I don't know what I just read but it definitely had me intrigued. I fell into a rabbit hole if you will (sorry I had to!).

I don't even know where to begin to describe this book. It has similar vibes as Fight Club, and like Fight Club, the first rule is you don't talk about Fight Club. This science fiction book is based on a secret underground game where the stakes are high. You can win big and lose even bigger. But where most games are played online via computer or console, this one takes place in the real world.

I feel if you are a gamer you'd really love this book. For me, I am not, so that particular aspect didn't really peak my interest. I've seen others state if you are a fan of Stranger Things or Lost, you will like this and being a fan of both I would have to agree. Overall, it was interesting, but nothing I'm going to rave over. However, I am interested in checking out the podcast it stems from.


***Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book!

Rabbits is an alternate reality game that began in 1959, using the entire world as its canvas. Ten editions had come out since its beginning, with nine winners that no one can identify, and no one knows what they actually won. Now it's the eleventh iteration, and the millionaire Scarpio, rumored to be the sixth winner, hires the Rabbits obsessive K to fix what went wrong with the game. But Scarpio goes missing before K can figure it out, and the world may pay the price.

Rabbits reminds me quite a bit of the show Fringe in early seasons. In the show, fringe sciences and conspiracy theory have some merit, and revealed secrets and a parallel world. This novel reminds me of that because K, who has anxiety and is neurodiverse, sees things in the world that shift and change: a building alternately has four or five stories, a restaurant he swears closed years ago, and a movie he swore he saw that apparently doesn't exist. These are the kinds of discrepancies that are clues in Rabbits, leading to other clues all around the world. It relies on synchronicity, seeming coincidence, and the ability to deep dive into the internet and photos to look for connections, something K has always been good at, even as a child. Reports of people dying or disappearing all over the world don't slow him down because of his need to know, even at risk of harming himself.

The story sucked me in harder than I thought it would and buzzes in the back of my head still. I had to know how it ended, had to see what happened to the characters, and how the different iterations of reality would resolve. The ending was a tense race to the finish line, with an abrupt crash. Once I saw the author's bio at the end, I understood. Terry Miles is involved with the creation of the podcasts Tanis and The Black Tapes, both of which are fantastic and reality-bending. There are fun gaming and creepy game shout-outs in the text, adding another layer of "What if this is true?" to the text. It's fantastically head trippy, and a great read.

Mind Blown! I wasn't sure what to expect with this book – and requested it because of its name and cover. When I started reading, I realized that it was about gaming. At my age, I've "heard" of gaming but have never played any. It didn't matter. It was easy to jump right in.

This book is about a game called "Rabbits." In concept, it would be an entertaining game to play – if you leave out the part where the people playing the game go missing and die. If I had the time to sit until I finished the book – I would have read it in one sitting. It was fast-paced and kept me wanting to find out the next clue.

It made me think a little of the movie "Inception," in that I felt the main character, "K," was in a dream within a dream. The game's premise is to follow and decipher what is usually considered a coincidence to move forward in the game. The game's ending has dire, real-life consequences if someone doesn't win the game and save the world.

I am so glad I read this book. It was different from what I usually read, and each time I picked it up, I could easily remember precisely where I was and what was happening. "Rabbits" is well-written, and I'm going to see what other books by this author I can find.

Thank you to Net Galley, Random House Publishing – Ballentine, and the author, Terry Miles, for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this exciting new book.

Title: Rabbits
Author: Terry Miles
Genre: SciFi
Rating: 4 out 5

It's an average work day. You've been wrapped up in a task, and you check the clock when you come up for air--4:44 pm. You go to check your email, and 44 unread messages have built up. With a shock, you realize it is April 4th--4/4. And when you get in your car to drive home, your odometer reads 44,444. Coincidence? Or have you just seen the edge of a rabbit hole?

Rabbits is a mysterious alternate reality game so vast it uses our global reality as its canvas. Since the game first started in 1959, ten iterations have appeared and nine winners have been declared. Their identities are unknown. So is their reward, which is whispered to be NSA or CIA recruitment, vast wealth, immortality, or perhaps even the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe itself. But the deeper you get, the more deadly the game becomes. Players have died in the past--and the body count is rising.

And now the eleventh round is about to begin. Enter K--a Rabbits obsessive who has been trying to find a way into the game for years. That path opens when K is approached by billionaire Alan Scarpio, the alleged winner of the sixth iteration. Scarpio says that something has gone wrong with the game and that K needs to fix it before Eleven starts or the whole world will pay the price.

Five days later, Scarpio is declared missing. Two weeks after that, K blows the deadline and Eleven begins. And suddenly, the fate of the entire universe is at stake.

I’m not sure what to say about this book. It was kind of like watching Alice in Wonderland—the Johnny Depp version. I never had any idea what was actually going on, but I was completely fascinated. The patterns and logic leaps involved in the game were a bit mind-boggling, but again, fascinating (in a now-I-feel-dumb sort of way). I wouldn’t say this is a well-rounded novel, but it’s definitely entertaining.

Terry Miles was born in Saskatchewan. Rabbit is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House/Del Rey in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 6/24.)

**Thank you to Netgalley and Random House - Ballantine/Del Rey for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way changed my rating**

Rabbits is going to be compared to Ready Player One. That's guaranteed. Both feature a socially clueless male lead with supercomputer-esque knowledge that allows them to play a game reliant on clues. The difference is that RP1's Wade has knowledge that is specialized while Rabbit's K is so sprawling so as to be unbelievable.

I'm unsure if listening to the podcast would have helped a reader going in, but I was excited at first that the game was being played in the real world instead of a virtual reality situation. However, because of this and the nature of Rabbits as a game, the knowledge required to play the game could be anything and everything. Wade in RP1's knowledge was limited to 70s and 80s pop culture and he still came off unbelievable at times. K's is even worse since there aren't any limits. As an example, there's a part where he and another character are looking at a series of seemingly unrelated pictures that "everyone has been looking at for connections to no avail" and he sees the connection within seconds. This requires him to know, BY SIGHT, the city where a certain breed of dog originated to make the connection with the other three pictures. He's given no indication prior to this that he's even interested in dogs to know this off the top of his head. A lot of the "clues" are like this, as well as events that are meant to blur the lines of reality but really just are breadcrumbs to dead ends.

The stakes didn't feel real enough for the majority of the book. I kept being TOLD it was dangerous and deadly, but the consequences kept happening to minor characters off page. I would have preferred to be shown the consequences instead of continuing to be told.

All in all, this didn't ' work for me. It felt like lesser Ready Player One with a broader scope that was an interesting idea but didn't work in theory. I wasn't invested enough in any of the characters to care about the plot and the little development I did get was weak. I wouldn't recommend this. Just read Ready Player One or maybe even Marie Lu's Warcross series, which is a virtual game with real world implications (so kind of a cross between the two).

What a super crazy journey! This book kept me absolutely hooked and wanting to find out more. I was disappointed when I had to put it down. If you like Sci-Fi and alternate timelines you'll like this book.

This one didn't work for me, which was too bad. There were a lot of reviews and recommendations out there that would have put me right in the center of the target audience mark, even though I'm not familiar with the podcast that this world of Rabbits is from. It was very hard to get into the book because the author tried so hard to make the book so mysterious and it just made the book lame. DNF at 80% I had to put this down because I was just too frustrated with he lack of what was happening and where the book wasn't really taking me. The story operates under the idea that there is a mysterious game that has implications of changing peoples lives and possibly the world and the game might not even exist or it might no one really knows. The main character follows coincidences and these clues that are not clues, which was a very thin idea for me because if there are people all over the world playing this game, how do they all get the same coincidences and clues as the other players? That's where my frustrations really rooted. The author states almost on every page that no one really knows anything about the game or who is playing the game, yet literally every character in the book knows a ton about the game, how to play the game, and knows who is playing. The basic premise sounded like the first rule of Fight Club where no one is supposed to talk about the game, but again literally every character in the book is talking about the game. The book fell short and didn't go anywhere. I read a few similar review that said they were very disappointed with a boring ending, so that's why I gave up.

There is an underground game that’s been around since at least the 1950’s. It’s called Rabbits and you aren’t allowed to talk about it. Ever. K, whose gender is never really revealed, has been obsessed with the game for all of her/his adult life. K is gifted with an eidetic memory and can find the patterns and connections between everything. From what I could gather, this is the objective of Rabbits.

But… many people who’ve played the game have disappeared or died so it’s extremely dangerous. No one really knows who won the past 10 games or what they’d receive if they did win.

For the first half of the book, I did ok keeping up with the story and premise. But somewhere in the last quarter of the book, I got completely lost and never recovered. The ending was good, but I’m still lost as to what actually happened.

Also, my mind is a bit blown, because I listened to the audiobook and it was narrated by a woman. And when K meets someone near the beginning, they ask if K is spelled K-A-Y. I went through the entire book thinking K was a woman. But in most of the reviews I’ve read, K is a man. I feel like my world just turned upside down.

I don’t know that I’m the target audience. Since I’m not a gamer, and I don’t listen to podcasts, which apparently back in 2017 there was a Rabbits podcast, I felt out of sorts through much of this story. Or maybe it’s just me. Maybe this story just wasn’t quite my cup of tea. I tend to like my books to make sense by the end. Rabbits just got more and more confusing to me.

But the story was definitely interesting and I did enjoy it overall. I found K to be a very interesting character.

The audiobook is narrated by Christine Larkin and she was amazing!! I do recommend listening to this one because of the performance by Christine.

*Thanks so much to Del Rey and NetGalley for the advance copy!*

I’m a huge fan of Terry Miles’ podcasts and was overly excited to receive a copy of Rabbits to review.

I loved being back in this world filled with puzzles, conspiracies and danger. Nothing is as it seems as K is tasked with fixing the real-world game, Rabbits. It’s been a while since I’ve listened to the podcast and did forget bits and pieces of how you actually play. The book takes a different approach as K has been around the game for years. He knows the ins and outs and can easily jump right in which may be confusing to the reader because while you can learn as you go with K, there isn’t a straight how-to. Part of me wished that was there but mostly I loved the ambiguity and was happy to relearn along the way.

It’s hard to guess where this story was going to go and If found myself gasping at certain twists. The puzzles and other discoveries K makes are jarring, adding another layer of intensity to an already gripping thriller. There is a sci-fi element to it surrounding certain events I can’t explicitly mention without spoiling parts of the story. I think Terry Miles is a literal genius. I didn’t feel as if I was smart enough to grasp certain theories or elements and had to read them twice. I didn’t mind it at all as at that point I was already in deep with fascination.

Rabbits is definitely a book you have to take your time with. There are a thousand little threads that will keep you entertained and when woven together, create an intense ending that I’m still thinking about and parsing through. You don’t have to listen to the podcast to read this. I would recommend you do however but that’s because I love being in the know and if you have listened, there will be some fun familiar names or items mentioned that may make you giddy.

K has been obsessed with the secretive game Rabbits for a while, but just a the 11th round of the game is beginning, K learns that the game is in trouble and needs to be fixed before the whole world is destroyed. I didn't realize this was a spin-off from a podcast when I picked it up, but while it probably would have made more sense with that context, I did think worked as a stand alone. The tension that the (possibly) multiverse elements created were super interesting and grabbed my attention, but a times those same elements led to the plot being super abrupt.

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

Rabbits by Terry Miles is a mystery revolving around a secret game taking place in an alternate reality. Mr. Mmiles is a published writer, podcaster (Public Radio Alliance), and an award-winning filmmaker.

K is a player of the Rabbits, the secret real-life game, with real life consequences. The winner gets huge amounts of money and fame, but it could cost the players everything. For years K has been attempting to play Rabbits, but in order to play you first have to find your way into it.

Billionaire Alan Scarpio, rumored to have been the winner of the previous iteration approaches K. Scarpio says that something has gone wrong and needs to be fixed or the whole world will end.

Scarpio disappears.
K blows the deadline.
The game starts – suddenly reality itself is shifting.

Rabbits by Terry Miles is a very creative book, especially for gamers. It feels like a mix of 80s/90s nostalgia, conspiracy, mystery, as well as the new exciting video games of today.

The nostalgia factor, explicitly for me was the arcades, which I spent too much time and money in. I remember how amazing Dragon Lair was, as well as the Atari 2600 system. Today’s fantastic graphics of games are astounding and immersing, something I only wished for as a teen.
So why Minecraft became so popular, is a mystery to me.

Even though this novel has a somewhat complicated plot, it was not a difficult read. The puzzles are in the context of the game, which we view through K’s eyes. Seeing patterns is a theme in the book, but there are not mental gymnastics one needs to do to enjoy the narrative.

The story-line is driven by the game, however the characters are developed as well. Albeit, when we think we know something about K, or Chloe, or another character, the author takes a 90 turn. A surprise to the reader and to the character as well.

I enjoyed the aspect of forced-nostalgia, something that was always prominent in human behavior. I was trying to remember if aspect described in the book was the author’s invention, an Easter egg in a game, an accurate description, or simply disinformation. Maybe I just didn’t remember it properly, or a different version, or maybe the author combined fact and fiction to really mass me up.

The novel does jump around, and when that happens the reader has to pay attention. Even if you do pay attention, what’s real and what’s not is always up for questioning. There are many obscure game clues in real world setting. I don’t know if people like K exist, who see disjointed patterns everywhere, but life cannot be easy for them.

Let me start by saying that I was so excited to receive this title.

The creepy atmosphere and hearing a horror movie line “would you like to play a game…” in my head I was all in. Rabbits, the game, is a game played in the real world by noticing patterns and following clues. There’s not a lot that I can tell you - as secrecy is part of the game - plus the more I divulge, the experience will change for you, much like in the game in the book.

While I didn’t love the book, I liked it quite a bit. There were creepy tense scenes that made you want to look over your shoulder, and the actual story for the game is a fun read. Admittedly, I am not into multiverse and radial tangents and theories and there is quite a bit of that (along with very in depth descriptions of all of the scientific background and theory for each thing) in this novel that, for me, was a bit tiresome to go through. The saving part is the story itself and the hunt for what’s happening and how to stop the end of the world.

I think this is a perfect read for lovers of sci-fi, puzzles, conspiracy theories, and out of this world adventures! I will definitely be recommending it a bunch this summer as a fun get away. It’s a strong 3 and a half star book for me!

Thank you so much to #NetGalley, #RandomHousePublishing, #Ballantine, and the author Terry Miles for an electronic ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I enjoyed this book. It’s kind of like Dark Matter by Blake Crouch mixed with a splash of Ready Player One. Very entertaining!

Rabbits is both the name of this novel and the name of the game within the novel. Rabbits — the game — is secretive and mysterious. No one knows for sure if it actually exists, who created it, how you play, who has played, or how you win. Yet there are countless online discussion groups devoted to Rabbits, as well as countless die-hard gamers who live and breathe for the opportunity to find out more and maybe even get to play.

The book is strange and complicated, and sometimes very funny -- but I'm not sure that the convoluted plot pays off in the end.

Trippy and action-packed. It reminded me a bit of The Magnus Archives in tone, but with more physics and psychedelics underlying the creeping sense of dread than the supernatural.

A secretive game with an incredible prize or an unfortunate death. Conspiracies around every corner and memories that you just cant trust. Your life is filled with coincidences and patterns that seem to mean something. You begin to question your childhood. This is everything that the protagonist, K. faces in this trippy new release from Terry Miles.

This book is indeed unique and has a great premise. It definitely will appeal to fans of The Matrix, Inception and Ready Player One. I found it a difficult read at times. Sometimes slow, sometimes thrilling and sometimes utter chaos!! It is definitely a book that you must read slowly in order to enjoy all of the details and even sometimes read them again just in case you missed something. I really liked the idea but wanted just a little bit more especially toward the end.

Overall I give it 3.5 stars. It was enjoyable, but I definitely feel that this book will appeal to a certain audience and is not for everyone. That said this is not a genre that I read lot of so please keep that in mind when you read this review. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy exchange for an honest review.

This book presented a premise that I thought would be good, but it was just clue after clue with little else to go and hard to read at end. Kind of got bogged down at the end until the big reveal.

Something is seriously wrong with the world, but who's going to believe a part time day trader, game obsessed man with a penchant for seeing patterns in the world? Me, that's who. The main character, known simply as K, knows he's an unreliable narrator. He isn't sure he can believe his memories or even if they are memories. He's been on the periphery of an underground game nearly his whole life, his obsession has caused mental and physical breakdowns. When K is approached by a man who he believes has one the game in the past, who tells him the game is broken and the world is coming to an end, what is he supposed to do?
I really enjoyed the teasing out of clues and the "trust no one" vibe of the story. You may think you've already done the follow the clues, save the world game thing, but this is truly a new spin. I haven't listened to the pod cast the book is based on, so don't think you have to either to enjoy the story. Engrossing and fun, it was the perfect kick off to the summer read!

I had no idea what I was getting into. This book was suggested to me because I liked Project Hail Mary which is a good comparable read. I like to think of it more as a more cerebral Ready Player One with less past cultural references.

I am not familiar with the related podcast, but I was able to follow along with the plot. The book started off great. Very exciting, and I was ready to recommend it to everyone. Then it got a bit more other-worldly and wasn't what I was hoping the story would be. Now, I read and enjoy science fiction and fantasy, but I think I had a hard set interpretation of where I wanted the plot to go and when it deviated, I just lost interest. I was hoping it would remain a real-world thriller of a puzzle of hidden clues of non-random occurrences. I liked that there was this underlying uncertainty in our narrator's mental health and therefore reliability.

And now to pointlessly gender a character: I am shook that people thought that K was a he/him. I never once thought of them as such and felt the book read much better as K as female. There were several clues along the way to support this, mainly how keys were held in a parking lot and that the audiobook narrator is female.

Speaking of the audiobook, narrator did an excellent job. Quality performance and production.

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

Imagine Lovecraft living into the 21st century, and writing Cosmic Horror from a Quantum Theory viewpoint. Combine that with Multiverse Theory, Dimensional Shifts, and what I term Probability Shifts....and you're about to enter the World of RABBITS. No, this is not a treatise on Biology. This is all the Conspiracy Theories that ever lived run through Schrodinger's experiment and filtered with Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror. Read RABBITS, and never see the Universe the same way, ever again.