FIVE reasons to read Girl Gone Viral:

1. Girl, Exposed: Opal Hopper is a girl unabashedly involved in STEM. There is no questioning of her place in the project, she knows it and she is confident in her choices.

2. Girl, In The Deep End: If you follow tech trends or even if you are a coder or somehow obsessed with social media and technology, YOU WILL ADORE THIS BOOK. Although the dust jacket describes this as The Social Network meets Black Mirror meets Ready Player One, I also see elements of Warcross, Immoral Code and the technology of Minority Report.

3. Girl, Fully Loaded: Opal has a ready-built group of friends in Moyo and Shane, her two friends helping her create the Make-A-Splash contest entry. They have a very real friendship that gets challenged and rebuilt by secrets and jealousy. It was so authentically messy. I loved every moment of their interactions.

4. Girl, With The Truth: Opal Hopper is a girl on a mission—not only does she want to win a contest to meet Steve Jobs-level billionaire founder of WAVE Technologies, Howie Mendelssohn. Howie also happens to be the last person alive who spoke to her father the night he disappeared seven years ago. She is so driven and focused while still grieving and searching for answers.

5. Down and Across: if you haven’t read Arvin’s achingly charming debut novel, I urge you to pick it up. I will link my original review in my bio and stories. It is a book for anyone who has ever been lost and tried to find their way back to themselves and their identity. You can see threads of it in Girl Gone Viral and, I hope, many, many more books from Arvin to come!

Right from the very beginning, I already found Girl Gone Viral as cool. Although it took me some time to actually make sense and connect to their world, there’s no hiding that it is, in fact, a cool, imaginative one. Heck, they even have a subject called HISTORY OF SOCIAL MEDIA, HOLOGRAPHIC MEMES and they call IPHONES AS “ANCIENT”. Given that this features a futuristic world with virtual realities, I expected the world-building to be complex but it wasn’t, which, actually made me a kind of underwhelmed at some point. But still, despite the lack of complexity, it is still creative. And I, myself, would really love to enter those virtual realities.

It also explores the topic of fame, showing the lengths people are willing to go for it, the stress, sleepless nights you gain, the privacy you loose, sometimes the relationships being ruined, the publicity stunts you do and the lies you tell in order to keep that fame and remain under the main spotlight.

It also tackles how complicated a friendship between 3 people can get when the two of them both fell in love for their other friend and their friendship suddenly turned into a love triangle. But I loved how they handled it, and how it remained on the side.

I was also really drawn to Opal’s journey of looking for his father. It made me guess, wish and hope too. And I loved how its effects to Opal and her mother, as well as the other aspects of Opal’s life were portrayed. It shows just how much magnitude losing a father has over a child.

CHARACTERS WHOSE HEARTS ARE IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS, AND WRITING
The main character, Opal Hopper, a genius coder, a girl of numbers, of science, of facts, I liked her. I didn’t connect with her in a deep way but I loved how she was created to be this girl of science and technology who slowly learned to embrace her emotions and all other things that makes her human , amid their world where high technologies, especially virtual realities, reign over their lives. I admire how smart, logical, determined, and driven she is. She did things I personally do not agree with. But this is what makes her seem more human and just made me like her even more.

Moyo and Shane, Opal’s bff’s and co-founder of Behind the Scenes, I just want to protect them. Moyo is pure and collected and respectful and so kind. He’s a great, loyal friend you’ll want to have in your life forever. Shane is like the black contrast to Moyo’s white. If Moyo is nice, he’s the naughty. I love him as well – how he respect their friendship, how he battles his mental illness, and just being the true friend that he is. Kara, to be honest I didn’t expect that I’ll like her. But I loved knowing her story which made me understand her.

I love the squad of Opal, Shane, Moyo and Kara, and how they came together. I loved the other side characters as well from Howie (the CEO of WAVE and Aaron Tal’s co-founder), to Mrs. Tal (Kara’s mother a.k.a. Dean Tal of Stanford), to Neil (the assistant who do most of WAVE’s business with Behind the Scenes) to Matthew (the journalist, aspiring novelist) to Nikki (billionaire entrepreneur). They all had pretty relevant roles in the whole story.

BACKWARD SOCIETY VS. ADVANCING SOCIETY
Despite being set in a futuristic society, Girl Gone Viral tackles quite a timely and relevant topic even for us humans in 2019. This sparks the questions: How far should technology go? How far should WE LET technology go? Should we put limitations? Restrictions? Should we just keep on pushing forward? Create more? Do more? Innovate more?

Innovation and technology can make living SO much better and things SO much easier. But it can also steal real people’s jobs, steal your time with your family, lessen your time in reality, and more. I love how this is being discussed with two opposing sides in the story: those who are rebelling and wants to keep technology limited and those who embraces the advanced technologies that is ruling their world, from self-driving cars, to virtual reality, to a voice assistant a.k.a. (non-human) secretary, and so much more and wants to improve it further.

AN ENDING THAT IS BOTH UNDERWHELMING AND SATISFYING
I think the ending really calls for a sequel. I was actually surprised that it has to end like that ALREADY. There is still a fight with the Luds and so much about their politics that has to be addressed. The “Backwards society vs. Advancing society” battle wasn’t actually given a concrete conclusion and we literally have no clue what will happen to their divided country.

Although I was underwhelmed, I was also satisfied by the end to Opal’s journey of unfolding the mystery of her father’s disappearance and knowing the actual truth. And how the love triangle and friendship issues between the squad were fixed and wrapped up. These made me satisfied and utterly happy.

RECOMMENDATION
I recommend this if you want a book set in a futuristic society that is less complex and won’t bombard you will lots of technical terms. If you’re also into character-driven stories, science junkies, stories that explores the pros and cons of technology, and books with a group of friends, you might want to try this.

Thanks to Penguin Random House International for sending me an advance copy of Girl Gone Viral in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affects my views on the book.

As soon as I read the synopsis of this book, I was immediately drawn in. A girl who can code, a family mystery, and a tech competition? Yes, yes, and yes.

But sometimes books don’t deliver on synopsis and we’re left wanting. Not here. Girl Gone Viral lives up to its intrigue and futuristic promise.

Setting, pacing, and plot
Girl Gone Viral is set in Palo Alto and San Francisco, giving it a real Silicon Valley feel. Opal attends Palo Alto Academy of Science and Technology (or PAAST) and lives in the academy dormitories.

I kept having to remind myself that the teens in this book were still in high school, rather than at university, because they felt grown up and all lived on campus (like at university). But living at the academy gave them a sense of camaraderie and community spirit that I enjoyed. And naming one of their social spaces ‘hell’ was a stroke of brilliance by Arvin Ahmadi, producing lines such as:

“The Media room sits at the very end of Hell, crammed between the Oceanography Lab and the Robotics Lab.”

Brilliant.

The overall pacing of the book is reasonably quick, but slows down for introspective scenes where Opal reflects on her father’s disappearance and how much she misses him.

There are some climactic scenes where the pace shoots off into the stratosphere and I felt like I was flying through these pages.

The plot centres on Opal’s rise to fame after her team’s WAVE channel takes off. WAVE is like YouTube, but in a virtual reality space, so Opal is basically Joanna Cedia but with fewer Bob Ross tutorials and more discussion of digital morals. (No shade on Joanna, I love her videos.)

Opal uses WAVE to look at how people react emotionally to online videos and critiques trolls for sexism and cyber bullying.

She wants to win the competition that WAVE is running so she can meet Howie Mendelsohn, her father’s previous business partner and friend. In meeting him, she hopes she can finally find out why her father disappeared.

The plot of Girl Gone Viral was engaging and had some almost thriller-esque moments, especially in the second half of the book. Every scene was used to develop the characters or progress the storyline, and no scene was superfluous.

Characters
Characters I’ll always show up for are girls in STEM. Give me engineering girls, girls doing maths, girls learning science.

So when Opal Hopper arrived on-page, I knew I was going to like her. She’s smart, innovative, driven, and determined to find out what happened to her father. She throws everything into her WAVE platform, and her ambition struck a chord with me.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about Opal’s character is how morally grey she is. She begins the novel with good intentions, but quickly realises she may have to use her friends (and any other means) to get what she wants.

I found this incredibly true to real life. We’re not always the kind, welcoming people we want to be and we make mistakes. But people put this unreasonable pressure on women to be sweet and nice; the same expectations aren’t levied at men. And when women aren’t sweet and nice, we get labelled as rude, standoffish or nasty.

But women don’t have to be sweet and nice to be good, strong people. And after seeing Captain Marvel, I kind of fell in love with women who don’t pander to others. So I really liked that side of Opal; she’s not sweet and she doesn’t take no for an answer.

She’s also a teenager dealing with exams, university applications, and a lot of extraneous pressures; it would almost be unrealistic if she wasn’t angry and disillusioned at times.

But something that surprised me about Opal’s character was the fact that she doesn’t see her mom often. With her father not in her life, I’d have thought she might have grown closer to her mother, but the opposite is actually the case.

I found this distance in their relationship intriguing but sad. Thankfully, things start to change as the plot progresses and Ahmadi does a great job of exploring their complicated feelings towards one another and showing us why Opal feels the way she does.

One of my favourite scenes was an emotional one between Opal and her mom, where they sit down and talk about how they feel. This tugged on my heart, because sometimes sitting down and talking through your worries with your mum can make you feel so much better.

Opal’s friends, Shane, Moyo, and Kara are a bright kaleidoscope of different personalities. Shane is whimsical and a wizard with a Rubics Cube, but abuses alcohol in his darker moments, Kara is straight-talking and thoughtful, and Moyo is level-headed and caring.

Kara was perhaps the most interesting to me. Opal sees her as an annoying, privileged ‘princess’ at first, and because we see her through Opal’s eyes, we begin to find her annoying.

But as the story progresses, Opal and Kara have several candid conversations, and Opal realises she was wrong about Kara; we in turn, realise that we only saw what Opal saw, and didn’t see the good in Kara. It’s a classic case of the unreliable narrator, and one Ahmadi executes really well.

I also enjoyed Shane, Moyo, and Opal’s friendship dynamic, because they showed that it’s possibly to have a strong three-person friendship without one person being left out. Despite their differing personalities, their group dynamic was fun and led to some very humorous moments.

Narrative style
Girl Gone Viral is narrated in first person present tense and it works well for the book’s modern, futuristic tone.

We see the world from Opal’s perspective and I really enjoyed her critical discussions of sexism in the technology industry.

“It kills me, the way men talk about me. Like I’m some naive girl who just happens to be spewing the right opinions on the right platform at the right time. Yes, men. It’s almost always men who doubt my ability.”

We feel Opal’s growing dissatisfaction with the media as if it’s our own, and her desire to change the way people behave towards one another online, resonates strongly through the narrative.

World-building
I enjoyed the futuristic, sci-fi nature of the world-building because it felt like Inception crossed with Sword Art Online. The virtual reality scenes were described in such detail that I could picture them vividly and the designs for them were pretty damn cool.

The use of AI was clever, as it made me think about how much of our personal data we pour out into the digital world. Opal’s AI knows her favourite songs, knows the lighting she likes, knows when she wants quiet and when she needs comfort. It knows more about her than her closest friends do.

Ahmadi uses this to explore whether technology is straying into dangerous territory. He asks the question: how far is too far with technology?

Overall thoughts
This book promised high-flying technology, well-developed characters, and an exciting plot, and it delivers on all fronts. Opal is a great main character, with drive, determination and a no-nonsense attitude. If I was any good at coding and lived in Palo Alto I’d definitely want to be friends with her.

The author uses a cleverly constructed narrative to explore the power of the internet and the pressures of having a social presence online. He asks us how whether the benefits of technology outweigh the negatives, all while unravelling the mystery of Opal’s father’s disappearance. This novel is a gripping new addition to the 2019 YA scene and one that will take a few turns you’ll never expect..

The Good
The technology Arvin Ahmadi comes up with in this book is so fun (and kinda scary), making you really think about where the future of things like virtual reality and data tracking are going.

I like how he wove politics into the discussion, with two opposing candidates who have vastly different views on technology running for president. The best thing was that it was difficult to firmly choose a side, because they both made great points. For example, evolving technology is great for creative minds and can advance society and make things easier, but what about when robots take human jobs? I don’t know what side Ahmadi would pick, or if he has chosen, and I hope that’s the point!

He also explored relevant topics like internet trolling, online harassment, and girls and people of color being at a disadvantage/underrepresented in STEM fields.

The Bad
My biggest problem with this book is that it goes in too many directions. From the synopsis, it sounds like a sci-fi thriller, but I felt like I was reading a contemporary with some advanced tech and a mystery thrown in. Also, random romance that didn’t feel necessary to the plot. I inherently understood Opal’s obsession with finding her missing father, but I didn’t feel it or care that much if she was successful, because so many other things were happening.

I also didn’t completely understand why Opal went viral; I know she was uncovering data and proving that people lie online but, like… duh? Maybe I wasn’t immersed enough in the world to truly get why people were obsessed with what she was doing.

The Verdict
I did appreciate what this book was trying to do, but I was pretty underwhelmed once I finished it. Opal’s father’s disappearance was too sidelined, and I think if Ahmadi had thrown a little less *stuff* into the story, it may have been more successful. I’m hoping readers who love sci-fi and tech enjoy the read, though, because that was definitely fun to explore!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to PRH Global JM @ The Book Freak Revelations and Bookworms Unite PH for organizing this blog tour.

Hello, I’d like more near-future soft science fiction YA books please!

Girl Gone Viral hits all the right notes for me and I definitely enjoyed it a lot. It features Opal, a girl studying at one of the most prestigious STEM schools in LA and a Stanford hopeful. She usually helps her friend Kara (along with their friends Moyo and Shane) with her platform on WAVE- which is like a VR Youtube. She provides Kara with the statistics and algorithms she needs in order to make her platform successful, something which was especially necessary as WAVE introduces a competition called Make-A-Splash. If you win the competition, you get prizes, one of which involves meeting Howie Mendelsohn- WAVE’s mysterious and reclusive founder.

Winning this competition means more than just for fun or something for her college apps for Opal. For her, it’s a chance to get to the bottom of why her father, Aaron Tal and Howie’s co-founder/inventor disappeared/died. This was the mystery that drives Opal to do the things she does and is the core for why she does the things she does.

Of course, things take an interesting turn when Opal unexpectedly strikes a chord and in a way, exposes her own audience. Thanks to a few data hacks she and her friends obtained, they were able to dig deep into the psychology of their audience and in the process of doing so, pose questions on a societal level- some of which have the power to change their society.

Girl Gone Viral was a really interesting story. At first, it’s main focus was on Opal and her relationship with her dad- this of course develops throughout the book and we do eventually find out what happened to him. This is the core plot of the story and the way it was handled was very satisfying. However, the most interesting part of it for me was the subplot involving the Luds- an anti-technology political group and the part Opal plays in unmasking how many people actually support them or are sympathetic to their cause.

I think Girl Gone Viral has some serious series potential despite being a standalone. I’d love to see a sequel flesh out the consequences of the things that happened in this book more. I loved seeing it interrogate truths about ourselves, our society, the way we interact online vs. our online selves, and how we look at online celebrities/personalities.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Girl Gone Viral and I heartily recommend it!

Girl Gone Viral was pitched for Warcross and Black Mirror fans. Now I haven’t read Warcross yet, but I’ve seen most of Black Mirror episodes, enough to draw me into this book. Arvin Ahmadi is more like a household name to bookworms now, especially with Penguin Teen’s antics to drag him online. Plus, we loved Arvin’s debut novel, Down and Across!

I haven’t read a YA sci-fi in a very very long time (two years), for some reason, I just fell out of love. So when I heard about this book, I figured why not try again? And I did, and it didn’t disappoint at all! I went into this book without really expecting anything, mostly hoping to spark my interest for sci-fi again.

Girl Gone Viral centers on Opal Hopper, a 17 year old whiz kid. With her father disappearing on her tenth birthday, Opal has a chance to find out the truth as she enters a contest through WAVE, the worlds biggest reality platform.

This book is set in the near-future, which is easier to digest because there were still pop culture references that are relevant today such as mentions of Jimmy Fallon and Dear Evan Hansen. Ahmadi’s world-building doesn’t really stray far from the present times, which I enjoyed as someone who’s sort of walking on eggshells with the genre.

I love how the main character, Opal, was written really well and fleshed out. Although, I didn’t really relate to her on a personal level. The supporting characters had a fair share of the craft as well, three-dimensional and with amazing dynamics.

The book also tackles grief, personal relationships, and even morality. These topics were totally the gamechanger for me as regards to this book. I can’t really go into detail because I’m afraid to spoil things, but this was truly a satisfying read.

Overall, Girl Gone Viral captured the reality of the social media craze and fast technological advancements that, if I may say so, we’re having right now. That really hit the Black Mirror spot for me.

"Humans are experts in sharing. It started with cave paintings and evolved into books, tweets, virtual reality – who knows what’s next. But the pieces of ourselves that we share are just that. Pieces.”


**What worked:

1. PROMISING AND INTERESTING PLOT
The blurb of this book is highly promising and I am glad that this book turned out to be good as well in terms of the plot. This story is about Opal Hopper, a senior at PASSAT, who becomes a viral sensation overnight, with her friends, after taking part in WAVE’s (a VR platform) contest, Make-A-Splash. Opal hopes to win the contest so that she can meet Howie, founder of WAVE and can finally know the truth about her father’s disappearance.

This plot definitely keeps the reader hooked to the end, especially the mystery behind Opal’s fathers’ disappearance. Also, it was interesting to see how Opal and her friends were viral sensations overnight and how they handled it. We get to see a glimpse of the life of celebrities, how it must have been for them to be in all this limelight.

2. STRONG MAIN CHARACTER AND INTERESTING FRIENDSHIPS
I loved Opal Hopper so much. She was full of flaws, as a real-life person. She was bold but fearful, manipulative but caring, moody and yet fun. She was like most of the teenagers. When she went viral, she was actually happy to see all the starlight that she was into. The trio of Opal, Moyo and Shane was amazing. I loved reading about their friendship and to see the ups and downs.

3. SCARY REALITY OF INTERNET AND DIGITAL WORLD
It was really scary to read about a future that Arvin created. But the thing is, I can actually see that happening in the near future? The world will be a slave to technology. I can see how privacy will no longer remain valuable. People would be able to do all the real-life things through VR and digital technologies. Emotions will have no more place. Ahh, thinking all this is really scary. Arvin has left the discussion open that if all this technology is boon or curse.

**What didn’t work:

1. RUSHED ENDING
I felt that the ending was little rushed? The way the truth about Opal’s father was revealed was quite sudden. I wish it was handled more perfectly.

2. LOOSE POLITICAL ASPECT
There was also a political aspect of the story. There was a group of Luds who were opposed to all these technologies and how they were taking over the world. They wanted to go back to the basics, return the jobs to humans that machines took over. It would have been good to see more elaboration on that aspect too.

**FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall I really enjoyed this book. Basically, this book is about friendship, relationships, empathy, technology, fame, moving forward and finding the truth. I loved the plot of the story as well as the characters. The pace of the story was perfect. Though I wasn’t impressed by the ending, this book was really interesting and I would definitely recommend this to all the sci-fi lovers.

I discovered Arvin Ahmadi’s writing with his debut last year, Down and Across and right there and then, I knew he was a promising author to follow. His sophomore novel, Girl Gone Viral, is a 360° turn from his contemporary, coming-of-age debut and yet, it only showed me that Arvin Ahmadi manages to write both in contemporary and science-fiction just as well and in compelling ways.

A FASCINATING WORLD OF VIRTUAL REALITIES
☂️

Girl Gone Viral tells the story of Opal, living in a world where new technologies have taken over the world, virtual reality is everywhere. The 17-years-old teenager will use these technologies to go viral and manage to reach out to the man detaining the truth about her father’s disappearance. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?!

The world-building, the ideas behind WAVE, this giant virtual reality platform and the way it was built, the way it worked and the way the characters could immerse themselves into this alternate reality whole, was really, really imaginative and interesting to read. It took me a little while to get used to this world and the technologies, because I quite couldn’t grasped how it all worked, but yet Arvin Ahmadi told Opal’s story and adventures in such a compelling, addictive way that my confusion quickly went on one side of my head, almost forgotten.

I also loved the ambivalence between the ones who embraced virtual reality, self-driving cars and this abundance of technologies ruling the world and the ones who were reluctant to accept it, rebelling and willing to get back in time where technologies weren’t so big. This sub-plot was really interesting to read and I loved Opal’s influence on it all, too, as she, well, went viral.

GREAT CHARACTERS AND AN EMPHASIS ON FRIENDSHIPS
☂️

Yet, if the world, its stakes and its specifications were interesting, for me it wasn’t the strong suit of the book. The characters were, as well as their relationships to each other.

Opal, our main character, was one bad-ass coding girl that I really appreciated. Her will to resolve the mystery behind her father’s death, her development as she becomes famous, recognized on the streets and so on. Did I love Opal all the time? Did I enjoy the way she treated her friends, at times? I can’t say yes with certainty, but I can say that the way she reacted was understandable and, yes, flawed, but definitely human. Her mistakes as the story goes on made her seem all the more human in the situations she faced and I appreciated that so much.

Her friends, Moyo and Shane, were great as well and I love how both of them played an important role in the story, too. Moyo, Shane and Opal’s relationship shaped the entire story and so may things happening, with their complicated interactions and complex friendships, fraying, changing and building up again as the story went on and, friends, I am all for these kind of stories.

Girl Gone Viral was a roller coaster, slowing down at times only to rush back up again, a pace that made me keep on reading and always wondering what would happen next. From the technologies, overwhelmingly present, to the power of fame and numbers, to doing what feels good and what’s actually right, this story had a lot going on for itself. I loved seeing Opal grow as the got closer to the truth and, from manipulations to publicity stunts, how she managed to find herself thrown left and right yet still managed to right herself. I had some issues with some conflicts in the story that I found too easily resolved and an ending I would have liked a little more wrapped-up, yet I still had a fantastic time reading it all.

OVERALL
☂️

Girl Gone Viral was a very compelling read with an interesting world-building, great, complex relationship and a quest for the truth filled with twists, turns and surprises. I’d recommend it to fans of sci-fi, virtual reality stories and compelling narratives. Can’t wait to read more from Arvin!

For the past months, years and decades. Technology already had a large impact in our lives. That we can’t even do simple things without using them in our daily routines. With this fast growing technology, do we really know the pros and cons in using them? Do it really help us or do it just simply dragging us to be dependent on it? Do we know what are the risks in using them? Do we really just giving others the opportunity to know private things about us?

I know you are wondering why I’m asking this simple but intriguing questions. If you ought to find out I suggest that you should continue reading.

Girl Gone Viral is the second book by the one and only Arvin Ahmadi. Some of you probably don’t know or know him. But he is only the author behind the beautiful book Down and Across.

Just like in his first novel, he still enables us to grasp another gorgeous story that will surely hook us. In this novel, it captures the beauty and some of the ugly part of technology. The meaning of family, friendship, and how different the school works for us.

As for me who doesn’t know a little bit of virtual gaming, it is kinda hard for me to understand some things on how it works. But with the author kind of writing style, it enables me to understand and learn what it really is it. And that folks is one thing that I like about Arvin. He let us not just to enjoy the pleasure of reading a story but let us learn new and understand things we don’t know.

With regards of choosing the character. I love how instead of he using a male protagonist he use a female one. We all know that when we talk about virtual gaming and in terms of using gadgets, it quickly comes in our mind that it will be a male one rather than a female.

As I said awhile ago, do we really know the deeper meaning of technology to us. What it gives us? I’am saying this and sharing this kind of things because there are some parts in the story where you will find that little did we know that other already know our private lives through hacking without us knowing it. That the hackers can simply sell this information to others and use it against us. I would really recommend that everyone should read Girl Gone Viral to enable us to use the internet with out most care and not giving your information on the net because you just found it amusing and because others are doing it.

All I can is that Girl Gone Viral is a book that will surely enable us to enjoy reading a good story and teaching us things at the same time.

“You catch one glimpse, one fuzzy reminder of your dark past, and you realize it’s been following you this entire time.” – OPAL
Note: An Advance Reader’s Copy was provided by Penguin Random House International. This does not, in any way, affect the content of this book review. Quotes are taken from an ARC, and may change upon publication. Again, thank you, Penguin! Shoutout to Bookworms Unite PH as well for making the International book tour of Girl Gone Viral possible.

######

When I saw Bookworms Unite PH’s post on Twitter about an international book tour for Girl Gone Viral, I was like “Hmm. Why not give this a try?”. Even after years of quietly voicing out my opinions and unrelenting passion for books, this is actually my first time joining a book tour. The first thing I did was to search for the book here at Goodreads. What caught me was the phrase “Ready Player One twist” in the book blurb and some reviews saying that this was giving some Marie Lu’s Warcross vibes. As a huge fan of both series, I was beyond ecstatic!

Quickie Plot: In search for answers to his dad’s disappearance, fuelled by childhood trauma and teen angst, tech genius Opal dives into the world of a futuristic Youtube

Actual rating: 3.8 stars

THINGS THAT I LIKED/LOVED FROM THE BOOK:

*As much as I wasn’t really a huge fan of how the world of Girl Gone Viral panned out, I really liked the feeling of familiarity in terms of how far society have come with the current state of technology presented in the book. WAVE, the platform Opal and the other creators used, was like futuristic Youtube on steroids.

*Speaking of Youtube on steroids, WAVE’s technology is just one of the many possibilities that tech can give us. Girl Gone Viral gave me a glimpse on the ethical (or unethical side) of tech and how this can either help or divide, and even destroy, humanity. Lately, and for the past several months, data privacy has been a pressing issue internationally. With the continuous rise of social media and apps, almost everyone’s data can be accessed and publicly viewed online. This kind of power over data can be your make or break. Even as a believer of the endless possibilities that the power of technology can bring society, sometimes it’s hard not to think about how far we’ve come and how scary the future with tech can be, too. Sometimes, I feel for the Luds (they are those opposed to progressive technology) because, yes, technology can be too powerful to handle. But I feel like I needed to see or hear more of their perspective and why they are so opposed to the idea of technology. What I saw was just the tip of the iceberg.

*It’s not all about romance, considering that the characters were mostly high school students. It’s a good mix with a theme revolving around tech.

*It’s not fully about Opal’s lifelong search for answers about her dad’s disappearance though. It rolled around the tech side (and the absurdity of it all) of everything. Although, as much as I enjoyed that taste of the near future, I still think that the story could have transcended even more beyond her – like how the current state of tech affects other characters as well. I think having more than one point-of-vew per chapter could have helped eased me into it and excitingly delivered the story.

THINGS THAT WERE ~MEH~ FOR ME:

*The beginning was a bit slow; I gave it benefit of the doubt that maybe because since beginnings really set the tone and the pace of the book. What kind of threw me off, though, was the terms and phrases used that just left me taking mental notes to watch out for the explanation as I read on. Some of the terms just weren’t built up effectively, leaving me with more questions than knowledge. I only got most of the explanations/references (for this terms/phrases) as I reached almost a quarter of the book.

*I found the story a little bland and confusing sometimes. I also found it a bit difficult to picture the world of Girl Gone Viral since the build-up wasn’t as strong as I have expected. Story-wise, I felt that it was a bit rushed. There wasn’t enough character development.

*I resented Opal as a character. I found it challenging to finish the book because I hated her so much and I didn’t want to hear more from her. I found myself highlighting a lot of dumb and insensitive actions she did in the book and writing notes as if she’ll be able to read them. She was too selfish a character and she was selfish through and through. There wasn’t enough development in her character.

The ending was one heck of a cliffhanger! It seemed like Girl Gone Viral was just the beginning.

Wish to hear more from my fellow book bloggers? Check out the official launch post, featuring an interview with Arvin Ahmadi himself, and the schedule of the book tour at https://thebookfreakrevelations.com/2019/05/16/girlgoneviraltour-official-launch/ #GirlGoneViralTour

Not quite as strong as Ready Player One, though quite similar and with a strong female main character. I enjoyed this book a great deal. Initially I was concerned I'd get bogged down by all the technology but that wasn't the case at all. With a compelling story that gives us a glimpse into a potential future for our society, Ahmadi explores both the positive and negative aspects of a technological driven world. I appreciated the political component, which it made it feel less like fantasy. There were funny parts and sad parts, the characters are well developed and relatable.

What would you do if your loved one disappeared, leaving behind a cryptic note, in a day and age where technology ruled the world? For seventeen year old Opal Hopper, a genius coder, she sets out to win a contest ran by WAVE, the biggest virtual reality platform the world has ever seen. The winner gets the chance to meet the billionare who worked closely with her father, her father who disappeared without a trace.

Girl Gone Viral is an epic tale of computer coding, virtual reality and plenty of hacker status. First and foremost, the cover is so absolutely stunning, it just begs to be picked up and devoured. And devour is just what I did. Ladies and Gents, I give you Warcross meets The Circle. Think cyberpunk…ahh that glorious word. Hi-tech low-life. This is my happy place. As someone who doesn’t even understand a lick of computer coding and hacker life, I still find myself drawn to this type of world.

Ahmandi is an absolute genius for writing this story. I seem to find enough stories like this. It’s not too far off – the cyberpunk world – vs our life today. Cyberpunk, if you will is a genre all of its own. A time set not too far off in the future where technology seems to rule. When iphones are considered dinosaur technology and virtual reality is every day life.

Everyone who knows me, knows how much Warcross stole my heart. I honestly never thought I’d find another book like it. However, Girl Gone Viral stepped up to the plate. Ahmandi took a big risk here and it payed off. I am absouluely astounded at just how much I loved this book. From incredible world building to character development, Girl Gone Viral is sure to hook you from the very first page.

Until next time hackers

So I really don’t know what to think about this one. I was going in thinking I was going to get Warcross vibes and a really kickass heroine. While I did get some Warcross vibes, that’s really the only part that I got.

"Humans are experts in sharing. It started with cave paintings and evolved into books, tweets, virtual reality -- who knows what’s next. But the pieces of ourselves that we share are just that. Pieces."

This book takes place in the far future where even iPhones are a joke of the past. EVERYTHING is technology based. The worldbuilding here was so cool and very thorough. It was cool to read about everything Ahmadi thought to place in this book.

The most fascinating part of this book was how scary dependent the world was on technology. Things from self-driving cars to robots at home that know your likes and dislikes almost better than you do. I honestly was getting afraid at how far they would take it.

Also, while most people love the way technology has changed their everyday lives, there are people who want to take the world back to how it was before. Those people are called Luds and they are fighting for what they feel are a better world.

"What you tech types need to understand is that humans are the dominant species."

Basically, if I were to rate this book on just the worldbuilding how high tech everything is, then I would rate it very highly. What dragged the book down for me was our main character, Opal. I didn’t find her likable at all. I thought she was a terrible friend, manipulative, and selfish. True, she’s out for answers but the way she treated the people she claimed to care about irked me.

With the ending of this book, it seems as if there will be another book after this. I don’t think I have it in me to read any more about Opal and her quest against the Luds.