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review 2018-12-28 16:38
Game Slaves by Gard Skinner
Game Slaves - Gard Skinner

My copy of this is an ARC that I picked up at a conference four years ago. Yes, it took me this long to finally read it. Because it's an ARC, I won't be quoting from it.

Phoenix and his team spend their work days fighting battle after battle. Each time they die, they're regenerated. That's because they aren't people - they're the NPC enemies that human gamers try to defeat. The only difference between one day and the next is what game they're in. When Dakota, a new member, is added to Phoenix's team, things gradually start to fall apart.

Dakota won't stop asking questions. She has what she thinks are memories of a life prior to being in the game. Doesn't that mean she, and all of them, are really human? Doesn't that mean there's a life she could get back to? Phoenix tries to ignore her and concentrate on being the biggest, baddest opponent gamers have ever fought against, but then things start happening that even he can't explain away.

I went into this thinking it'd work reasonably well for me. I like "stuck in a video game" stories, and this seemed somewhat in the same vein. Unfortunately, I disliked Phoenix, who I assume was written to primarily appeal to male gamers. His idea of a good life was battles, good weapons, and Mi, his only female teammate prior to Dakota's arrival, tucked under his arm when she wasn't pulling off an impressive number of headshots. Although Dakota annoyed him, he gave her living quarters closer to his because he thought she was hot...which was weird since he acknowledged that all women in his game world were hot.

I spent a good chunk of the book thinking Dakota would have made a better POV character, but I doubt that would have made me like this book any better. She annoyed me almost as much as she annoyed Phoenix. But at least she was less passive than Phoenix, who was aware that things were going on around him that he knew nothing about but who did nothing to learn more about those things.

For a book that contained cannibals and a Mad Max-style dystopian wasteland, this was surprisingly boring. The pacing was really bad, and none of the characters felt like actual people. Part of the latter could have been due to Phoenix's POV. Mi, for example, came across as his token girlfriend. Why were the two of them together? She seemed more inclined to question things than him, and there were hints that she had thoughts and emotions he hadn't even tried to find out about. And yet the two of them stayed together. The only explanation I could think of was that Phoenix was team leader, and as team leader he was required to have a girlfriend. Which was...depressing.

The book's ending was garbage, a last-ditch effort to mess with readers. The result was hugely unsatisfying. Phoenix's shock and horror didn't exactly do much for my opinion of his intelligence, either. The ending he'd been about to have was filled with great big gaping plot holes (not to mention a stunning display of selfishness and wastefulness, but that's a whole other issue). It shouldn't have required dragging him over and rubbing his nose in them for him to see them.

Extras:

I don't know if these made it into the final book, but the ARC came with a few illustrations and stats for Phoenix and his teammates.

 

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

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review 2016-06-19 08:10
Immurement
Immurement: A Young Adult Science Fiction Dystopian Novel (The Undergrounders Series Book One) - Norma Hinkens

I think I've reached the point where I should take a break from the Dystopian future. This is the newest reading experience in a growing string of books from the genre that I didn't like. I think I might have saturated my need for Dystopian stories for a while. At least for the ones that don't seem to make a lot of sense.

 

Derry and her family and friends live in underground bunkers out of fear for the Sweepers who abduct people into aircrafts. The description is not unlike alien abduction. When her brother is taken, Derry will do everything she can to rescue him, at least until the love interest shows up. A girl and her priorities, I guess?

 

There are certain things that could have saved the novel, but unfortunately didn't. One of which was Derry's character. She was rather annoying, and the easy way in which she seems to forget her goals doesn't speak for her either. She's supposed to be the kick-ass heroine familiar to the genre, but instead she usually gets into trouble and needs to be rescued by a group of strong men. Also, I was quite disappointed with the reveal about the Sweepers. It didn't make a lot of sense to me, but to be completely honest, I was past really caring at that point.

 

Immurement is the first book of the Undergrounders.

 

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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review 2014-07-21 08:07
A Book A Day - Day 21: The novel you expected to hate, but turned out you loved
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

For me the obvious choice is The Hunger Games. After the Twilight series (one of the worst things I ever read) I was really sceptical about bestselling YA books. So I very reluctantly read The HUnger Games and I just loved it. In the end I read all three volumes in one week, something I hardly ever do because I like variety in what I'm reading.

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review 2014-07-04 13:38
Untypical Science Fiction novel
The Humans - Matt Haig

The Humans is about an alien who is sent to earth to kill Andrew Martin, a professor at Cambridge who just discovered the proof for the Riemann hypothesis (find out more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_...). The civilisation the alien is from is developed much higher than the humans are and has much better technology. The alien appears in Andrew Martin's body and takes his role.
At the beginning The Humans is very funny. The way the story is told - from the perspective of the alien - reminded me a bit of The Rosie Project: the alien Andrew Martin and Don Tillman would really get along very well with each other! The world is described in a very logical way which tells us how illogical it sometimes is.
But this funny part is over quite soon when the alien Andrew Martin adjusts himself to life on earth.
The story than becomes a mixture of science fiction (not too much of that thankfully because it is not my favourite genre), love story and a bit of philosophical rambling. There were many truths in it and also some quotes that made me think. But all in all the story didn't seem fully developed and often also quite predictable.
Still it was an entertaining and quick read, though nothing too special.

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