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A review by peter__b
The God Game by Danny Tobey
1.0
A good premise can get you far, but poor writing and plotting are going to catch up with you eventually. This was an unpleasant reading experience right from the start, with only the hope of a fun story keeping me going. By the time I got to the halfway mark, I knew I had wasted my time, but since I have a thing about finishing books, I ploughed on through to the inevitable disappointment of an ending.
To say that the story was a shitshow, would be an understatement. It started off well enough with a bunch of stupid teenagers doing what their stereotyped brethren tend to do. As they continued doing more stupid and incriminating acts at the titular game's insistence, the story devolved into a series of increasingly ridiculous events that stretched my suspension of disbelief to its limits. When we eventually got to the climax, however, it was almost impossible to care about the convoluted plot or its moronic characters.
If the story wasn't bad enough, you still had to deal with the awful writing. Constant head-hopping between not only the main characters but even into characters that had literally a single scene. Inconsistent characterizations along with melodramatic dialogue only aggravated my dislike for the characters that felt so far removed from plausibility to border on the comical. If all that wasn't enough, there was all the edgy content to deal with. It seriously felt like reading a book written by a 16-year-old trying too hard to sound cool, especially with the sprinkling of philosophy and theology towards the end that induced a wave of eye-rolls.
I'd normally talk a bit about the characters, but they were such a mess of cliches and tropes that I'm struggling to nail down a cohesive picture of their personalities. They kept changing so much between scenes that it felt like you're dealing with a new character each time you see them. I'm sure some might argue that shows how complex they are, but with no definable sense of character for anyone, they just came across as a disjointed mess.
Luckily, I managed to keep my brain turned off for the most part. If I had allowed myself to think critically about the various events, I'd probably have brain damage from hitting my head against a wall so much. I'm amazed this book was published in the state that it is. Maybe the target audience, whoever they may be, like this sort of stuff? I'm struggling to think of who might enjoy this kind of drivel. Maybe the YA crowd that want something darker at the expense of likeable characters? If that sounds like something you might like, go for it. As for me, I'm still struggling to think of any redeeming qualities other than the promising premise.
To say that the story was a shitshow, would be an understatement. It started off well enough with a bunch of stupid teenagers doing what their stereotyped brethren tend to do. As they continued doing more stupid and incriminating acts at the titular game's insistence, the story devolved into a series of increasingly ridiculous events that stretched my suspension of disbelief to its limits. When we eventually got to the climax, however, it was almost impossible to care about the convoluted plot or its moronic characters.
If the story wasn't bad enough, you still had to deal with the awful writing. Constant head-hopping between not only the main characters but even into characters that had literally a single scene. Inconsistent characterizations along with melodramatic dialogue only aggravated my dislike for the characters that felt so far removed from plausibility to border on the comical. If all that wasn't enough, there was all the edgy content to deal with. It seriously felt like reading a book written by a 16-year-old trying too hard to sound cool, especially with the sprinkling of philosophy and theology towards the end that induced a wave of eye-rolls.
I'd normally talk a bit about the characters, but they were such a mess of cliches and tropes that I'm struggling to nail down a cohesive picture of their personalities. They kept changing so much between scenes that it felt like you're dealing with a new character each time you see them. I'm sure some might argue that shows how complex they are, but with no definable sense of character for anyone, they just came across as a disjointed mess.
Luckily, I managed to keep my brain turned off for the most part. If I had allowed myself to think critically about the various events, I'd probably have brain damage from hitting my head against a wall so much. I'm amazed this book was published in the state that it is. Maybe the target audience, whoever they may be, like this sort of stuff? I'm struggling to think of who might enjoy this kind of drivel. Maybe the YA crowd that want something darker at the expense of likeable characters? If that sounds like something you might like, go for it. As for me, I'm still struggling to think of any redeeming qualities other than the promising premise.