This book has been added to the Long List for 2022, I can not comment on the book because I am on a committee that choses the top 15 books in my state. I will be adding it to my collection in my media center for the upcoming year.

This one will be a conversation starter for sure! I can definitely see where there's room for criticism, but I think it's a book worth examining. It's a book not about curing the world's woes, but instead, about recognizing your own place in it.

This one just didn't. It just felt like a lot of hot button issues thrown together in one big gimmicky story. I'm all about supporting different groups or even highlighting what it's like to be in their shoes. However, when so many oppressed groups are shown together into one tale, it just felt little forced and like its purpose was just to be politically correct. I think it's possible all these groups could have been represented and supported in the same book, but I don't think this was quite the way.

I have really enjoyed many of Shusterman’s previous works and was eager to read this, his latest novel. In Game Changer, Ash, a high school football player makes a hard tackle and finds himself in an alternate universe. The first time this happens he finds that stop signs are now blue. Each subsequent hard hit brings a new reality with major differences.
The story was compulsively readable and well written, exploring the parallel universe concept in a unique way. Shusterman attempted to tackle many important issues: racism, homophobia, sexism, drug dealing and abusive relationships. Although well intentioned, there were so many issues confronted that they were really underdeveloped and unresolved and left me disatisfied. I’m still a fan of this author, but for me, this one didn’t deliver.

I love multiverse books and this one did not disappoint! It was really interesting that the main character experienced things through a different perspective each time. The aspect of him changing as well as the setting was something I haven’t read before.

I wanted to love this, as I have adored Shusterman’s other sci-fi books such as Scythe and Unwind. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with Game Changer. It did remind me a bit of Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, as far as the multiverses plotline. But since Ash keeps getting stuck in only slightly different situations in each new universe, it felt very repetitive. I appreciate how the author got the main character to emphasize with people different from him (his female, black, and gay friends) throughout the book, but I’m not sure that having Ash turn into a female and a gay male in different universes was the right way to go about it. Also, it was never really explained why or how the changes in each universe were made. Why were stop signs blue? That part was confusing.

This book grabbed me immediately, then took a sharp left turn and had me wanting to know what the heck was happening. The narrator, Ash, is a likeable character whose naivete about other perspectives is all too common today. The growth of his character and the slow unfolding of what was actually happening in the overall plot was very well done. While it did seem like a lot to be covered in a single book, and sometimes only scratched the surface of certain perspectives, Shusterman was able to touch on multiple perspectives and social issues while being respectful to the people who experience those things.

I thought this was wonderful for about half of the book. Then it meandered, and I felt it was losing itself.

I ended up not liking the ending, and so wish it had continued in the strong vein it had started in

Getting hit on the football field knocks Ash into another dimension. Again. And again. And with each hit, Ash realizes more and more about the world around him, how his privilege plays out, how his relationships aren't always what they seem, and how he might be able to make the world better. Inventive and interesting.

This was an interesting read. I can see what Shusterman was trying to do with this novel, but I don't know if he was completely successful. By using the idea of a multiverse, Shusterman was able to talk about and discuss a variety of topics within one story (racism, homophobia, toxic masculinity, segregation, incarceration, BLM, abusive relationships, etc.). The problem is that is all comes across as very heavy handed and the reader ends up being bombarded with a new situation every few chapters. You never really get a resolution for each one, but maybe that's the point. The protagonist does learn and grow through each situation and, in theory, learns to see how he can begin to affect change in society. In a certain way, this is a very timely read but at the same time the book tries to tackle too much and the messages get muddled. Still, I enjoyed the story as a reading experience and I appreciate what Shusterman was attempting to do. But if you're looking at the deeper message I feel like it may have missed the mark slightly. Sometimes less is more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quill Tree Books for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Seventeen-year-old Ash is a straight, white football player who travels into other versions of his life every time he makes a concussion-inducing tackle. He tries to learn how to manipulate these trips to adjust for a variety of social ills, but he just can’t get it right.

Over the course of the book he travels six times, which felt like a lot of traveling. He learns a lot, make many insightful observations, and figures out what he has to do with his last chance to change things. When all is said and done, he reflects:

“Whether or not I’m wiser for the things I’ve experienced is not for me to judge. I do know that I have been humbled. I have been schooled in my own ignorance. That’s not a bad thing. Understanding the depth of what we don’t know protects us from the kind of hubris that destroys worlds. Perhaps, in the end, that’s the perspective that matters. Only by being humbled can we ever hope to be great.”

An important message, conveyed through the multi-verse.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collin’s Children’s Books for an Advanced Reading Copy of this book.

This is a story about confronting yourself... and maybe saving the universe in the process.

This is difficult for me to rate as I appreciated aspects of it... but also feel like it missed the mark in some areas. I think the intent was good, and the multiverse aspects were fanatic... but the exploration of complex topics felt heavy handed and somewhat insensitive at points. The white savor trope was subverted... sort of? Overall still processing and trying to decide exactly how I feel.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️. 🌟

I really enjoy Neal Shusterman's other books but this one was thought provoking but that was where it stopped. The story just did not flow. I felt so bored. I know Neal mentioned in his opening letter that he was including some hot topics but I am not sure this was done in the right way and successfully. I think this book will be a good reverence for discussion. I would recommend to students just to have it as an open discussion.

I typically have a hard time working through multiverse books and this novel was no exception. I felt the world transitions were dry and dense. However, because I am more apt to dislike a multiverse book, those who enjoy this type of book will find a solid work.

I have loved every single book Shusterman has written...except this one. I wanted to like it, and I think the author had good intentions. But Ash was not a very sympathetic character. When you only start to acknowledge that widespread, longstanding issues are actually real when they start affecting you personally (in other worlds, not even the real one), then you've lost me. Points for trying and better than nothing, but I wish Shusterman had turned his considerable talent to a more underrepresented story.

See this review and more at my blog, The Scribe Owl!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a buddy read with the ever-stellar Emily!

2.5/5 stars

This is actually what I guessed my rating would be going into this read. But it was the new Neal Shusterman book, so I still had to give it a shot! This is a little hard to explain. The concept of the book was well-intentioned and earnest, but it didn't quite hit the mark for me. No matter how sincerely penned Game Changer was, it still didn't come across quite right.

I'll get into the meat of the story in a moment, but can I take a second to appreciate Neal's writing skills? He could write a textbook or something and I'd still read it purely for his writing style alone. The best word to describe the way he writes would be fluid. It can match situations ranging all the way from serious to humorous and still work. I would call the prose the best part of this book.

Game Changer has some sci-fi elements in it, but that doesn't make it a completely sci-fi book. Those elements take a backseat to the other issues addressed within its pages. If you're here for the action of Scythe or Unwind, you won't find it here.

After the writing style, things started to go a little downhill. Game Changer is supposed to be a story about empathy, and it definitely tries. And at some points in the novel, it comes across. But most of the time? Not so much. As some of the other reviews have said, it seems like while it tries to be reflective, it ends up coming across almost as a lecture.

While Game Changer might not have been for me, I appreciate Neal Shusterman's courage in writing it. He touches on topics that are hot and a little dangerous right now, which is more than I'd ever have the guts to do. I'm even a little cautious just wording this review.

All in all, while a well-intended novel, Game Changer landed just a little off the mark. Neal Shusterman's fantastic writing style kept it together the best it could, but in the end, that's not the most important part.

I really liked the idea of this book. The multiple universes is super interesting to me, and the fact that the character realizes that he has to change himself and choose in order to make the world a better place is beautiful. It’s a theme students need to read.

My only issue with the book is that I’m afraid it gets stuck in the “white savior” trope. However, I appreciate the overall message it’s trying to send.

Not unlike David Levithan’s “Every Day,” this title really made me think about identity. Hard. I love that the game changer here is in a person, not a system, but it means the system changes, too, based on the experience of the person. It’s a very cool story structure and I dig the ways in which the MC “sees” self and others with each hit. I love me some Neal Shusterman and I dig this completely different sort of story from his gifted and special mind. 💜💜📚

Overall, it's a good book that makes us think of several important subjects we should be thinking and discussing - racism, privilege, sexuality, etc. If you like sci-fi books with socially relevant themes, this is a book I would recommend.

Such an interesting way to introduce different points of views on so many social issues! It was hard to put down as each shift to the storyline left the reading wondering what changed, the main character or the society around him?