ARC Review: The God Game

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

Title: The God Game
Author: Danny Tobey
Publication Date: January 7, 2020
Genre: Science Fiction/Thriller
Recommended If You Like: dark twisted reads, futuristic intense interactive games, philosophical and religious debate

The Book:

A group of high schoolers, designated outsiders, are best friends, a group self-titled The Vindicators. When they are invited to play an online game called The God Game, seemingly run by an AI who believes itself to be God, it's a challenge they can't resist.

At first, everything seems fun and exciting, a virtual world imposed on their difficult real lives. But the stakes keep getting raised, the tasks keep getting harder, and soon their worlds seem to be colliding and falling apart.

Die in the Game, die in real life.

What I Liked:

This book started out really interesting. The concept intrigued me right away, and the main characters seemed like people it was easy to relate to-trying to find themselves, to find meaning, to find their tribe. I was also drawn in right away by the idea of a twisted and surprising game working its way into real life in unexpected ways.

Anything I Didn't Like?

This book got so dark, so very very dark. I read a lot of books with storylines that can get intense and dark, but this book was on a whole other level that was just too much for me. I kept reading only because I was more than halfway through by the time it got so heavy, so I figured I should finish.

So...?

This book was definitely not for me. That doesn't mean other people won't really like it, but I couldn't handle the darkness and so couldn't enjoy the read.