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A review by ihateprozac
The Game by Linsey Miller
1.0
A lame concept let down by clunky writing. This might've been passable if reframed as a middle grade novel, but as a YA thriller this was beyond weak.
The plot in and of itself is pretty lame. The senior class of this small Arkansas high school play the game Assassins each year, where you have to get your target alone and shoot them with a watergun. It's a very elementary school concept to start with, and then when people start dying nobody seems to take it seriously. There are no stakes or tension to the story because at no point do you, as a reader, take any of it seriously.
The weak plot is further let down by characterisation that is all over the shop, with the characters somehow managing to be one-dimensional and completely chaotic at the same time. The leads are little more than Assassins Obsessed Girl, Band Nerd Boy, Bland They/Them, and Angry Nerd Girl. No time is spent on world-building and characterisation; we're just immediately thrust into a half-arsed story with characters who regularly bring up random memories mid-conversation in a super clumsy attempt at exposition:
Lia: omg Devon has never noticed me before, also I have no personality and am bad at school
Devon: I have secretly been in love with you all along ha ha also do you remember one time you won the Science Fair
Lia: oh yeah remember when I won the Science Fair I am good at science!!!! lol and you bought me an ice cream
Lia: btw our classmates are dying playing this Assassins game lol and my mum is super mad and won't let me play. Do you remember that time you got me cinnamon rolls, enby friend?
Enby friend: Abby's dog is called Omelet how funny is that lol
Lia: ha ha ha ha
Devon: ha ha ha ha
Lia: omg did you know my parents hate me
Me: what???
The whole book is a bunch of gibberish like that. Honestly I lost count of the times I eye-rolled while reading this, and I could feel myself actively losing brain cells! The only redeeming quality was the author writing a normalised non-binary friend who uses they/them pronouns, but sadly they don't get much of an arc.
Don't waste your time on this one, folks.
The plot in and of itself is pretty lame. The senior class of this small Arkansas high school play the game Assassins each year, where you have to get your target alone and shoot them with a watergun. It's a very elementary school concept to start with, and then when people start dying nobody seems to take it seriously. There are no stakes or tension to the story because at no point do you, as a reader, take any of it seriously.
The weak plot is further let down by characterisation that is all over the shop, with the characters somehow managing to be one-dimensional and completely chaotic at the same time. The leads are little more than Assassins Obsessed Girl, Band Nerd Boy, Bland They/Them, and Angry Nerd Girl. No time is spent on world-building and characterisation; we're just immediately thrust into a half-arsed story with characters who regularly bring up random memories mid-conversation in a super clumsy attempt at exposition:
Lia: omg Devon has never noticed me before, also I have no personality and am bad at school
Devon: I have secretly been in love with you all along ha ha also do you remember one time you won the Science Fair
Lia: oh yeah remember when I won the Science Fair I am good at science!!!! lol and you bought me an ice cream
Lia: btw our classmates are dying playing this Assassins game lol and my mum is super mad and won't let me play. Do you remember that time you got me cinnamon rolls, enby friend?
Enby friend: Abby's dog is called Omelet how funny is that lol
Lia: ha ha ha ha
Devon: ha ha ha ha
Lia: omg did you know my parents hate me
Me: what???
The whole book is a bunch of gibberish like that. Honestly I lost count of the times I eye-rolled while reading this, and I could feel myself actively losing brain cells! The only redeeming quality was the author writing a normalised non-binary friend who uses they/them pronouns, but sadly they don't get much of an arc.
Don't waste your time on this one, folks.