Scan barcode
kappafrog's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.25
The first half of this book was fantastic. I was totally drawn in by the prologue, then interested to see how those characters would turn up once we fast-forwarded fifty years. The worldbuilding was pretty interesting and seemed like a plausible future direction for humanity. I loved the characters of Drow and Crane, and for the first 3/4 of the book I really liked Rubi too. I was definitely interested in Luxe as well and figuring out the mystery of who, or what, he was. The concept of the AI hivemind was also really interesting, and I liked seeing how their interests sometimes intersected with but sometimes ran against the interests of the human characters. I loved Drow's group of weirdo friends and the scene when they were on the "religious retreat" sharing all their conspiracy theories.
The second half of the book, though, really dropped the ball. It became increasingly more difficult to follow all of the plotlines and conflicting character goals and loyalties. The book committed two main offences though that made me drop my rating. Problem 1: Gimlet said something unthinkably disgusting and offensive to Rubi about her father. The character said something so vile about abuse victims I immediately lost all sympathy that I had for them. But then,instead of dropping that sicko like a hot potato, Rubi made out with them??? Even though she didn't know, unlike the audience, that Gimlet had said it prompted by the AI? That was unforgivable for me. Just the whole issue of Gimlet selling out all of humanity to get their dying partner surgery was never addressed properly. For Rubi to just be okay with all that really tanked her character. I was disgusted every time afterwards we had to read from Gimlet's POV and couldn't stomach the romance at all after that point, which was too bad because while Gimlet was never very likable, it had been an interesting dynamic up until that point.
Problem 2: Many intriguing plot questions are never resolved.The two biggest ones for me are: Why did Misfortune end up siding with Neverland? After such a hard-hitting opening from her perspective as a child, we never hear from her POV again. As a reader, I was really invested in the breadcrumbs we got about her life afterwards, but we never got a satisfactory explanation as to why she happily colluded with them. The second unresolved plot point: What was the deal with Luxe's memories about the wasps and the dying professor? It was never clear to me how exactly that plot point played into Luxe-the-body versus Luxe-the-alien. I was very invested in that mystery early on and felt like it just got left behind. And a third less critical one but still weird - why was the plotline of finding Rubi's mother's mass grave dropped?
A few more minor quibbles: The author's attempt at portraying an English dialect by using the word "bloody" everywhere came off as a little inauthentic, especially when paired with a late-in-book description of Crane's "oh so very English" black umbrella... like, what? What is so English about a black umbrella? It made it seem kind of obvious the author wasn't British. The VR game parts were always boring for me - I always felt like they were pulling me away from more interesting plots. And finally, the timeline was sometimes quite confusing - Rubi was fourteen when she got her implants, but was that 4 years ago or much longer?
There were lots of little details in the book that I did love though. I loved the character Malika, who wore a niqab and expressed herself through virtual animations of the henna tattoos on her hands. I loved seeing everyone's e-states and seeing how the virtual and real worlds interacted. Drow's trip across the country brought us to some cool locations like the New York zoos, the only part of the city remaining in this post-apocalyptic world. The way that Drow's perspective as someone with PTSD and on mind-enhancing drugs was written was really absorbing and made me care a lot about him. Robin and Happ were both great dog companions, one real and one virtual. I liked seeing how the world of virtual likes and dislikes (strokes and strikes) functioned, and thought that some of the dissident factions like the Freebreeders were interesting concepts, if a little underdeveloped.
So yeah, the problems outlined above tanked what would have been a solid 4/5 or 4.5/5 book for me. I was totally absorbed in the first half, and the excitement of the mystery of figuring out what Luxe was even made its way into my dreams! I thought I would be writing a much more glowing review for this book when I was deep into the first half. But the second half of the book really let me down. I would still recommend this book to people who are interested in stories with AI characters, dystopian near-future Earth, Virtual Reality, and sci-fi mystery/thrillers.
The second half of the book, though, really dropped the ball. It became increasingly more difficult to follow all of the plotlines and conflicting character goals and loyalties. The book committed two main offences though that made me drop my rating. Problem 1: Gimlet said something unthinkably disgusting and offensive to Rubi about her father. The character said something so vile about abuse victims I immediately lost all sympathy that I had for them. But then,
Problem 2: Many intriguing plot questions are never resolved.
A few more minor quibbles: The author's attempt at portraying an English dialect by using the word "bloody" everywhere came off as a little inauthentic, especially when paired with a late-in-book description of Crane's "oh so very English" black umbrella... like, what? What is so English about a black umbrella? It made it seem kind of obvious the author wasn't British. The VR game parts were always boring for me - I always felt like they were pulling me away from more interesting plots. And finally, the timeline was sometimes quite confusing - Rubi was fourteen when she got her implants, but was that 4 years ago or much longer?
There were lots of little details in the book that I did love though. I loved the character Malika, who wore a niqab and expressed herself through virtual animations of the henna tattoos on her hands. I loved seeing everyone's e-states and seeing how the virtual and real worlds interacted. Drow's trip across the country brought us to some cool locations like the New York zoos, the only part of the city remaining in this post-apocalyptic world. The way that Drow's perspective as someone with PTSD and on mind-enhancing drugs was written was really absorbing and made me care a lot about him. Robin and Happ were both great dog companions, one real and one virtual. I liked seeing how the world of virtual likes and dislikes (strokes and strikes) functioned, and thought that some of the dissident factions like the Freebreeders were interesting concepts, if a little underdeveloped.
So yeah, the problems outlined above tanked what would have been a solid 4/5 or 4.5/5 book for me. I was totally absorbed in the first half, and the excitement of the mystery of figuring out what Luxe was even made its way into my dreams! I thought I would be writing a much more glowing review for this book when I was deep into the first half. But the second half of the book really let me down. I would still recommend this book to people who are interested in stories with AI characters, dystopian near-future Earth, Virtual Reality, and sci-fi mystery/thrillers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Gore, Murder, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Blood, Body horror, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Child death, Death, Cursing, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abortion, Car accident, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pandemic/Epidemic, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Classism, Rape, Trafficking, Cancer, Suicide, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Genocide, Infertility, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Slavery
lauralauralaura's review against another edition
4.0
My favorite kind of escapist reading: good world building, a plot that bangs along, and a hypercompetent female protagonist. The details almost don't matter to me, but in this world, the economy is more-or-less based on likes and views, and life is almost entirely lived in augmented reality.
andropupsi's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a rollercoaster, I honestly didn't understand a lot of it. Some of the character's actions didn't make sense to me but I liked the characters still. It felt like there was too many plot points to keep track of and some of them really not needed in the story. Either way it was an enjoyable listen.
grid's review
5.0
This felt long to me, and objectively it’s not short, at well over 500 pages. But I wanted it to be longer. I wanted to stay in the world of this book!
cdeane61's review
5.0
Gamechanger indeed. This book is a fabulous extrapolation of current trends and technologies, wrapped in a ever increasingly engrossing story, with some memorable characters, be they biological, artificial or otherwise.
Will definitely continue with the series, so many directions it can go...
Will definitely continue with the series, so many directions it can go...
enbyglitch's review
5.0
This book is exactly what the title suggests. Every chapter makes abundantly clear that Beckett has no shortage of imagination and cultural insight.
Taking place many decades in the future, Gamechanger nonetheless confronts countless essential issues of today: colonization, addiction, trauma, and environmentalism to name a very small few.
I should also mention that there is a lot of invented language and concepts used throughout: it is really quite clever and helps to communicate the nature of the world, but also meant the first half of the novel took me a long time to work through.
Beckett's vision of the future gives me great hope, despite being quite dystopian. I look forward to the sequel!
Taking place many decades in the future, Gamechanger nonetheless confronts countless essential issues of today: colonization, addiction, trauma, and environmentalism to name a very small few.
I should also mention that there is a lot of invented language and concepts used throughout: it is really quite clever and helps to communicate the nature of the world, but also meant the first half of the novel took me a long time to work through.
Beckett's vision of the future gives me great hope, despite being quite dystopian. I look forward to the sequel!
blasterbee's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
tense
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? It's complicated
4.5
allboutdembooks's review
4.0
Depending on how the 21st century progresses I feel like this book will either end up feeling "hashtag" dated, or scarily prescient. Either way it was a joy to read. The ubiquitous hashtagging might not have bothered me as much if I had read it, but despite being expertly narrated by Natalie Naudus, there are only so many times you can hear the word "hashtag" spoken aloud before it starts to take away from the story a little.
That's probably my only complaint, though, and even that isn't a big one. The characters were easy to like, the plot took a little bit to spool up, but went with a pop once it did, the romance was cute, and the world was well-built. One of the blurbs I saw for this mentioned Star Trek, and I feel like the optimism the author conveyed for humanity definitely has that same kind of pathos. However, rather than portraying the post-scarcity adventures of Trek, Gamechanger deals with how humans might proceed forward from climate disaster and the unraveling of society. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this duology.
That's probably my only complaint, though, and even that isn't a big one. The characters were easy to like, the plot took a little bit to spool up, but went with a pop once it did, the romance was cute, and the world was well-built. One of the blurbs I saw for this mentioned Star Trek, and I feel like the optimism the author conveyed for humanity definitely has that same kind of pathos. However, rather than portraying the post-scarcity adventures of Trek, Gamechanger deals with how humans might proceed forward from climate disaster and the unraveling of society. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this duology.