles as the players become mere pawns to the manipulative, omniscient AI. Just like Big Brother, it knows all and sees all. There is no off button. There is no way out. Despite its hefty length, I raced through this like it was a novella to see how, or if, they escaped.
The tech and religious jargon were difficult for me to follow along at times and I thought the quick POV switches were sometimes jarring. Nonetheless, this is an entertaining, original and engrossing story that any fans of Black Mirror will enjoy.
Popsugar Reading Challenge 2020: A book with a robot, cyborg or AI character
Thank you, Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!