2 stars ✨⭐️.

This book was fine. It just didn't meet my expectations for a mystery book so I had trouble getting through it. It was definitely a YA book (sort of reminded me of Wattpad).

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the e-book ARC.

3.5⭐️ rounded up.

Rounding up isn’t my norm but I think the book was a decent enough read to recommend it to other YA readers who like escape rooms.

I am thankful for the ARC received from NetGalley and Sourcebooks. My honest review is voluntary and my own opinions. This book is for the future 11/24 US release of a book that was released in the UK in Nov 2023. From the reading of other reviews from the first release I have a feeling that the book may have gone through a major edit as it didn’t match up with the negative reviews to the same extent.

The prose itself was fine from a grammatical sense and not choppy at all. What was problematic was that it got a bit confusing at time with the various games and how character ended up in different places seeming out of the blue.
I don’t think teens would have acted how they did at all. There seems to be a disconnect with the author understanding her characters ages and motivations. This would have worked a bit better if she set the characters as a college age and marketed it as NA. The internships and the responsibilities each twin had at their internship would have made a lot more sense had they been in college.

But overall it was a mix of breakfast club, War Games and The Game by Lindsay Miller mixed into one. It’s not a literary masterpiece by far but it’s entertaining to think about when AI goes wrong. Although I wish the “voice” of the AI was fitting more with technology. It was too much like a real person to be plausible.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

This gave very YA squid games to me. With an AI who think it knows better than it does, it also almost gives some Illuminae vibes...the only parallel being the AI aspect clearly.

It was a quick read. Plot moved along quickly. I think we could've done without the video / YouTube / text message stuff and just fluffed the description as to what happened. I just wasn't a fan of reading those parts even though they did give some bit of backstory as to why the sisters bicker so much and the break up of friendships. Little clues as to who is motivated by what.

But as with all kill to survive genre books, it does get a tad predictable. The betrayl of one. The deaths of many. The faux death and clues.

I'll admit the moving maze was pretty legit.

I think this could've been fleshed out a bit more. Characters seemed to need a bit more...along with the story.

This is definitely YA for YA, not so much for adults to enjoy, but things set in escape rooms are always entertaining (except these guys almost never actually complete the task, so, well, of COURSE they are going to die, right? I mean, that’s only fair.).

Saffron (a name that will always make me think of “AbFab,” a reference completely lost on the target audience for this) and Georgia are twins, but Saffron is a bit of a mess, and Georgia plays by all the rules (I’’m guessing teens are meant to connect with one or the other, I thought both were pretty irritating and they never. Stop. Bickering.). They do share one thing, their affection for the video game Sole Survivor which they play online with a group of friends.

Saffron has a summer position at a high tech escape room while Georgia is interning at a newspaper. Saffron gets in a discussion with the escape room’s AI….what high school stereotype would be best equipped to win in a real life version of Sole Survivor? I do not recall these things being an issue when I was a lifeguard. I mostly just twirled my whistle.

Anyway, the AI decides to stage the query for real with Saffron and Georgia’s SS group, pitting the rebel, the know-it-all, the princess, the jock, the geek, the weirdo, the star, the artist and the criminal in a battle to the death. I’ll bet you can guess how this goes.,,,

This book was so predictable, the character development was not present and they were highly unlikeable, they were also highly aggravating. I had a hard time pushing through this one.

Very good! It was honestly similar to many other thriller books. Has a good plot and keeps you wanting to read more. Thrillers are my thing so I enjoyed it . Easy read.