A well-executed "puzzle" novel.

I understand this was an offshoot of a podcast spoken-word "novel" that roughly covered the same ground. It's interesting also that this was all happening in the same era as "Cicaida 3301", the similar puzzle-solving internet-based project loved by a few notable Qanon followers. (See the Wikipedia entry for Cicaida 3301.)

Nevertheless, whether inspired by (or inspiring) those other things, this book takes you on a clever ride of main characters following what they believe to be an informal puzzle - but with higher stakes than simply winning a game. Instead, the fate of the universe is at stake. Literally. There are ethereal characters that appear that suggest that if the puzzle isn't successfully solved by *somebody*, the fabric of spacetime will unravel and everything simply disappears.

This of course makes for the high-stakes drama necessary for a novel to be compelling. Good stuff.

The writing is well-done. The story proceeds at a good pace, and characters are knit together well, consistently, and interestingly. Occasionally, the connections the main characters make to lead them from one clue to the next seem to be unbelievably made, which occasionally stretches credibility. But hey - this is fiction. If you buy that failure to solve the puzzle is going to cause the end of the universe, then you'll buy the ability of the characters to draw very random connections.

If you like easy, fast, clever puzzle-style story lines, you'll enjoy Rabbits.

This story is a fascinating ride through a reality-bending blend between a scavenger hunt and a treasure hunt. The time loses by the main character add to the suspense as the mysterious game that no one is supposed to talk about slowly takes over.

3.5 rounded up.
Fun idea for a book. Took a little bit to get into the flow but once I did, I really liked it, maybe the idea more than the story. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Rabbits is the pop culture zeitgeist game. Think Ready Player One. I have a feeling it will draw a lot of comparisons to it. However, it's better written than that. It's like "Welcome to Nightvale" by way of the Commodore 64. It weaves a web of a game that takes a while to really get to the meat of, but you won't be upset you have. 3.75 out of 5 stars.

I loved this hard to describe book. Rabbits is a game. Not a board game or a computer game or a video game. Its an everything game. Find the patterns that lead to the clues. With some Ready Player One and Adjustment Bureau. Parallel universes and monsters. Something is wrong with the game and K has been called on to fix it before the next iteration of the game begins. If its not fixed, the world as we know it is in big trouble. The problem is, he has no idea how. Or even what the problem might be. But with his friend Chloe, he is determined to find a solution. Twists and turns along the way. I didn't want to put it down.

It took me awhile to get into, but it was really interesting. The ending felt a little rushed after all the build-up. I dislike ambiguous endings though.

I think that I liked this novel, but I'm not sure at all, truth be told. Maybe that's what Miles wanted from his readers, the uncertainty of whether or not the book holds value and truth and importance, etc.

Rabbits, to me, is a mix of the TV show Fringe, a little bit of Ready Player One (pop-culture references), and something else that reminded me of that show on AMC about the game that all those people played without knowing what they were playing (Dispatches From Elsewhere). I loved Fringe, likes RP1, and sort of became wary of DFE (but love Jason Segal)... Which pretty much describes how I felt about Rabbits (and I didn't know it's a podcast, and I'm happy about that because I think that it would have ruined the book for me... why read it when you can listen to it?). I loved some parts of it, liked others, and became wary of many others. If you liked those 3 shows/books you'd probably like this book. If you liked the podcast, I guess you'd like the book? However, there were many moments where I just didn't know why I was reading this...

Overall, I recommend this book for fans of SF and just weird lit, but it's a slog at times, so beware.

As a preface to this review, let me say that, with the exception of a couple of word games, I am not a gamer. I mention that to say this - some of the references in this book were beyond my normal sphere of experience. That said, the book is still a ripping good mystery with the kind of plot that makes you want to keep reading. Imagine a world with multiple layers of reality and then imagine that the machinery that operates these realities is somehow broken and you must figure out how to fix it or else the world as you know it is doomed. Characters disappear or die in the book, or do they? The protagonist here, simply named K, is never fully certain what is real and what isn't. Neither is the reader. That's where the fun is.
Rabbits frightened me on a basic level. How long will it be before our own technology is capable of creating alternate realities? What will become of humanity when it does? These are the questions that keep me up at night. Rabbits is a good and thought provoking read. It will make you question what you think you know. Are you ready?

There is this game. The rules are cryptic. The stakes deadly. But the rewards? Legendary. And kinda like Fight Club, you don’t talk about this game. In fact, this game is so elusive and secretive that even the reader doesn’t understand the entirety of game until the waning pages of Terry Miles’ book.

Yeah, this might not be Rabbits highest endorsement.

The premise of the novel is a fun one. Rabbits is a mysterious game where players seek hidden clues in the world all around us in order to progress to the next level. Secrets like a QR code hidden in a 16th century painting. Or a super 8 movie stored in a locker for 15 years whose contents shows yesterday’s news. Rabbits, the book, is a distant cousin to the likes of Ready Player One and The DaVinci Code where the hunt is on to find meaning in the unexplainable. Like Richard Linkletter movies. Rabbits gamesman, K, and his girl-who-is-a-friend Chloe, race around Seattle, where all these clues conveniently appear, in order to win the game. And oh yeah, maybe even save the world. Right.

Miles writes a fast paced pseudo-thriller with believable, enjoyable characters. Yet he too gets tripped up in the tangled mythology of his game. In Ready Player One, the treasure hunt fills the endless virtual world of the Oasis with clues hidden behind Gen X pop-culture references. Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code is a race to find the Holy Grail through a specific Templar trail. Both of these stories keep the quest limited within a specific realm in order to understand the rules and maximize that final treasure. Late century pop culture references aside (although anytime Scanners gets a shout out is totally worthy, right?). Rabbits is too broad in scope to be properly defined. The book opens with what is supposed to be an inside look at the game. Even that ends up being nothing more than a nostalgic look at Robotron 2084.

Rabbits is a fun video game of a book. But it is only worth that single quarter. And there are other alluring games in the arcade.

The mythology of Rabbits becomes its own McGuffin. For once the premise is completely understood the play itself could be seen as insanely ridiculous.

Kinda like Scientology.

Playful thanks to the team at Del Rey / Random House for the advanced copy.

Rabbits is a mind-bender of a book about a game that's far riskier than anything you've ever played and holds the potential of a better payoff than any other game you can imagine. Full of twists and turns, humor, genuine wit, and sentiment it's also a very nice way to spend your time trying to figure out how much of the game will turn out one way or another. I genuinely enjoyed this one and I'm sure that I'll be thinking back to it for a long while after.

If you love high tech thrillers, I'd jump on this one. It kept me engaged and curious through the entire book. As someone who loves conspiracy theories, I just couldn't put it down!

Nothing beats a great book from a writer you've never read. Rabbits is one of those books! Rabbits is suspenseful, and has a great set of characters. It's a puzzle inside a puzzle. A thriller that keeps you guessing. It's a damn fun read and hard to put down. There isn't much more I could ask from a writer. Props to Terry Miles for entertaining the hell out of me with this book.

Thoroughly enjoyable dash through a world of coincidences and patterns.

Good: fast paced, strange, wide assortment of characters that are interesting and fit into the story perfectly.

Bad: Bottom heavy- it felt like 95% of the book was waiting on the thing. Once the final drive began, it felt like all of it was explained in too short of a space. A couple of characters seemed out of place. I don't think the story would have been different had they not played a part. If this book is part of a larger world, I'd love to see some follow-up with more story on the Magician and Shaw and the twins.

Overall, I feel like this was worth the read. I can see this being part of a much larger thing. I plan to listen to the podcast and hope more stories are set in this strange little world.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC.

Rabbits is the book I didn't know I needed. My first thought to summarize it in a tag line was Ready Player One meets The X-Files. Until I read another review that said Rabbits was for lovers of the show Lost and realized Lost meets Ready Player One is a much better quick summary (with a dash of X-Files).
I have never listened to the podcast, so my thoughts are based solely on the novel. It took surprising little time for me to become completely engaged in the book and engrossed in the ever-building/evolving mystery within. The idea that a mysterious underground "game" has been going on for decades, with its anonymous pseudonymed players following hints and suggestions, discovering patterns, tracking the untrackable was utterly fascinating. It definitely played out like Lost in that the protagonists stumble across strange symbols, messages, locations and people and try to follow their tenuous connections to solve riddles that mostly lead to more of the same. And it's like Ready Player One but taking place today and not the future, tracking down all the clues will lead one person to winning the latest iteration of the game and (supposedly) a glorious prize. But unlike RPO, the paths traveled are filled with enemies and obstacles seeped in conspiracy theories.
The narrative centers on K, a 20-something orphan with a brilliant but distracted mind who has tried playing Rabbits over the years and leads presentations to other wannabe Rabbits players (even though the First Rule of Rabbits is, do NOT talk about Rabbits), and a few of his friends who also lead lazy lifestyles but are enraptured by the game. Reclusive billionaire Alan Scarpio shows up one night and informs K that the latest iteration of Rabbits is "broken" and he needs his help to fix it, lest dire consequences ensue. Or does Scarpio meet with him? K is not an unreliable narrator, but he is subject to gray-outs, missing time and confusing dreams, all of which make him and his comrades question his reality. He begins the search into whether the new iteration has actually started, and how it may be broken and can be fixed if it is. Before long the stakes become greater than he ever imagined as Rabbits players begin dying and disappearing, including people he's met in his efforts. Strange encounters have him questioning who he can or can't trust, memories prove to be different than the real world. The deeper down the rabbit hole K goes, the deeper the mystery and the stakes become.
My only issues with the book were: a. With major mysterious story lines like this, there always seems to be the tendency to produce layer after layer to keep it going as much as possible. There were times in the second half of the book that felt like too much of this was going on. Sometimes less is more, and some bits and pieces could have been shortened or omitted. b. Much like the show Lost, the mystery, especially in the early going, was much more entertaining and enjoyable than any ending would ever be. The build-up and anticipation were so great that the finale felt a little underwhelming. That being said, I still devoured this book and was reluctant to put it down at bed time. Rabbits was absolutely the type of story I fully appreciate and enjoy. While the author has written podcasts and movie scripts it's hard to believe this was his first novel because it was written like a veteran novelist.

I really enjoyed this story. It combines several different conspiracy/actual theories and was what I thought was a very original story. I liked the dark and scary undertones, the suspense, the horror aspects of it. I wanted to keep reading to see where it was going and how it would end, so it was definitely a page turner and kept me engaged throughout. All in all I found it was a really good read and would recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley for advance reader copy!

Rabbits is a bit like Fight Club, in that "the first rule of Rabbits is that you don't talk about Rabbits". Unless you're one of those drawn into the underworld of conspiracies, oddities, and discrepancies, such as our hero named K. Because once you've started to make the connections, it's hard to stop playing. And there's something wrong with this iteration of the game...

I'm all for mind-bending alt-reality type stories, so I was immediately drawn in just based on that. However, this book felt like a more adult version of Ready Player One, and I'm not sure that was entirely in the book's favor. The paranoia feeling of the book was very real, but perhaps too much so for my taste. Some of the sections of the book felt like they dragged on a bit. The shock value of some things that happened were sort of odd and hit a little weird. Then the end felt a bit underwhelming after everything the characters had been through.

Overall, it wasn't a bad read. I did enjoy the weirdness of the book and putting together the connections between things. If you like Ready Player One, and are looking for a more adult, gritty version, Rabbits is the book for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

R U playing? Would you know if you were? The first rule of Rabbits is that you don't talk about Rabbits or The Game as it was called years before its first modern iteration. Now we are in its 11th iteration and the game is everywhere. The patterns and clues show up in real world, in real time, and all you have to do is find the connections, solve the puzzles, and save the world.
I started this book, not knowing about the podcast that preempted it, and immediately fell down the rabbit hole. The book references a ton of pop culture media that you feel like you need to investigate each and every item to grasp the whole meaning of the story. Rabbits is a tale of a game player named K who finds his very existence tied to the game that seems to be an urban legend with real world consequences. It takes you on an adventure, coupled with a metafictional quantum physics journey into science fiction. It is heavy laden with scientific theories, yet is still a fun read even for those of us that may not understand all of the science.
This book is perfect for fans of D&D, RPG video games, and even Losties. It is a fun exciting read that challenges your brain. I highly recommend joining me down the rabbit hole of Rabbits by Terry Miles.
Thanks to Netgalley, Del Ray, and Random House publishing for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

Deception and intrigue. Real world gaming with twist and turns. What's next? Solve the game win the prize but don't speak of what happens. The idea is that you can play this real world game if you notice the clues/patterns that others miss, but don't forget the danger others have died. It's very inconsistent in some regards with how characters interact and who remembers what and who disappears or is found. Not a bad plot but seemed to drag in places and rush to finish Ending fell flat.

A convoluted story. This book has so many twists and turns it leaves you reeling. It's about a game gone crazy. It's a kind of confusing storyline, but if you preserve it's worth the time you put into reading it. It definitely gets you thinking!

Rabbits by Terry Miles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If I didn't already have a spirit animal, I'd probably insist that my spirit animal is NOW, ABSOLUTELY, a rabbit. But not those squeezable fluffy creatures. Oh, no. I mean the kind of rabbit that Neo sees in a tattoo in the Matrix, or the one Alice chases, or the kind of toothy monster that fits into that comfortable zone between a Lovecraft story and the monster from Monty Python's Holy Grail.

So, wait, what the hell does this have to do with the novel?

I'm trying to tell you!

This is my spirit animal! A million nearly perfect references to MY outlook, MY worldview, from Donnie Darko to Persona to Dragon's Lair to D&D but twist all these into deeply paranoiac versions that are actually just intense patter recognition systems on speed.

Look for the clues. Hell, this is like Fincher's The Game but impressively MORE funded, MORE involved, and deeper than anyone could have imagined. It's THAT kind of novel. And I LOVE it.

It's a geek paradise. Designed for obsessives, OCD, intensely intellectual gamers who define themselves by a simple tenet of "What is out of place here?"

Only, the gameboard is the whole damn world and your own memory and, eventually, your sanity.

This was satisfying from start to finish. It was MADE for me. Maybe that makes me a bit crazy, but the RIDE was totally worth it. I'm sure Jeff Goldblum would approve.

Follow the Rabbit, people. :)