Thank You to Netgalley for this ARC copy of RABBITS by Terry Miles.

I am blown away by this book. Think about it as if Ready Player One, The Game, Ant Man, and Inception all had a baby - this would be that frigging child creation. This story is so detailed and intricate, as a fellow aspiring author I have no idea how Mr. Miles kept it all straight. I can't wait to check out the Rabbits podcast.

Rabbits follows the life of, K. K's adventure begins in a 80"s style arcade ripe with authentic old school video games. From there, the illusion of a game called Rabbits peaks his curiosity. Always a child of patterns and coincidences, he becomes obsessed. It doesn't take long until he finds himself falling into the proverbial rabbit hole of what is the internet and all in entails.

With the help from friends Baron and Chloe they navigate from one item to the next travelling on what they believe most closely takes them further into the game. When K starts losing time and his perception of linear space begins to deteriorate so does his view of the game. Reality sinks in that the layers to this thought process are infinite.

Only when he is stripped of every support system is he able to open his mind and allow the pieces to fall into place. But, will it be too late?

Read this book. Your welcome.

Oh my word....this was so confusing. Maybe it would have helped if I listened to this Podcast? I had high hopes because I love the read alike books and shows they mentioned in the synopsis. But, this book was not for me. I am not sure what to rate it...

I came across this book through NetGalley and had never heard of the podcast rabbits before so I’m not sure if this is a continuation, prequel, or something else. That said the author gave enough information that I don’t think I was missing anything by not knowing. This book was intense, different, gripping, and hard to put down. I did take a break about 52% through but when I returned it was hard to put down again. So glad I came across it.

A solid 3.5 stars.

Tales about the multiverse, alternate dimensions of time, parallel existences - are all absolutely FASCINATING t0 me. This book reminds me of the early works of Blake Crouch. It has that breakneck, frantic, crazy sci-fi fantasy vibe about it, and this is a complement because Crouch is one of my all time favs!

What I enjoyed about Rabbits:
*The concept...an underground game with secretive players looking for patterns and coincidences in the universe to win unknown prizes, notoriety, and seemingly vast secrets to our existence.
*The book gets deep really quick, and I love the shock value, the twists and turns, the crazy flashbacks, the excitement of what is to come next!
*The way this book actually ties into bizarre circumstance of real life. It's Berenstein Bears! Fight me! I remember reading these books as a child! I went down a rabbit home (pun intended) on Google reading about the Mandela Effect and *mind blown*.

What was just meh:
* The characters were kind of bland in terms of their development. I definitely was not attached or invested in any them. They all kind of felt interchangeable.
*TONS of loose ends that never got tied up or explained. I guess you are supposed to be able to drawn your own conclusions but I wanted more info on the Magician, what exactly is that black being/substance/cloud/creature, is the world truly saved, what happened to Emily, etc.

This book has an interesting plot involving multiple dimensions, a game, mysterious deaths and all kinds of geeky references to 80’s stuff but i found it to be just ok. I had trouble with recognizing when things went awry as there were just too many characters and not enough information to make sense to me. The ending wasn’t really that satisfying either and left me with questions. The writing is pretty solid overall. I didn’t think character development was great but again I think that was mostly due to too many characters jumping all over the place. I would read something else by the author in the future as this is his first novel and he may get better. He apparently does podcasts and I might take a listen to one.

This book pulls you in and takes you many places. Some scary others fantastic. The characters are easy to get attached too. Many pop culture reference's that take you back to different times. A great book to escape into.

This book is a complete miss. And mess. It gives me no pleasure to ever describe a book that way, but as a voluminous reader (and author), I know that anything other than candor in book reviews is a disservice to readers and authors.

While the story world is well constructed and populated with characters I came to care about, the central question of the premise, the very heart of the story, is one that is never answered. At all. Instead, the book hops all around it and over it, with questions and convoluted theories, and then never brings it all together. I felt like the author just got tired of writing the book and decided to end it.

Unfortunately, this one is a hard pass for me. I wish Mr. Miles much success on future ventures into fiction.

Coincidences and discrepancies play a large part in a secretive game played by dedicated and observant people in Rabbits by Terry Miles that might make you question reality.

When you notice the same number or image repeatedly in a short span of time you may think it’s just a coincidence, but what if it was actually the beginning of a larger rabbit hole for you to explore? As early as the late 1950s, and possibly long before then, a game, known by a variety of monikers but often as Rabbits, uses our global reality to present anomalies and impossibilities that drive players to solve the puzzles those anomalies present with the hope of winning the game despite the game becoming more deadly the further you go; ten cycles of the game have concluded and the eleventh is due to begin soon. Having dedicated much of their life to Rabbits, K is eager to find a way in to the eleventh cycle of the game. When K is approached by the alleged winner of the sixth iteration, billionaire Alan Scarpio, a path in to the game is presented and Alan enlists K’s help to save the game, which he believes has been corrupted. After receiving a strange call and making plans to meet the next day, Alan abruptly leaves; when he doesn’t show for their meeting the next day K becomes concerned, but not as much as when Alan’s declared missing. K gets drawn in deeper to Rabbits while being tasked with the massive undertaking of helping to save the universe in the process.

Set in a world that is presented as our contemporary reality, it’s imbued with a deeper look at some grander conspiracy and multiverse theories to help shape the narrative; the mystery that the story presents moves swiftly as it posits reasonable alternative explanations for the odd events that K encounters and observes. The plot is expansive and ambitious in complexity and the sense of confusion it conveys and it certainly provokes thought about reality, which was fascinating; however, the characters didn’t feel as fully developed as they could or should have been, making it more difficult to become invested in them beyond their ability to merely progress the plot. The narrative is filled with details about and references to a variety of gaming and pop culture over the decades, alternate realities, and technology built from scientific advancements, grounding itself in context well without feeling too bogged down with overly detailed or technical descriptions and conveys a sense of familiarity through similarity with other media that’s already addressed some aspects of this story to a degree.

Overall, I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

*I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Del Ray publishing for suggesting this book to me and allowing me to read this ARC. First of all, other reviews compared it to Ready Player One,and I didn't see that at all except for the pop culture references. The writing immediately drew me in and kept me reading for the first part of the book. When things started to be explained, it all started to fall apart for me. Maybe for someone who reads more science fiction it makes sense but for me it was just confusing. However, the writing was great and the story (in the beginning) was great this is 3 and a half stars, rounded up to four!

Rabbits
Book Review | 📚📚📚 4/5
Terry Miles | Del Rey | Penguin Random House

Why I was interested in this book:
First, the cover of Terry Miles‘ first novel is fantastic. And, while I don’t judge a book by its cover, a cover can easily pull me into reading the book. The publisher’s blurb was so enticing. The theme sounded great and a twisty mind-altering journey that I enjoy reading.

My assessment:
Very cool. I really enjoyed the flow of the book. Rabbits had pop culture references, sci-fi, near future fantasy, and confusion – in a trippy good way. Because I enjoyed the pace and quirkiness of the book, I gave it four stars. However, with the number of times I thought “this is like this book”, or “this reminds me of that movie”, I would have normally only given it three stars. But, you’ll see that, ultimately, the book comes highly recommended.


Captivating cover of Rabbits
The premise was unique but not completely original. While reading, I was continually drawn to comparisons, for various reasons, to the films and series: Black Mirror, Ready Player One, The Game (Michael Douglas and Sean Penn), and especially, Utopia. Good news is that I love all of these! The story also made me think of stories by author, Jeff Noon. Again, good news because Noon writes incredible books! So many reminders leads to unplanned expectations to live up to.

I would recommend, once it comes out – which I am sure it will – to watch the film version, since it seems written for that format more than as a novel. Or perhaps a graphic novel. This leads to the next cool part of this story. While reading the book, I did some online research and discovered that this book is based on a podcast series, also written by Terry Miles, also called, Rabbits. And it indicates it’s a true story. I don’t buy that, but as I’ve already indicated, I loved the pace, flow and story, so I’ll be very game to check out the podcast and reengage.

I compare this book to a pop country album – a lot of them have you talking about how they sound like so many other pop country songs and artists. They might not be original, but you love them and just want to hear more. With Rabbits, even with so many other comparable references, I wanted more and could forgive, if not embrace, the nods.

Stories of the human condition:
I had very little empathy for the protagonist, K. He would constantly question situations as coincidences, yet he’s like this OCD pattern guy who sees connections in anything and everything, all the time. As smart as he was written, the amount of naïveté seemed ill-assigned. I kept yelling at him – come on, you’re not that clueless! And, while K had love interests, there was zero sexuality. I don’t mean sex (which there was none, but it didn’t matter). I mean, he was a hand-holder. And that’s it. He was an almost completely emotionless character except that he freaks out all. the. time.

This is the most conflicted review I’ve written. There were so many challenges with the writing and characters of the story, that made me have to continuously stop reading and question why why, why? Yet, I was completely engaged in the book and truly wanted to see how it would end. And it was worth it.

Full disclosure:
I received an advance copy of this book through NetGalley(dot)com in exchange for an honest review. Based on the cover, which led me to reading the book’s blurb, I was very interested in reading this book, and would have purchased a copy if I saw it online.

Read more of my reviews at https://tugglegrassblues.wordpress.com/.

TAGS:
#Rabbits #Rabbitsthebook #review-book #book review #Del Rey Books DelReyBooks #Terry Miles #TerryMiles #TuggleGrassBlues #Tuggle Grass Reviews #TuggleGrassReviews #NetGalley

Book Review for Rabbits
Full review for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

For about the first half or two-thirds of Rabbits I really enjoyed it. I thought that here was a novel like Ready Player One but less reliant on pop culture references. I also thought it seemed like a science fiction version of Foucault's Pendulum although lacking Umberto Eco's brilliant prose. (Seriously, if Miles wrote one more "Then something really strange happened" I might have thrown my kindle out the window.) A reference to Italo Calvino sent me checking the start of each chapter for an acrostic and puzzling for a meta meaning as in Calvino's brilliant If on a winter's night a traveler. I thought it hinted at an investigation of the Borgesian conundrum (here presented as: does the game create the players or do the players create the game?). Let's just say that for more than half of this book, I thought was reading something pretty damn clever.

As I neared the end of Rabbits, however, I gradually began to realize that there was no acrostic, there was no Borgesian meditation on the nature of authorship/creation, and there wasn't even an unreliable narrator. By the end, it was just Ready Player One without the nostalgia it inspires.

Even for all that, it winds up as a decent novel, but disappointingly far less than it had promised to be.

Elite gamers have heard rumors of the secretive game "Rabbits" but few know more than a bit of gossip. K knows enough to give presentations about the game, theories and previous winners but he has not found a way to play it until now. Since childhood K has been sensitive to things, has a razor sharp mind for detail and tends to have blackouts often but it is only after a meeting with an eccentric billionaire (a previous Rabbits winner) that K gets drawn into the rabbit hole. The billionaire is missing, people are dying so K and a friend must now play the game, find the missing, and not die trying to save the world. Elements of READY PLAYER ONE, STRANGER THINGS and the show HOMECOMING are here as well as a ton of 80's -90's gaming trivia making this the obvious choice for gamers both old school and present day.
Fight the urge to keep a notebook handy so you can jot down your own theories, discrepancies and clues. This will be a great crossover for young adult readers and there is a podcast by the same name if you need more. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, nor do I take much stock in overarching mysteries that span governments and continents, but I do find them intriguing. So, when I read the summary for Rabbits, my interest was piqued and I quickly dove in.

Based on the popular podcast, Rabbits follows K as he tries to navigate his way through a cryptic underground game known as Rabbits. There are rules to follow. Players are anonymous, but in order to win the game, participants have to find connections--seemingly random patterns that lead them to the next step. As the next iteration of the game begins, however, K is approached by a stranger who tells him the game is broken--and the consequences could be dire.

I found it strangely difficult to summarize the plot without giving away spoilers.

Let me just say: I really liked this book.

I've read other reviews discussing how it's similar to Ready Player One, but I've only seen that movie and didn't get the same vibes. It did, however, remind me greatly of Utopia--which revolved around a similar premise of a group of players analyzing secret clues from comic pages with similar high stakes. So, if you're like me and loved Utopia, you'll love this book.

K's narration starts off really strong. His voice is endearing, humorous, and informative without info dumping. The first few chapters had me completely hooked, and I wanted to know more about Rabbits, the discrepancies, and the mysterious players.

The deeper you get into this novel, however, the more of a mindbend it is. Miles plays with time, dimensional theory, and memory in a way that purposely keeps you on your toes. I didn't find K to be an unreliable narrator in so much as he's keeping things from the reader, but that you can never really trust the information you're being given. Everything has to be taken with a grain of salt because nothing is as it seems. And if it is, there may be another equally true event coinciding with that truth that you also have to consider. Like I said: MINDBEND.

I loved this aspect though and found the commentary and dissection around the clues interesting and off-putting.

The structure, for the most part, worked well. The chapters moved, the titles were great, and the writing felt authentic. No forced dialogue or cringey moments. I thought the flashbacks were a little longwinded at times, and while purposeful, I might've trimmed them a bit to cut down on some sections that felt dense.

Overall, though, Rabbits is a twisty, unpredictable adventure that will leave you questioning every pattern, coincidence, and synchronicity you've encountered. For fans of Utopia, Inception, Umbrella Academy, or Da Vinci Code-esque pattern-searching action scenes, Rabbits will be the book for you. Out in June, let's talk about quantum theory on the flip side.

Big thanks to Del Ray and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.

Rabbits is the type of book that comes along only once in awhile and stands out from the herd (terrible pun!) Books tend to follow a formula, and there is nothing at all wrong with this. When we settle in for a police procedural, for example, we expect certain narrative devices and plot twists to happen. People enjoy genres due, in part, to story expectations – what is fun is when authors play with those expectations and still manage to surprise us.

Rabbits, however, is a unique animal (there I go again…). It is certainly a sci-fi novel in the respect that it deals with technology that is not our current reality, but it is not a sci-fi novel the way some people think of them…it is not set far in the future, with a life very different from what we experience now. It’s also labeled fantasy on Goodreads, which I can see, but again this isn’t LOTR type fantasy. This story is set right here, in our world, in the Pacific Northwest. It also is a thriller, which is true. The story IS thrilling. I personally think it’s also a horror story. There were some downright deliciously scary and creep-tastic moments.

So what IS Rabbits, anyway, other than a multi-genre story? It’s a game. A secret, underground, dangerous and deadly alternate reality game that has been around possibly for centuries, definitely since the middle of the last century. The rules are hidden, the players are unknown but some are suspected, the organizer of the game similarly unknown but there are many wild theories, and the prize? Nobody knows for sure but a lot of money is one strong guess.

Our hero, K, is a gamer/puzzler interested in connections and coincidences. He is considered somewhat of an expert on the game, even though he doesn’t even know if it’s actually real. He’s had brushes with it at several points in his life and Rabbits has become an obsession for him, as it has for many people around the world interested in games, connections and patterns, and coincidences.

The plot is insane. Truly. I felt like my mind was going to explode when I finished this book. It’s so, so good and throws so many fascinating and crazy ideas in. I don’t want to give anything at all away but there is a lot of weird science and technology, strange connections, conspiracy theories, the darknet, creepy moments, and, oh yes, a lot of nostalgic pop culture and gamer references. Rabbits feels inspired by Ready Player One, The Matrix, Fight Club, and Stranger Things plus a few more I won’t mention for fear of giving too much away, but it absolutely stands on its own two (four?) feet.

I won’t promise that everything makes complete sense in Rabbits or that you won’t have moments of feeling lost in a maze of science/questionable reality/non-stop insanity, but I CAN promise a unique reading experience that will keep you guessing and provide a lot of entertainment value if any of the above is even slightly up your alley.

“The door is open.”

From the very first paragraph of this mind-bending sci-fi/fantasy tale I really enjoyed it! Rabbits was actually a podcast first and I recommend listening to it first to immerse yourself in this world.

“Rabbits”, an underground game about to enter its 11th iteration, follows obscure clues and patterns, but has been linked to the deaths and disappearances of many players through the decades. We meet K, a gamer and Rabbits enthusiast, who has been warned that something is very wrong with the game. However, he finds he can’t stop playing as the game begins again – and this time the danger is all too real. Between the nonstop action, out-there conspiracy theories, and quantum mechanics, this was definitely a mind-boggling ride, with fun characters and an enjoyable conclusion.

This book is a rollercoaster full of twists, turns, conspiracies, and cults. Terry Miles has a skilled way with words and knows how to construct a compelling story. Highly recommended!

Rabbits follows K., someone who has become obsessed with seeking out and discovering patterns and connections throughout their day-to-day life. A few years ago, they discovered an almost alternate reality style game played in secret amongst a select few. Very little information is available about the game, but its roots run deep in both culture and time.

K. is approached by Alan Scarpio, a somewhat reclusive billionaire believed to be one of the winners of a past iteration of Rabbits. Over a plate of pie in a Seattle diner, Scarpio tells K. that something is wrong with the game, that he needs K.’s help to fix it. Before he can explain, Scarpio is interrupted by a phone call and abruptly leaves. The next day, Scarpio is reported missing leaving K. to pick up the ball and run.

Based on a podcast of the same name, Rabbits has achieved a certain level of notoriety through its compelling first season. Author and podcast creator, Terry Miles, launched a Kickstarter to fund a potential follow-up but with the fundraising coming up short, a book became the next logical medium.

The original podcast flew under my radar and was one I’d not heard of before I was approached by the publisher with a review copy, so I was going into this one blind. I would say within the first 10% of this book, I experienced Ready Player One vibes and quickly began to worry that I was getting myself into an Ernest Cline-esque 80s geek reference extravaganza, which is not something I ever want to experience again. Thankfully, the geeky pop-culture stuff is merely window-dressing although it does appear to be ham-fisted at times.

The plot here is a hell of a lot deeper than I expected. Once it’s revealed what the purpose of the Rabbits game is and what is really happening under the surface, I was ready for the story to hit the next gear, but it never really does. It began to feel clunky and almost too expansive. I felt I couldn’t establish a connection with the story because even three-quarters of the way in, we’re introducing new layers and characters. I felt the urgency at which K. had to put things right was at odds with the general pacing of the narrative. It all became very tedious leaving me struggling to maintain my attention.

I also didn’t care much for K. nor the other main character of Chloe. Chloe felt especially thin and seemingly existed as a love-interest/sounding board for K.’s detective work, who at the best of times was barely tolerable. I didn’t feel the slightest chemistry between the two compared to what I felt the author had been trying to portray. I swear, if I ever have to hear the exchange, “Are you OK?” followed by “I’m fine” again, it will be too soon.

I can appreciate what the author is going for here because stories about anomalies in reality and multi-verses are certainly a favorite of mine, but I felt maybe this was a tad too ambitious. I think we could have lost maybe one hundred pages here and tightened things up thus allowing a much stronger story.

This book is based in a world created by the author in his podcast of the same name. If you are familiar with it then you will likely enjoy this book. If not, you may still enjoy it, possibly to the point of subscribing to the podcast. Or not. Because it’s kinda weird.

“Rabbits” is an amalgam of stream of consciousness, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and thriller. You have to be paying attention all the time or you’ll miss a crucial detail. There are many references to pop culture, both past and present, that figure prominently in the tale. If you consider yourself a nerd, this one is right up your alley.

I’m giving it a solid 4 stars for innovation and effectively transmitting what the characters are feeling. The dialog was good and things made sense within the given framework.

I want to thank Del Rey via Netgalley for this ARC. All opinions shared in this review are my own.

Wow. Just, wow. Seriously. I loved this one so much! It was in insanely wild and trippy ride through coincidence, gaming, and conspiracy theory. Most of those are not normally areas I find fascinating, but the blend here is brilliant. The writing is engaging and alternates between crisp and meandering , each exactly when it needs to be to fit the circumstances of the story.

There isn't a lot you can say that will capture the essence of the story - it's too interwoven and involved for simple explanations, and when I tried to come up with some they made the story sound weird or dull. And believe me, it's neither. This is really one you have to experience.

It's not going to be for everyone - there is a lot going on and it's a little all over the place, but in the best possible way. It's intricate and involved with marvelous world building. It riffs on urban legends and hoaxes and internet conspiracies but it's so much more than that. I feel like I should be able to say more coherently about it, but I literally just finished and don't even know where to begin describing it beyond saying it's fabulous!

Pick it up. See what you think. And then I dare you to put it down...