Thanks NetGalley for an ARC to review.

I found The God Game intriguing and entertaining. This is a different kind of read for me so it took me a while to get into. I ended up enjoying it. If you like science fiction then this ones for you.

[ BOOK REVIEW ] *not spoiling*

- Welcome to The God Game. Do you want to start playing? Y/N -

This special experience when you are deeply immersed in your current read, fully aware that you have picked up exactly the right book at the uttermost perfect moment. Danny Tobey’s The God Game is one wonderfully entertaining novel about five high-school kids coming from different family settings – but being extremely tech-savvy, knowledgeable on programming and codes, they have named themselves The Vindicators, having each other’s backs, no matter what.

When Charlie and Peter receive the opportunity to join a secretive underground Game called: The God Game, they feel special on one hand but it does bother Charlie what consequences they will be met with, in case they “Lose”. It won’t take long for them to have the whole group joining in and as a Team, they are now on the journey to tackle one challenge after the other. What they don’t know yet is how powerful this game is & that their choice to enter and play, will effect their real lives in a much stronger way than they could have imagined.

I had such fun reading this book – it was one of those books I could pick up anytime, at 7am on my way to work, during lunch break with noise in the background, on my way home squeezed in-between people in the tramway … and I would find myself being pulled right back into the story immediately.
The background stories of each one of the kids was what added extra spice to the story & I cheered for amazing, courageous Vanhi all the way! It’s not a book for every reader and if Black Mirror, Minority Report and Ready Player One appear boring to you, you might better stay away.

The God Game by Danny Tobey
My Rating: 4 1/4 stars out of 5
Recommended if you enjoy reading novels dealing with the digital world & its moral challenges. And, you don’t mind that the protagonists in this novel are five teenage kids.

I want to thank the Marketing Department at St. Martin's Press #partner for kindly sending me the Netgalley widget link – in the meantime, I have seen a print edition at my local bookstore and #becausethiscover had to buy one for my shelves. This was my kinda read 100%!

I did not enjoy this book. I felt like this book was trying to be the next Ready Player One (without succeeding in my opinion). I also just was uncomfortable with all the connections to Christianity it was trying to portray (sometimes it seemed as if it was jesting at the religion).

What I Loved:
Danny Tobey has created this amazing and scary AI world and made it come to life. I loved how he built the world up, layer by layer, starting with only the computer and then moving to the phones, then the glasses, and so on. He really designed this horrifying game and wrote about it in a way that made me feel like I was right there.

How I Felt:
The God Game is a nightmare! I was terrified at the thought of this being a real thing and I loved that. The author was able to pull emotions out of me that made me terrified and worried and obsessed!

The Writing: The story was easy to get absorbed in because the writing was so good! I felt like there was zero down-time as we just flew from action-packed scene to action-packed scene. I was completely lost when there was a reference to coding. The writer chose to use the coding language at times, showing a “0101011” kind of language to show the reader the coding. This was completely meaningless to me, but I read past it and found that it did not affect my love of this story one bit!

The Characters: Each character had such backstory and depth. There was heartbreak for each of them, but hope too. They were easy to connect to and I was so worried for them throughout this story!

The Plot: AHHH! This plot! The idea of a game taking control of everything in your life. Do you love you dad? Y/N? And not being able to move on without answering the question, and then what happens once you answer? It was terrifying to think about! I couldn’t put the book down because I needed to know if they were going to be ok or not!

Overall: I fully enjoyed this book! The action and excitement in the story, along with the well-built characters and great writing made this a wonderful book!

To Read or Not To Read:
I would recommend The God Game for readers that enjoy action-packed thrillers. The book blurb states that it is a little like Stranger Things, and I would agree. It’s mixing reality with a game. So, if you enjoyed Stranger Things, or Jumanji for that matter, you would enjoy this!

I was provided an advanced reader's copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

I really loved the concept of this book, but it was a bit too long for my liking. I think Tobey is a very talented writer and I would love to read more from him, but I did want a little more from The God Game. Or....a little less actually. There seemed to be a lot of filler around the middle that messed up the pacing of the novel for me.

All in all, I liked the book. Thanks for the chance to read it!

Book Review: The God Game by Danny Tobey
(Published by St. Martin's Press)

3 Stars

The description and premises of this "sci-fi thriller" whet high expectations, but sadly the delivery settles at the dead-end of a slow-paced, wordy 465-page R-rated YA fantasy novel, replete with foul language and an endless barrage of banal puerile pranks.

It's the year 2020, and quite painful to digest the author's low-tech offering of a screen and keyboard interface, so dated it reminds readers of a young Matthew Broderick in the 1983 movie WarGames and the AI Joshua - "Shall we play a nice game of chess" on-screen with that blinking cathode-ray tube (CRT) cursor. Where is the dark web's Alexa or Siri or even circa 1968 HAL 9000 when needed.

"God's" power misdirected. The book's hacker-concocted AI cum pseudo "god", opts to use its "omniscient and omnipotent" resources not to win a thermonuclear conflict as Joshua tried to do or mulct Fort Knox or solve climate change, but stoops to utter pettiness - harass a bunch of young Xbox gamers called the "Vindicators" to violence and death.

Neither is it all all fair and square based on juvenile video game fantasies, detached from the here and now.

The author connects the book to the real world as he bashes a sitting United States president, an ill-disguised opacity of the author's TDS. It is amazing how some great authors of late have succumbed to the temporary derangement, and here we have a fledgeling writer who not only links the relevance of his novel to term limits, but preemptively derails the commercial success of his work by alienating half of his potential market.

As for pace and excitement, the book simply pales in comparison with, for example, the cutting-edge tech in Blake Crouch's "Summer Frost", wherein in all of 75 pages he develops a non-player character (NPC) in a video game to an AI in God-mode, and creates three parallel worlds.

Review based on an Advance Reading Copy from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.

I am sorry to say that I had to DNF this title at 40% due to not connecting with characters and side stories.

Charlie, a high school senior, is searching for meaning in the world after his mom passes away. Being a skilled coder and avid gamer, the G.O.D. Game piques his interest. The game seems simple; accomplish goals while playing on your phones and receive all sorts of rewards but if you lose, you die. Charlie and his four friends embark on a VR adventure but soon find they may have gotten in over their heads. Surely if you die in the game you don’t die in real life…right?

This book has been getting a lot of hype lately and I think it is absolutely well deserved. I found it to be fast paced, and full of surprises. I loved that I could just keep guessing where the story was going to go but in reality, I had no clue what was going to happen next. I think the author did an excellent job at keeping the reader on their toes.

Part of me wishes that the book had gone even darker, although don’t get me wrong it was plenty dark. At certain points I was almost rooting for the game to take out Charlie and his friends for their foolishness in starting the game… Although whose to say I wouldn’t also be tempted by a game like this (or more likely, whose to say that my gamer husband wouldn’t be), so I shouldn’t fault the characters on their natural curiosity. In the end, I’m glad the author didn’t go down that path because it probably would have changed the tone of the book from an interesting look at technology to a lecture about internet safety.

In general, I thought the characterization was very good with each character having their own distinct voice. I think they fell into a few different tropes, but it’s hard not to with friend group stories. I also love whenever books reference ancient history so I loved all the ruins and hydras and mythical gods.

Finally, some of the coding specific information went over my head, because I’m not a coder, but I still loved that it was included in the book. I think someone who has an interest in that sort of thing might find it really adds another layer to the story and I’m glad the author didn’t shy away from showing these kids coding skills in action. I don’t know specifically how realistic, or how complex what they were doing was, but I still thought it was interesting to include.

If you’re looking for a somewhat outlandish adventure, that’s fast-paced I think this is for you. This book is also great to use when reflecting on the power of technology and how it really could be used in the future.

The God Game by Danny Tobey is an amazing story! Great plot and characters. Very high paced and fascinating plot.

The God Game by Danny Tobey is a sci-fi thriller that focuses on what happens when a video game that starts off as a welcome escape from reality goes off the rails and takes a horribly wrong and dangerous turn.

The story follows Charlie, a high school senior, and his best friends, a group of computer whizzes who call themselves The Vindicators. The Vindicators are invited to play a secret underground virtual reality video game called The God Game. The game is designed by hackers and it’s controlled by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) that really believes it’s God, thus it knows everything and its presence is everywhere. The whole concept fascinates the Vindicators and they get caught up in the excitement of the game right away.

The game really appeals to the teens for several reasons: 1) it’s challenging because it doesn’t come with instructions and you have to figure things out as you go, 2) it makes them feel special to be ‘in the know’ about something no one else knows about, and 3) they can actually perform tasks and get rewarded with actual prizes like expensive electronics and even cash.

It’s all fun and games at first, but then things take a decidedly darker and more sinister turn. The game starts to threaten them if they don’t perform certain tasks, shadowy figures start following them in real life and actually attack them. Suddenly it’s not so fun anymore, but what happens when “God” won’t let them leave the game?

****

Wow, what a wild ride this book was! The whole premise of the video game fascinated me and so I got sucked in just as quickly as the characters in the book did. I’ve seen The God Game compared to both Black Mirror and Stranger Things, but I’ve not watched either show so I can’t attest to that. What I will say though is that it gave me a definite Ready Player One vibe because of the virtual reality environment that would superimpose itself right over the real world every time Charlie and his friends played. I loved this aspect of the author’s worldbuilding, especially when the teens go into the boiler room at school and it magically shifts into something that looks way more like Middle Earth than it does a room in a school.

Aside from the brilliant virtual reality worldbuilding, I also loved the suspense and tension created each time the game raises the stakes. I found myself just flying through the pages because I wanted to know just how far “God” would go with its threats.

As exciting as the game itself was, what also really drew me into the story was its focus on the personal lives of this group of teens and why they were so eager to escape reality and practically live within the virtual reality walls of this game. There’s a big focus on how hard it is to be a teen – the peer pressure, the pressure from parents, and even the pressure we put on ourselves. I think that’s a theme that many will find all too relatable, and it also makes it all the more tragic that this game, which should have been an escape from their troubles, just ends up piling on to their troubles even more.

I don’t want to say anything else because it’s really a story you just have to experience for yourself, so I’ll just say if you’re looking for an exciting sci-fi thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and especially if you have an interest in AI, VR, and/or video games, you should definitely add Danny Tobey’s The God Game to your reading list.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Danny Tobey for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review of The God Game. My thoughts and opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

What if God were in a computer. This is the premise a group of friends are faced with. Charlie and Peter discover an AI program that lures them in to play the G.O.D. game with the promise of making all their dreams come true. But it comes with a dire warning - if you die in the game, you die in real life. They introduce their friends to the game having never seen anything like it and this is a group that knows video games. They are self described nerds, kids who play video games, enjoy coding and honing their hacking skills. They are smart and driven with some on the fast track to Harvard. But they are also at the bottom of the social strata. They are the ones who jocks bully and girls don’t consider date material. On the surface these friends seem like they are a very tight group. The kind of friends who are loyal, who have your back no matter what. But as we get a closer look, each one of these kids has real problems that they are dealing with, things that threaten their future.

Imagine if God could be in a computer. Guiding you, testing you. How would you respond? At first, the game is easy, fun, with rewards that benefit them in real life. But this AI representation of God is not just the kind benevolent holy one. This is the kind that demands obedience, loyalty and will mete out severe punishments if you don’t comply. How far do you go to protect yourself and the ones you love? The AI program has access to every aspect of your life. Its scope is wide and it is always ten steps ahead. The only way out is to die and to die in the game is to die in real life.

This is a captivating, action-packed, high tension, emotional book. It is a wild ride that starts early and doesn’t stop. There are many different levels to this story and it is these layers that give it depth and keep it interesting. First, you have the game. It reminded me a bit of the movie “Nerve” from back in 2016 with Emma Roberts where these teens played an online game with real world consequences. It would make a great movie. Especially when they get these glasses that alter the real world and allows the game to come to life. The stakes are high and the AI is everywhere.

It also has overtones of “Skynet” syndrome from the Terminator movies. What if computers had a consciousness and that they are far superior to humans and take over the world. But I love this sort of stuff so I ate it up! This computer just wanted to ruin your life, but boy did it come after you in a hard way. So it made you think about what we give up in terms of privacy, how our whole lives are in the phone and how much computers really know about us. Then there is the bigger AI question of should we be making computers think and behave like humans cause if we do it might just bring about then end of the world as we know it.

Lastly, you have the characters. The different personalities of each member of the group as well as their relationship with each other is the driving force of the story. It is the reason you care and I cared about these teenagers. Charlie’s family is in shambles. His mother got sick and passed away a few years ago and his father is a broken man. Their finances are drained and Charlie’s grades have slipped so much that Harvard is pretty much a pipe dream. You can understand how he would get caught up in playing the game. Each member has their own story, personal dilemmas and moral ambiguities that inform the choices they make. To obey is to be rewarded greatly. Just think of all your mistakes rectified, your problems solved. Something you worked your whole life for and you thought was gone is now, suddenly a reality. What if you didn’t have to disappoint your family. However, the game pushes you beyond what is comfortable and will resort to violence if you do not obey.


The dynamics between the friends was especially interesting. There are layers to their relationships, power dynamics at play as well as their own hangups. These inform the choices that they make. The game is fun in the beginning. Then the choices are beneficial to you and at first you aren’t hurting anyone. But what about personal gain when you are hurting the masses, people who aren’t in your life and you can’t see. You can always convince yourself that it isn’t really hurting anybody or maybe you justify it by saying the company has insurance, or whatever. Once you go down this path does it become easier or more likely you will continue to make these choices when it is someone you know but deserves it? What about when it is someone you love. What if it is you or them - then aren’t you really playing god with someone else’s life?

So I really liked this one and found it fun, sometimes a little cringe-worthy with the violence, with characters that I cared about. Everything you want in a good book. I guess the only question now is…would you play the G.O.D. game?

This book grabbed my attention from the get go and I read 50% of it in one sitting. I am glad I didn't check out the length of the book before I picked it up. But it was unlike anything I've read before. The whole premise was extremely unique and I loved it all. The ending was slightly dissappointing, maybe I was just expecting something else, or maybe I didn't want it to end.

The God Game is an action-packed romp in the vein of Ready Player One, but much darker. It mixes virtual reality, gods, and AI with the very real demons that teenagers struggle with.

Many of the characters were nuanced and imperfect, which made them feel real. And of course, the book’s concept was intriguing.

My main complaint: I felt it would have been stronger as a shorter book. While most of the time I was hooked, there were places in the story that dragged a bit. A few of the scenes seemed unnecessary, and some of the writing (particularly near the end) felt rushed.

But overall, worth the read - especially if you’re into techno sci-fi and/or video games!

**Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for the review copy.

What I liked: The God Game by Danny Tobey is an intense ride. I was completely enthralled and on the edge of my seat for the duration of the story. The God Game could serve as an effective cautionary tale. With anonymity so easy to achieve in today's digital age, it is too easy to distance ourselves from one another. Insults, small bits of trickery, why should we care if we don't have to confront our victims? The God Game grasps that and blows it up, presenting the players a huge lesson in morality. The pit in my stomach grew as the participants are drawn further into the game, and it is more clear what is at stake for the players.

What I didn't like: Not much. I did become a bit aggravated with some of the player's choices. Most of it was trivial things, and in the end, many did get resolved. And I am still unsure of the ending, but it does leave room for more stories later. With more questions answered, I may feel better about it.

The plot feels similar to Ready Player One, meets War Games with a bit of Ex Machina thrown in for good measure. Quite the combo in today's society. The God Game could be good for anyone looking for a digital age thriller.

It's genuinely such a shame when a book that you anticipated so strongly lets you down, especially when the premise is this great! The plot alone had me thinking The God Game had to be at least halfway successful for me, and in the beginning of the book, I still held strongly to those convictions, but the further into this story I got, the lower I felt my rating dropping.

My first complaint is perhaps my fault (though I don't think so, honestly): I was expecting a more immersive "game" than this. I went into this thinking these characters were going to be thrown into a legitimate game-esque world, and while they do see some things through augmented reality that aren't solidly in the physical realm with them, for the most part, we're left simply following around a bunch of teens as they receive ominous text messages. While I could certainly see how this would work for some readers as it makes it feel more like something that could actually happen, it felt lackluster to me and left me constantly wanting just a little bit more than I was given.

Secondly, in a book this high-risk, where characters are constantly being forced to do awful things and are placed in tough situations, it's hard to feel the weight of those ultimatums when it's impossible to root for anyone involved. The story primarily follows the Vindicators, a friend group of five teens brought together by their loves of coding and their general "outcast" vibes (aside from one, sort of). With these five, plus a slew of side characters we periodically get insight into, it quickly became "too much"; I don't feel that the writing in this story was able to carry such a large cast, so it left everyone feeling a bit one-dimensional and bland. On top of that, you know going into the story that tough decisions will be made, but at their cores, each of these teens just feel so unlikable, whether it's Charlie's cruel interactions with his grieving father, or Alex's sociopathic tendencies, or Peter's conniving, arrogant attitude.

I also think it's worth mentiong that, while I think the author wanted to do something positive by including a variety of characters (Kenny is black, Vanhi is Indian and a lesbian, and Alex is Asian-American), it's not done well. Most notably, Alex's entire family dynamic bothered me. We've all seen examples of the tired, outdated stereotype where Asian characters are held to higher standards by their parents: Alex's father is horribly abusive and every ounce of it revolves around high expectations re: Alex's grades, athleticism, etc. Every POV we're given from Alex's father highlights his background as an immigrant and refugee who "just wants better" for his kid — yeah, yeah, we get it. It feels like it's beaten into the reader's head that all of Alex's father's abusive tendencies come from a place of love, which is bullshit on so many levels, and frankly, the entire depiction of the abusive relationship in and of itself felt weird and unrealistic. There's also some dreadful utilization of the "homophobic bully turns out to be a repressed gay kid" trope, and don't get me wrong, I know that's something that happens in the real world from time to time, but it felt like it was done for cheap shock value and, on top of everything else (and the unapologetic slur usage), I was so unsurprised and over it by the time it rolled around.

There's also the writing to consider, which is the one thing I will say I felt bittersweet about: while I can't say I thought it was very well-done, it was definitely quick-moving and action-packed enough to make the story go by quickly. If it hadn't been for the fact that something is constantly happening and there's no real filler material (which is admittedly an impressive feat for almost 500 pages), I probably wouldn't have even finished it, but it was just engaging enough to keep me reading. Unfortunately, that didn't pay off in the end, between the low overall rating I settled on and the fact that the ending went so thoroughly off the rails that I found myself skimming the last few chapters just to hurry up and be done with the whole thing.

When I started writing this review, I thought I would give The God Game 2 stars because despite all of this, I still think it was a cool premise at its core, but after getting my thoughts out in words, I've realized I really don't have anything good to say about the execution here. I'm sure this book will be beloved by many readers but I am clearly not one of them and don't believe I'll be picking up anything else from this author in the future.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press for providing me with this finished copy in exchange for an honest review!

While it’s not the first time I’ve read a book with this concept, I’m still so fascinated by good and bad deeds directed by an unseen person in charge.

Who wouldn’t like high school to be easier? Wouldn’t having all your dreams come true as a teenager be a great enticement just to play a game? Oh, but if you die in the game, you die in real life. This book was definitely a page-turner, as I wanted to know what was going to happen next!

The kids’ choices were believable, based on their options, and knowing about their backgrounds and motivations. One kid will do anything to avoid his father’s wrath. One will do anything for her family’s approval. And one of them will do anything, just to see what will happen next.

I really liked the references to actual philosophical theories as justifications for some of the AI’s scenarios. For instance, they discussed Pascal’s Wager when deciding whether to play the Game or not. Pascal’s Wager is a seventeenth-century philosophy argument that states believing in God is safe whether you’re right or wrong, but doubting the existence of God could be eternally damning (literally) if you’re wrong. This attitude influences whether or not the kids think they should play the God Game.

Overall, the theory of the Game and how it could change the kids’ lives was very interesting. Some of the coding and technology talk was way over my head, but I don’t feel that detracted from my enjoyment of the story. I’d give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. Also worth noting that while the book is about teenagers, it’s definitely for adult readers.

Unpopular opinion... I did not like this book. Every time I don't like a book, I feel bad about it, because I know the tremendous amount of time and effort put into this, but I can't change how I feel...

Reading it felt like watching an accident happening in slow-motion: you know it's going to end badly, but you can not look at it.

I did like similar books in 2019 (The Escape Room, The Passengers, to name a few), but this one left me uneasy, maybe because The Game toys with teens, and not grown adults. I can't put the finger on it.

But if you like stories about hacking, coding, and weird things happening, you'll love this one.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for the complimentary e-copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

“You are invited!

COme inside and play with G.O.D.”

There’s been versions of this type of story cropping up over the past decade or more. It’s a Black Mirror-esque plot revolving around technology and how once we integrate it with our lives we are at its mercy. It almost seems too far-fetched until you realize that we already have most, if not all of the technology present in the book currently out in the world, today.

What I think this book is great at is depicting the relationships between the teenagers at the center of it. I believed their friendships, even if the premise felt a little out there sometimes. Which....it did. The story might have gotten away from the author at a few points, but that’s kind of the fun of it all. It’s better not to take these types of plot-lines as realistic depictions of where tech is headed, but instead look at the way the characters involved handle the new situations.

So much of The God Game was a great example of a slippery slope. When you start making small bargains with yourself, they can eventually snowball into larger sacrifices that go against your character and integrity. And it’s that much harder to say no once you’ve already invested so much of yourself. By the time you realize you’re in over your head, it’s already too late.

If you’re interested in a fast-paced Sci-fi thriller with a YA affect, you’ll probably like this offering from Danny Tobey. It’s not normally the type of thing I’d be drawn to, but it was a nice change of pace from what I’ve been reading lately.

This interesting novel combines all of the elements of philosophy, religion and technology that anyone has ever questioned or wondered about. While it initially felt like a YA book, it quickly became interesting. Before technology, there was the philosophical question "are you reading the book, or is the book reading you?" (the Neverending Story); now there is the question of "are you playing the game, or is the game playing you". I recently found out there is a book that names this thought phenomena - "The Simulation Hypothesis: An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics and Eastern Mystics All Agree We Are In a Video Game", based on the writings of Philip K. Dick. The God Game takes this theory and places a group of teenagers in the middle of a huge morality play - who will do the right thing and what are the consequences of a) doing the right thing or b) not doing the right thing? Is there a way to "win" the game? The book is fast paced, written in a manner that allows you to visualize what the players are seeing through their Aziteks. I would love to see this made into a movie - the graphics would be amazing!

https://www.amazon.com/review/RUU8FG6TQ9YR/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

I was really enjoying this book for the first half. Despite it being about teens (I rarely read books with teenage protagonists anymore), I was interested in the characters and their struggles. The writing was fast-paced, yet enjoyable, and I was very intrigued by the mystery of the God Game. I wanted to know what the heck was going on.

Then things slowly started going downhill. The story just got more and more dark, more and more depressing. It seemed like the only thing keeping the story progressing was the author trying to find more terrible things for people to do to one another. I stopped caring about the characters, not because of the transformations they were going through, but because there were so many awful things being done to them and by them, that I just started to feel a sense of numbness and disconnect towards them and their perils.

There’s a lot of social and moral commentary in here, with plenty of references to our current political and social environment, which I can appreciate. There are observations made in the book that I completely agree with. However, the book ends on such a depressing note, it makes you feel a sense of hopelessness about the future. Like no matter how hard you try to be good, or how hard you try to right your wrongs, it will never be enough and life will just continue to tear you apart. Maybe this makes me sound naive, but that’s not a mindset I’m looking acquire.

The sci-fi aspects of the book were fun and I loved the coding references. I also really liked the tie-ins to philosophy. If you’re interested in philosophy, this could be a really great read for you. However, if you’re looking for a story to lift your spirits a bit, or a nice fun-time romp, I would probably suggest not picking this one up.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s press for the review copy.