I wanted SO badly to love this book, but sadly it fell flat for me. I love video games and most nerdy things, so when I read the synopsis of “virtual reality game controlled by an AI that thinks it’s God and will ruin your life if you don’t do what it says” I was dying to read it. It just didn’t live up to my expectations.

I’ll start with the good: this is a unique and interesting take on virtual reality, advancements in technology, and how far someone is willing to go to make their dreams come true. It was very well-written, and the short chapters kept me hooked. The plot moved along at a good pace, and I appreciated the nerdiness of it all.

Unfortunately, I felt like this book didn’t know what genre it wanted to be - young adult? Science fiction? Thriller? Horror? It aimed for all of them, but didn’t do any one particularly well. I also still don’t understand the point of the political undertones. They didn’t really add anything to the story, other than a holier than thou attitude.

The characters were also lackluster, and none stood out in particular. It was a bit difficult at times to keep up with five characters when the point of view shifted from paragraph to paragraph. Speaking of characters, I found most of them insufferable. Vanhi drove me up the wall (seriously, all this to get into Harvard when you can just...go to another distinguished school?), and I wanted to shake Alex and Charlie. They were all such terrible people, some more-so than others, and I found myself wondering “am I supposed to be rooting for anyone here? Mr. B maybe?”.

While the beginning had me hooked, I started to lose interest around the 50% mark, was pulled back in toward the end, and then the ending left me wanting. At 75% I forced myself to push through just to see how it ended.

Overall, this book had such potential, but fell on its face for me. It was still an interesting ride for the most part, I just wish the ending had been better and it had packed a bit more of a punch.

This is the most frightening book I have read in the past several years. The main characters are a very diverse team of techno nerds who can themselves "The Vindicators." They are seduced into playing a life and death game with an artificial intelligence that has been fed all the religious texts available and now is known as GOD. The main characters are all stereotypes, but each is unique with a strange backstory. As I read through the book I got chills as the various dangers were revealed. Don't plan to set this one down if you begin reading. GOD won't let you.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Charlie and his friends are invited to play a game with God (cue title of book!). God is watching them, and when they are told to prank their fellow classmates and their teachers for cash, they can't help but get more and more excited for the next. It doesn't take long for God to turn them against one another. Threatened if they stop played, they have no choice but to continue, despite the dangerousness of the game, and the closer they get to tumbling over the edge.


Fast and action-packed, The God Game by Danny Tobey is a fast-paced, dark, game-rich thriller filled with suspense and intrigue. Despite this sci-fi being adult, the characters are definitely younger. It's much different than other books I usually read in the sci-fi genre, but I can't recommend it enough for fans of Stranger Things and Ready Player One!

Two stars, "It was Okay."
This book is just not for me. It's a sort of YA sci-fi horror book. None of those three genres are ones I usually enjoy. So for what it's worth, there's that, but I have also enjoyed each of those genres at some time or other... I just couldn't find anything to enjoy here.

In this particular case, I feel like I've finally pulled myself out of a filthy rotten stinking pool of sludge. I'm SO glad to finally be finished with this book.

The story takes place just before the 2016 election, and Trump is cast as a background bad guy. But none of the main characters are any better than the man they supposedly despise. The story is about a dark web AI game which presents chances to gain good things in life... by doing bad things to others. It starts with just small things such as graffiti, then quickly escalates to actual physical harm and even causing death to others. The "protagonists" consistently decide that gains in their own lives (gaining love of a girl, getting into college) are worth hurting others who THEY deem deserving of harm.

But this God Game also doesn't like when they do these bad things that the God Game has told them to do. So that earns them punishments (Blaxx), meted out by others who are trying to gain Goldz in life. So there is a constant loop of 1. Don't do what God Game said, and get a punishment, or 2. Do what God Game instructed and get a Good Thing but also get a Punishment. You can mitigate that punishment by 3. Performing another Bad Thing which will get you a Good Thing and also earn you another Bad Thing.

This series of Goldz/Blaxx/Goldz/Blaxx/Goldz goes on through the entire book and it made me feel like I was living in that awful sludge I mentioned at the top. There was no way to root for anyone because everyone is trash. Hurting others to get a gain in your own life makes you a terrible person. For instance, in order to get out of a certain trouble, they chose to have another student take the fall and get expelled for something he did not do. Delivering dead cats, outing gay students, doing physical harm to others... there is no justification for any of this. Two characters want to get into Harvard and will do absolutely anything to get in, and we're supposed to go along with this. One of them believes if he doesn't get in he'll have to go to... YALE (*gasps* *clutches pearls*). I'm left rubbing my temples and wondering if I missed something in that section because *waves arms frantically* ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE SYMPATHETIC TO THIS????

The AI game is all knowing and all powerful so there is no way out and no way to stop it. I kept reading because I wanted to know how the book could possibly end with this non-destructible villain. Well, it ends with (unpunished) murder and general mayhem and great harm to countless people, and oh, then we find out there's also an all-knowing and all powerful human on the loose as well. *yawns* I'm bored. This book is dumb. The truth is, I hated it.

Thanks go to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I appreciate the book but it's still a big fat NO from me.

I felt that this book compares favorably to the movie Nerve. Both of them were a fun, wild ride. This reads like a cautionary tale of too much technology. When your life has been infiltrated by so much tech, it becomes hard to distinguish what information is true or false. The great God Tech becomes the gatekeeper for the information you receive.

I liked the character Charlie. He was a reluctant participant in the game. He seemed the most fully fleshed of the characters. This is fast paced and exciting.

I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.

Publisher’s description:
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.

************
As a long-time player and lover of The Sims, where you CAN actually play God to a world of people you create, I was immediately pulled in by the premise of Danny Tobey’s “The God Game.” The online gaming industry is enormous, and this story plays on people’s fears about the capability and reach of artificial intelligence. In a world where we constantly hear about personal data being hacked, stolen, spoofed, this is actually a futuristic horror novel in the making.

Nevertheless, I had to knock it down to 3 stars because I had a hard time suspending disbelief enough. I think hard-core gamers and coders will appreciate this, but the layperson will find it difficult to follow some of the more advanced coding references. I consider myself relatively tech-savvy, and I had a hard time understanding some of it.

Additionally, the sheer number of people who had to be playing the God Game to make some of the things in the story happen is hard to imagine. I know there are people who game for a living, but the main characters here are high school students who are going to school by day and gaming at night. They seemingly never sleep, and no one seems to notice. Same goes for the other people playing. Does no one in this town work for a living?

As I said, hard-core gamers will likely enjoy this. For me, it was a hard...maybe.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. This title is scheduled for release on January 7, 2020.

The God Game was intriguing from page one and every well written. However it was hard to really sink into because it felt the whole time like it was very heavy handed, self important leading to a big reveal that just... never happened. They sheer amount of drama (domestic violence, murder, drunk driving, cheating on marriages, cheating in school, college drama, family abuse, racism both contrived and real (contrived by the game) on and on) it just never stopped. It all felt a little much and kept me from connecting with any of the characters in a real way. I have no issue connecting with flawed or even evil characters, it wasn’t because of the things they’d done. It was just too heavy and weighty and too much to dig through to get to anything real.

Wow! The premise is what really got me and inspired me to request this book. I was worried it wouldn't love up to the hype, but it did. This was a super quick read for me because I couldn't wait to see what would happen. The scariest part for me is that it could really happen, even if on a smaller scale. We are all so connected today and have our technology with us at all times, it can be keeping track of us as well.
It really teaches a practical lesson as well. Everything online is forever. Even if you delete it someone out there has access to it. This is something I have been trying to teach my kids before they get older. It is a totally different age we live in now and we need to be cautious.
I found the characters interesting and full of depth, and so flawed. This made them so much more real to me! I was rooting for them even when they made poor decisions. The plot moved along well and the twists were superb. I actually hope they make a sequel!!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the free ebook and physical copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

The God Game starts with a cool premise and totally delivers. A group of high school nerds receive an invitation to play a game with an AI chat bot that purports to be God. They're quickly sucked into this action-packed virtual reality game, where they get points in the game for doing things in real life. But are the friends playing on the same team, and is God in control, or are the other players? And who else is playing?
I was sucked in from the first page, and loved all the action and high school drama blended with philosophical and religious musings.

An interesting premise in a world that is increasingly reliant on computers. Is it possible that computers will at some point become so intelligent that they could control the actions of the human race? It was a wise choice to have the main characters be high school age teens. This allows older teen and YA readers to identify with the issues of social acceptance and personal responsibility. As an adult past the afore mentioned ages, I found myself thinking about the world before computers became common place. It was impossible to make decisions that had such far reaching consequences.

The book is well written with relevant subjects.. I have mixed feelings about rating THE GOD game and finally decided that a three star rating is appropriate for this good but not great book.

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from St Martin's Press through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are completely my own.
#TheGodGame #NetGalley

A new game comes up on your screen. Win and you have everything your heart desires, lose and you die. How can you resist? A group of teens called the Vindicators decide to join as a group. At first things are going great, do an assignment for the game and earn Goldz but if you don't do it you earn Blatzz, then something bad happens to you. The game knows everything and soon the Vindicators are in over their heads and there is no way out.

This was a very engrossing book that puts you on the edge of your seat. You have to keep reading to see what will happen next to the cast of characters who you will love and hate in turns. You keep asking yourself, what would I do? Very well done book. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review this exciting book.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to.

I'm sorry to say this was a DNF for me....

I struggled with making any kind of connection with the characters, and was unsure while reading if this was a YA novel. Perhaps my age is keeping me from enjoying the story as I'm tech challenged and did not understand most of the technology terms. After 1/2 way in and still being confused, I've opted to set it aside. I'm sure that this story would appeal to others, but sad to say, not this reader.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley

Calling themselves the Vindicators, a small group of clever, computer-literate high school students band together. Like most teens, they lead angst-filled lives and struggle to understand how to accomplish what they believe they want for their futures.

Then the G.O.D. Game comes into their lives. They soon learn that an artificial intelligence runs the game. An artificial intelligence that believes itself to be god and seems to be both omniscient and omnipotent.

And nothing can ever be the same again.

Despite the well-defined characters, readers are likely to find it difficult to care about any of the characters in this tale filled with fear, hacking, morality, and the pitfalls of friendship. Throughout the story, the actions the players take in response to the demands of the game have consequences, but they don’t necessarily follow logically; readers will find the unfolding story both predictable and frustrating.

It’s an ingenious premise, and the story itself is well-written. Readers are certain to find it difficult to set the book aside and the ever-present tension created by the unpredictableness of the game keeps the pages turning. But the underlying theme of the story seems to be one of selfishness and deliberate cruelty. And when it’s all said and done, all that remains for the reader is a sense of hopelessness.

There’s no place for mean-spirited stereotyping and the use of words such as “retard” to refer to people, even fictional ones. Ultimately, this thoughtlessness combined with the extensive overuse of a particularly offensive expletive and the unnecessary political commentary lowered the rating for this book.

I received a free copy of this eBook from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley
#TheGodGame #NetGalley

I really enjoyed this one - it served up a perfect blend of conspiracy, techno-thriller, and action. The story felt fresh and relevant and shined a light on a lot of the pressures that face kids on the cusp of adulthood in the modern world. The characters were compelling and well crafted and offered a melange of personality traits and foibles. The action was consistent and the drama and tragedy felt genuine and believable and even though it was centered on high school kids, it was very relatable to me as both an adult and a step-parent to teenagers. There was a twist at the end that I didn't see coming (although in hindsight maybe should have) and I really enjoyed the way things wound up - it was open-ended enough to keep me guessing about what would happen next, but resolved itself enough to not leave me feeling cheated out of an ending. This was a great find and I'd definitely pick up a book by Tobey again!

Holy crap, this was a really creepy, twisted book that is excellently written and grabs you immediately in it's clutches. Hard to put down, but I do have to work, sleep and eat, although I've mastered eating and reading, sort of.
The story presents around a group of misfit, highly intelligent high school kids that call themselves "the Vindicators." Each of them has a harsh experience that the God Game dials into. But what IS the "God Game?" These kids are gamers as most kids are these days. One of their gang tricks them into playing the game, but they can't get out and can't decline what is asked of them. Initially it feels like just a video game, but it grows and evolves as it exposes its true nature to them. The reality of it is frightening and enticing at the same time. Only the main character, Charlie, keeps to his pure nature and attempts to resist. It's a hard thing to do though: The Goldz is pretty fantastic...but what about the Blaxx? It can be fatal...
Superb book on AI. Or is it really God?

Smart, propulsive and engrossing, The God Game is a preview of the power and danger of AI. Worth the read!

This was quite a page turner of a novel. I found myself really enjoying book and understanding how we could be not too far off from this becoming a reality.

The GOD Game is well fleshed out, rewarding characters in the real world for successful completions of in game challenges... And punishing them when they do not follow through. As we learn more about the AR/AI game, a deeper web of intricacy is woven as we head to the pulse pounding thrills of the final third of the book.

The pace is excellent and the characters are mostly well established. Each character has a solid motivation for participating in the game and has numerous levels of deception to manage. The book definitely had WarGames and Ready, Player One vibes to it, which is an added bonus.

I only had two gripes. I had a hard time sometimes keeping the three main boys, Alex, Charlie, and Peter, straight because they had such generic male names and had similar issues to deal with. The ending felt a little rushed, but it may be to set up a sequel without being obviously baiting.

Definitely recommended for fans of realistic sci fi thrillers. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read and review this book.

The God Game is a work of fiction by Danny Tobey. To me this story falls into the Young Adult category. At times I found this book slower than I would have liked it. For this reason I would give it 3 and 1/2 stars. Because this is impossible I am upping it to 4 stars. I want to thank St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for an early copy to review.

When Charlie and his friends are invited to play a new online game, they’re excited. The God Game seems like a really cool deal, and one that no one outside their circle knows about.

At first the challenges are simple, but G.O.D. soon ups the demands and the moral challenge. The AI controlling the game sees all and knows all — and threatens to reveal their secrets if they don’t complete the tasks it gives them.

The author is inside the heads of today’s teens, with all their problems, hopes, and dreams, making the characters true to life, and the storyline compelling. Recommended for both mature YA and adult readers.

An exciting addition to the thriller universe.