Title: The God Game: A Novel
Author: Danny Tobey
Release Date: January 7th 2020
Genre: Cyberpunk Science Fiction
~Synopsis~
You are invited!
COme inside and play with G.O.D.
Bring your friends!
It;’s fun!
But remember the rules. Win and ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.™ Lose, you die!
With those words, Charlie and his friends enter the G.O.D. Game, a video game run by underground hackers and controlled by a mysterious AI that believes it’s God. Through their phone-screens and high-tech glasses, the teens’ realities blur with a virtual world of creeping vines, smoldering torches, runes, glyphs, gods, and mythical creatures. When they accomplish a mission, the game rewards them with expensive tech, revenge on high-school tormentors, and cash flowing from ATMs. Slaying a hydra and drawing a bloody pentagram as payment to a Greek god seem harmless at first. Fun even.
But then the threatening messages start. Worship me. Obey me. Complete a mission, however cruel, or the game reveals their secrets and crushes their dreams. Tasks that seemed harmless at first take on deadly consequences. Mysterious packages show up at their homes. Shadowy figures start following them, appearing around corners, attacking them in parking garages. Who else is playing this game, and how far will they go to win?
And what of the game’s first promise: win, win big, lose, you die? Dying in a virtual world doesn’t really mean death in real life—does it?
As Charlie and his friends try to find a way out of the game, they realize they’ve been manipulated into a bigger web they can’t escape: an AI that learned its cruelty from watching us.
God is always watching, and He says when the game is done.
~Add To TBR~
~My Review~
The God Game is a suspense and thrilling story with a gamer vibe thrown in. Once you agree to play, there’s no way out.
From the synopsis, I didn’t know what to expect. The start of the book was a bit slow going. I kept trying to decide if I liked any of these characters. Turns out I did not. I did feel it was kind of perfect for the storyline. This game messed with your head and brought out the absolute worst in people. How far would you go to have all your dreams come true? Once it hit that halfway point, it picked up and you were on this crazy ride. Waiting to see what would happen. At that point, I couldn’t put the book down. I HAD to see this through the end. Oh what an end it was too! Bravo Mr. Tobey.
There is talk of coding and some gamer references but it doesn’t distract from the story if those aren’t your thing. All in all, this was a really great book. It had a good ending and the story was well written. I give this 4 stars.
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion*
The Literary Vixen 