Holly Jennings

A cool idea but not a lot of depth. I did like a couple of things, but overall, it just didn't engage me. Also, it's definitely more New Adult than Young Adult, due to language and some other stuff, but it's got a YA tone.

Kali was the only one who seemed upset about Nathan's death, even though the team had been training together for a while. And for a few chapters, it didn't even seem as if Kali cared. The way addiction was addressed felt pretty unrealistic. Good luck kicking a habit when it's your job.

I did like that Kali's team was majority women. And even though Kali's being half-Chinese felt like an excuse to put in some Taoist philosophy, I thought her teammates diversity spoke well. Derek's blackness never felt like a stereotype and Lily and Hannah's being gay didn't feel male-gazey. Rooke creeped me right out though, because he knew that Kali must be into Taoism, because she's Chinese. That whole Taoism bit felt kind of gross, actually. Not because Taoism is gross, but because it felt kind of appropriative.

The nostalgic bits were a cute nod to gaming history, but also didn't make much sense. Considering that games had evolved to full-immersion VR, I don't think that even hard-core gamers would be so excited to play Mario Kart on a console.

Anyway, not a terrible debut but not a great one either.

I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads Giveaways… (more)

I feel like there are good ideas here, but it's a slog to get through. I'm not sure if it's that I just don't care enough about cult of celebrity, or glamorous lifestyles or rigorous, real time training, or designed drug addictions, or if it's the shallow characters -- they have potential, but just repeating the main character's insecurities over and over again does not give her depth. I'm surprised that people describe this book as fast-paced, because it's mostly an internal monologue without a lot of plot movement.

Also, as someone who enjoys martial arts, neither Kali, nor her team's abilities make for interesting fight scenes. There is little sophistication or originality in the game scenarios, and I just don't believe that she's as much of a badass as she'd like to think, based on her tendency to die often after taking on opponents she can't handle. Strategy, people. Skill. Those things are important. Excuse the rant. This is by no means the worst example of this problem I've seen lately.

Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss.… (more)

I was immediately intrigued by the plot. I had read a number of books in the virtual reality subgenre of science fiction (of which there are a surprising number, but not any recently that I can recall) and loved the idea of a world where VR gaming has become the new football viewing past-time. This book doesn't really pull punches; it's unequivocally adult, and shows the dark underbelly of the celebrity lifestyle of a VR pro-gamer. There is drugs, booze, and a push to always be in the limelight in order to maintain the commercial image the sponsors want. It is, in a word, sleazy.

Jennings, also touches on the misogyny and racism in gaming culture, using a bi-racial female POV protagonist. But then she herself started falling into that trap, making Kali, who is half-Chinese, remember her Taoist roots in order to recover from the drugs and VR addiction. That whole plot point did not sit right with me after the subtle criticism of racist fetishization and stereotypes that Kali had to deal with as part of her image, that Jennings would then play into another Asian stereotype. But, it did prove to be pretty plot relevant eventually, so I could forgive some of it, though I still wasn't happy about it it.

That said, I enjoyed the book. Because it was fast-paced. It focused on the action and plot, while commenting on both commercial sports culture and gaming culture. I grew to really like the characters and rooted for them in the end.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.… (more)