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libraryais's review
3.0
**I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.**
I really liked the premise of The Game. High school murder mysteries seem to be pretty big right now and I had high hopes for a twisting tale of whodunit. Unfortunately, I figured out the killer very early on. For a main character that took the time to map out and track her classmates' usual whereabouts just to win a harmless game of glorified tag, you'd think Lia would have also been able to crack the case as early as the reader. The whole mystery was a little too on the nose, but I did still enjoy the thrill. I read it in one sitting on a plane, so if you're looking for a quick thrill check it out!
I really liked the premise of The Game. High school murder mysteries seem to be pretty big right now and I had high hopes for a twisting tale of whodunit. Unfortunately, I figured out the killer very early on. For a main character that took the time to map out and track her classmates' usual whereabouts just to win a harmless game of glorified tag, you'd think Lia would have also been able to crack the case as early as the reader. The whole mystery was a little too on the nose, but I did still enjoy the thrill. I read it in one sitting on a plane, so if you're looking for a quick thrill check it out!
thatbooktrovertkait's review
mysterious
4.0
The way I had no idea who the killer was til they were revealed. Was the writing amazing? No, but the plot was great!
chardeemacdennis's review
2.0
2.5 stars
Wow. This writing and/or editing was just SO BAD. Halfway through this book I actually looked to see who published this book to see if it was legit.
Throughout the entire book I sometimes had to re-read sentences to make sure they made sense. This all ended up being due to poor writing. For instance, the back of the book says it takes place at the beginning of summer. On the second page of the book, it says it takes place at the beginning of March just weeks before colleges send out acceptance letters. Not a big deal, but an early on discrepancy.
Other parts of the book say things like, "Lia ran the knife along her arm." I reread it and read some other parts. I'm pretty sure she ran the knife along the killer's arm and not her own, but the sentence reads that it was her own arm, but that doesn't make sense, but I thought maybe it was part of a distraction or a reveal so I was confused.
There are other parts where the main character, Lia, is by herself and we know what she's thinking, but then we see the texts she send to her friends with no context. We are left to assume her friends are able to know what Lia is doing without her being specific. Lia texts her BFF, "Gem, can you get rid of that?" and without any other context to what "that" is, Gem somehow knows.
The entire book was like this. I also didn't need to be told multiple times in the first quarter of the book that the only things Lia excels at are escape rooms and tabletops games. Yes, you've mentioned that and it wasn't a significant amount of pages prior, so I remember.
I also was not a fan of how the MC kept saying that people just don't understand her dedication to this game of Assassins because she's so into tabletop games and escape rooms. There is a big difference between being into those things and keeping a notebook for an entire year of what you overhear everyone say is their routine just for a game. There's being into certain types of games and wanting to excel and there is being a stalker. Sorry, the kids who acted like she was creepy, were right.
At times the author seemed to want to take on a theme of parental neglect or parental overbearing. I'm not sure which it was. The book is only 223 pages so taking on a theme that big wasn't necessary and it didn't work. I also can't have much sympathy that the MC isn't being allowed to go out alone at night and spend time on this game when two kids from her class have already been killed. I'm not sure that falls into controlling or overbearing. That seems wise.
Let's talk about the killings. Why were they so drastically different? Did different people write them?! The first murder, we get information that Lia hears something which would imply that the first victim is hit on the head, but she doesn't see anyone so she assumes the first victim tripped and it was an accident. Now we get to the second victim who has their fingers broken, is stabbed in the eye, and was forced to have an allergic reaction. This is so drastically more heinous than the first victim getting hit on the head. I was taken aback by the description of this murder when the first one was so tame. When Lia says this murder was personal, I would agree with her. But again, thanks to bad writing, this ends up being wrong. At the end of the book when our killer states the why and how of everything, we find out victim 2 was just to confuse people and help hide the motive, what?! You did this extremely violent murder of someone who was just to throw people off?!
Onto the killer. While I figured who it would be following the logic of the person set up to be the least likely, I'm fine with that. No problem. Especially for a YA book that reads younger than YA. However, I don't buy that this killer was physically able to commit the murder that they committed. The way people were killed and the stature of our killer just doesn't make sense.
Wow. This writing and/or editing was just SO BAD. Halfway through this book I actually looked to see who published this book to see if it was legit.
Throughout the entire book I sometimes had to re-read sentences to make sure they made sense. This all ended up being due to poor writing. For instance, the back of the book says it takes place at the beginning of summer. On the second page of the book, it says it takes place at the beginning of March just weeks before colleges send out acceptance letters. Not a big deal, but an early on discrepancy.
Other parts of the book say things like, "Lia ran the knife along her arm." I reread it and read some other parts. I'm pretty sure she ran the knife along the killer's arm and not her own, but the sentence reads that it was her own arm, but that doesn't make sense, but I thought maybe it was part of a distraction or a reveal so I was confused.
There are other parts where the main character, Lia, is by herself and we know what she's thinking, but then we see the texts she send to her friends with no context. We are left to assume her friends are able to know what Lia is doing without her being specific. Lia texts her BFF, "Gem, can you get rid of that?" and without any other context to what "that" is, Gem somehow knows.
The entire book was like this. I also didn't need to be told multiple times in the first quarter of the book that the only things Lia excels at are escape rooms and tabletops games. Yes, you've mentioned that and it wasn't a significant amount of pages prior, so I remember.
I also was not a fan of how the MC kept saying that people just don't understand her dedication to this game of Assassins because she's so into tabletop games and escape rooms. There is a big difference between being into those things and keeping a notebook for an entire year of what you overhear everyone say is their routine just for a game. There's being into certain types of games and wanting to excel and there is being a stalker. Sorry, the kids who acted like she was creepy, were right.
At times the author seemed to want to take on a theme of parental neglect or parental overbearing. I'm not sure which it was. The book is only 223 pages so taking on a theme that big wasn't necessary and it didn't work. I also can't have much sympathy that the MC isn't being allowed to go out alone at night and spend time on this game when two kids from her class have already been killed. I'm not sure that falls into controlling or overbearing. That seems wise.
Let's talk about the killings. Why were they so drastically different? Did different people write them?! The first murder, we get information that Lia hears something which would imply that the first victim is hit on the head, but she doesn't see anyone so she assumes the first victim tripped and it was an accident. Now we get to the second victim who has their fingers broken, is stabbed in the eye, and was forced to have an allergic reaction. This is so drastically more heinous than the first victim getting hit on the head. I was taken aback by the description of this murder when the first one was so tame. When Lia says this murder was personal, I would agree with her. But again, thanks to bad writing, this ends up being wrong. At the end of the book when our killer states the why and how of everything, we find out victim 2 was just to confuse people and help hide the motive, what?! You did this extremely violent murder of someone who was just to throw people off?!
Onto the killer. While I figured who it would be following the logic of the person set up to be the least likely, I'm fine with that. No problem. Especially for a YA book that reads younger than YA. However, I don't buy that this killer was physically able to commit the murder that they committed. The way people were killed and the stature of our killer just doesn't make sense.
stephfafahh's review against another edition
1.0
I-
I just don't know. We can't trust covers and now we can't trust synopses.
I just don't know. We can't trust covers and now we can't trust synopses.
alex_648's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
foolofatook23's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.25
albaaaaaa's review
4.0
Si pero no. Quiero saber más por que el final es muy bueno, pero no hay 2ª parte :,)
helorenz's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? No
2.5