Friday, December 27, 2019

The God Game by Danny Tobey

I'm a senior citizen and while I do play some online games, they are nothing like portrayed in this novel. The players here are high school kids who get deep into a game asking them to do increasingly harmful tasks to gain power and personal desires. Computer speak is important to understanding much of what is going on and I am lacking there. A great deal of the book was over my head. I also think there must be television programs or movies related to what was going on in the book. Since I don't watch television and rarely go to movies, I was again lost for much of the action. I did not find the characters engaging either. None of them was crafted so that I really cared about how their life turned out.

I had a hard time reading this novel. I felt the plot was slow for the much of the book. It is an interesting study in power and acceptance at the high school level. There is also an element of greed permeating the characters. All something this senior citizen did not find particularly captivating. I think the book is aimed at young adults, perhaps high school age, but I felt the content was not at all appropriate. It was more dark than what I'd like to see high school students read. And I didn't appreciate the vulgar language either.

You can read an excerpt here.

My rating: 2/5 stars.

Danny Tobey went to Harvard College, Yale Law School, and UT Southwestern medical school. His first novel, The Faculty Club, is a sci-fi fantasy thriller. He is a noted expert on Artificial Intelligence. Photo by Allison V Smith.

St. Martin's Press, 464 pages. This book releases January 7, 2020.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

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