B

It's alright

Reviewed: 12-18-24

It's a bit of a female power fantasy but it is pretty straightforward with the plot. it's not awful but I didn't really feel like there was much depth beyond raising the main character up to be awesome.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Forced plot devices in this one

Reviewed: 11-22-24

*****SPOILER ALERT!!!******

I get that teen romance books are not super deep into cause and effect and tend to stay on the surface level for drama. But a major plot point was freeing some people who then got threatened to be put into quarantine for a few months. To be fair, initially, this seemed like a devious delay tactic to silence decent, which could work well as a plot point. But then the author went into a 'doctors are evil' territory and skipped the delay tactic point that was actually decent. The MC imagined doctors ganging up and holding innocent people down to take blood samples while they screamed and thrashed all alone.

But... that was just the MC imaging things and just made her sound uninformed about what doctors do. So the point of quarantine turned into a method of torture instead of a delay tactic.

I have personally dealt with a LOT of medical BS and bad doctors in my life. So to be transparent, this is a sore spot for me. To me, plot points like this only seed the idea that routine medical tests are to be feared and life-saving procedures avoided, rather than to be annoyed by - which is right and proper.

Quarantine is actually a standard practice when isolated communities come into contact. It's why travel to certain countries requires vaccination and astronauts quarantined when they returned from space. As a plot device, that was a good idea and why it originally sounded so devious. Since Peagea is supposed to be super advanced, I'm sure they have microphones and video chat. But instead of denying them conversational contact while in quarantine, which would have been a good bad guy move, sadly the author dumped a rather good idea and instead only focused on weird, hypothetical medical abuse, which broke my immersion. 🫤

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Not the worst but not their best work

Reviewed: 06-23-22

I liked the Latina main character. It was cool to have her explain her culture in memories but it also felt that almost any culture could have been swapped in. I wished it had played a more major and grounding role in who she was and how that contributed to her outcome. The world building was interesting because it was constantly rebuilt, but it did leave the world building feeling a little thin because it changed so much. The slow burn romance paired with a MC fiery, passionate, impulsive personality felt a little jarring as well, not quite perfectly blended. There seemed to also be a genre tug of war between this being a book about the world/conflict itself and passionate romance. Overall it was interesting but I felt like this series could have been better if it was shorter and more concise.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Much of the same

Reviewed: 12-25-20

The authors aren't really breaking much new ground in this book with cleaning and organizing. They tried to be a little cutesy by adding some poems, but I'm personally not a fan of poetry and felt they were filler. The biggest thing I felt that they offered differently than other books was including the mental clutter that comes with always having something going on in the background.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

meh

Reviewed: 04-22-20

Good for people who like really convoluted, completely off the wall and unbelievable conspiracy theories and revenge killing/sex. In my opinion, tries to hard to be intellectual and just ends up rambling. I do like the connection between junk DNA and junk consumer culture, but not much else.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

omfg stop giving away plots of moves you a**holes!

Reviewed: 02-12-20

seriously you just ruined Parasite for me and it was on my to-watch list. at LEAST give a spoiler warning! jerks!!!!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Gets better and better!

Reviewed: 10-17-18

I'm enjoying this series more and more each time I listen to it and can't wait for the next book!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Series stated interesting, got boring

Reviewed: 08-23-18

Series started interesting, askingb some philosophical questions about player behavior in games. ended up being av pathetic power trip. God, emperor, overpowered player. everything just gets hand too easily to Runner, trivializes everything. And don't get me started on the polygamy. I have polyamorous friends and this is not how it works. It's way too one sided. Women who are supposed to be strong warriors in the story just end up weak and giving up their own freedom so just one guy can have several women. That's just sad for the ladies. True poly relationships should allow for just as much freedom for women as for men. This guy's power trip is disgusting, so sad he abandoned every interesting and intelligent idea he had in his first book to write a bad sex fantasy. Also, pretending that he can get all these women because he's a nice guy who accepts them by complimenting then a bit? He's just weak and clearly doesn't know how women work. which... is unfortunate since 90% of his characters are women. I'll be returning this series.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

Petty good

Reviewed: 04-22-18

A pretty decent coverage of the video games industry. Note, this is more about the industry itself rather than game mechanics, outside how major changes in game technology and new genres directed the industry as a whole. It is a good overview of where the game industry has come from, with major movements, breakthroughs and some of the culture that goes along with developers and gamers.

It begins with retro arcade games and ends with the Indi game movement. It does meander out of chronical order sometimes to follow a thread or key figure in the industry. It covers mostly AAA games or big budget games that flopped. Some major studios are absent from the book, but with the sheer number of studios, it's understandable. It was particularly nice to read more about game development movements in Europe and how Communism affected, and still affects, Russian gamer mentality.

The book isn't long enough to cover every topic, of course. There are a few areas that I felt the book didn't cover, or cover enough in depth. In no particular order, I feel these needed more attention, though some of these would require whole individual books dedicated to the subject: A history of ancient gaming, though a whole college course would be needed. Boardgames and how Kickstarter has made them more easily funded. Social media platform games such as Farmville, Cartown and Cow Clicker. Gamification experiments done with real world consequences, such as Sesame Credit in China. Chinese game development and restrictions on importing Western games into their market. Life in the industry and it's working conditions, such as the EASpouse lawsuit, crunch, burnout, it's high turnover rates from layoffs and a consequentially near nomadic lifestyle to find the next gig. Outsourcing asset creation and support to China and India. Indian gamers in general. And some of the very recent health games, where players have to work out to play, such as Pokemon Go and Zwift.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

not a bad book, just not my cup of tea

Reviewed: 12-06-17

if you like phycological horror with a paranormal/biblical tilt at in the South, this is for you. not my thing is all

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!