The synopsis is what caught my attention but the execution of it left much desired. Whilst I was interested in the premise and the sci-fi aspect, I wasn't so crazy about the plot or the characters. Amanda had the potential to be an epic MC but she didn't feel very developed or have much going personality-wise so she fell flat. This coupled with the fact that there was very little drive behind the plot. I was interested in the first 50 pages but then my attention waned as the story progressed that I had very little enthusiasm to continue.

*Thank you to NetGalley and its publishers for providing a free ARC*

This wasn't really so much Sci-Fi (until about the last 30%) as much as it was a political thriller. That wasn't the issue though, the plot was intriguing the writing was enough to keep one interested but unfortunately, Hotston has given us the pinnacle of unsympathetic MCs. Writing a character that maybe he couldn't really hash out the way she should have been, I didn't so much hate her as found her to be annoying and extremely preachy and incapable of putting herself in other's shoes. I agree with her choice for the end but she's also not believable as you read how others defer to her. I saw a lot of promise, it wasn't the worst, but it just fell flat for me. It's a shame because I would have LOVED more of Tatsu and that thread/vein of the book which should have been front and center.

Set in a a world a few decades in the future, this is a thriller/mystery with a focus on a high tech environment. It includes some nice references (albeit not directly) to some of the political and social happenings of the current time as things that had happened in the history of the story’s time, such as the UK separating from the EU and the political landscape in the USA. These touches add a nice sense of reality that gave credibility to the story as I was reading it.
I also liked the way the story expanded how social media potentially could be used in the future, and how damaging too much reliance on such things could be, holding the possibility to change someone’s life for the better or worse with ease in the wrong hands.
This was a completely different type of story than I’m used to reading, but I did enjoy the book overall and the storytelling kept me rooting for Amanda throughout.
An interesting read that I would recommend, especially to those who have a little bit of tech savvy.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Below average

This is a story set in the near future. A financial analyst receives a parcel from her long-despised lover. It's a thumb drive (long outdated tech) that turns out to contain code that disrupts blockchains, the supposedly unhackable technology that runs that future world. The story is moderately interesting until near the end when a bunch of unlikely and unneeded stuff is added in. The UK governments renditions her to China for no reason that I can figure. The rendition lasts a few days and she is then flown back. During the rendition she does not wash or use the toilet, her nose is smashed, and she is only fed one. But when she arrives in London she is not given a cleaned up for her press appearance but no one notices the mess. A bunch of story lines go flat. A break-in at a secure is very poorly planned but succeeds because the security systems are almost non-existent. The most irritating thing about the text is that people don't "park" cars, the "park up" cars. I have been around the world several times and I have never heard anyone say "park up" and neither has Google as of a few minutes ago.

A fast paced intriguing thriller which keeps you reading. A good read if you enjoy tech related dystopian fiction. I did feel some characters including the main character Amanda could have been developed a little bit more which would have made the book more enjoyable in my opinion.

Futuristic AI thriller. I’m not sure that I understood the whole story, but I enjoyed the book despite that. The female protagonist is extremely well written. I would definitely read.a sequel.

I got about 10% into this book when I realised this won't be a book I'll enjoy. I skipped ahead a bit, already bothered by how the main character, a woman of colour that seemed to have a strong personality in the beginning at least, which I enjoyed very much, was always talking about her issues as a person of colour and a woman in the society in this book written by a white man. I didn't look into the author, just scanned his profile on Goodreads and saw in other reviews that he apparently has very public political opinions. These are also very present in this story and I didn't feel like reading a political story about things that are already so present in my day to day life.

Overall, I gave this one 2 stars even though I DNFed about 30% in and then skipped to the ending with some stops in between, because I think the basic premise and world build are interesting and definitely show promise. It just wasn't for me, but if you're interested in a political, not so far away sci-fi dystopian story, check this one out.

As a fan of dystopian tech related fiction, the concept of this book intrigued me a lot. Set in the future, where all things digital (including a social credit score) rule life and living, it is something I can see happening in our increasingly digitized world. The plot is very interesting and the plot is mostly fast and thrilling. The main character, Amanda, and one of the secondary characters, also a woman, did not always feel completely rounded. Amanda's personal insecurities get in her way but are not always completely linked to her motivations. Ichi never really felt entirely human until the last section of the book. At times, the characters did too much 'telling' of their stories, rather than us being shown their stories. Despite this, the action gives the plot a strong thread and the AI, Tatsu, is wonderful. I find myself hoping for a sequel, just so I can hear more about it and his 'people' and what they will go through next. If you love dystopian tech, this is definitely one for you.

Tangle’s Game starts off with a bang and never quiets down, throwing you into a whirlwind plot that’s equally fascinating and brilliant. By pairing a doubting protagonist with a secret that would topple the world, we get a heightened sense of suspense as she travels around looking for answers, at first ignorant of the forces trying to take her down. This is a thriller at its best, complete with a throwback to old technology and a series of supporting characters that create a quirky band.

I love how long the author takes to reveal the secret object our protagonist has been burdened with. It leaves a lot of room for the reader’s imagination to play. By the time you get the big reveal, so many possibilities have run through your head that anything comes as a surprise. The author’s use of a very real protagonist just trying to get back to her daily life magnifies the universal issue this object has created for her. The world around her begins to fall apart and she’s unprepared for the ramifications. It’s startling and exciting, especially as you try to imagine how this could all end.

I was most impressed with the author’s mastery of dialogue and its use to shed light on the social inequality of an oppressive system that favors the rich and pits the poor against each other. The award for most surprising supporting character goes to Ichi, an elderly ex-professor whose worldview has been shaped by her proximity to the many catastrophes that have redefined this world of the future. Extremist politics have run rampant and she breaks down how and when the world fell apart, and what it meant to those struggling to get by. It’s a brilliant analysis of capitalism and the possible future the world is headed if extremism becomes the norm.

Overall, Tangle’s Game is a wonderfully entertaining novel that excites at every turn, filled with unexpected twists and a group of characters who compliment and challenge each other. It’s exactly what a futuristic thriller should be.

Final review will be published on 4/25: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/04/25/tangles-game-book-review

A dramatization of the "online" world we now live in.

This is a near future society where a person's social score is determined by their Internet presence. The story started out great with action and suspense. Later on however, the dialogue distracted from the moving plot. All science fiction books tend to be slightly (or more) political and call out any current social injustices, but I thought this one was a little heavy handed. It was more "in your face" rather than a creative spinning of sociel issues.

With that said, I still enjoyed it and found the plot both unique and intriguing.

Tangle's Game by Stewart Hotston a novel dystopian future. Amanda is not having a great day, with a ding on her social credit score, a long wait at the airport and being pulled aside because of something she doesn't have things are not going her way, then she gets home...

The book begins with Amanda returning to London and being intercepted and escorted into an interview room where she waits for hours before Crisp shows up to interview her. At first she has no idea why he would single out her for interrogation (during which he asks her to strip naked and put on a pair of her used panties) until he mentions the name of her former boyfriend, Tangle Singh. Tangle has apparently created a dossier of information and sent it to Amanda, and Crisp very badly wants it. Crisp makes repeated demands for it, and Amanda makes repeated denials she has it. She is eventually let go and returns home where she soon discovers that indeed Tangle had sent her this item. She then embarks on a journey to figure out what is on the device and what to do with it when she does find out. The story is fairly slow moving, especially the first part of the novel, the latter part picks up steam and has a satisfying conclusion. I found the one artificial intelligent (AI) Tatsu, provided moments of humour. Overall an enjoyable read.

I got an advance copy of this through Netgalley and I thought the concept sounded really interesting!

The book got off to a good start and I got pulled into the drama so quickly. There is a lot going on even within the first chapter and it really hooks you into the story. I really liked the mystery with the drive and Tangle, and that kept me reading!

Unfortunately I just find the main character Amanda annoying. She reminds me more of an AI than the actual AI, Tatsu (who is by far a better character). She just didn't feel like a fully fleshed out character, and I still don't understand her motivations.

Overall it was an interesting read.

Tangle's Game has some really interesting concepts, namely the idea that our 'social score' could become so influential as to determine whether someone is an acceptable person for a bank loan, car hire, upgrade on a flight and so on. It's an enjoyable read, set some 20-30 years in the future, with a fast paced beginning and a decent ending. It dips somewhat in the middle though and at times, I felt it was too contemporary, not set in the near future. I felt this most with the political elements - Hotston sort of presents them as the world is today, not so much where things that are happening in the world today could lead to in 20-30 years time.

The contemporary setting, rather than near future, also comes out in some of the dialogue between the main characters. For example, the struggle of a biracial woman, our main character, to have a successful career in the financial world, is very much a problem in today's world and one I'd hope would disappear in the near future. Out of all the characters, I found Tetsu, the AI, most compelling.

This book really, really missed the mark with me.

For starters, the random lectures that Ichi and Amanda gave each other. I couldn’t handle them. I ended up skimming them because it was frankly just painful to read. Second, so much of the book was just the main characters re-explaining everything that had happened and the dialogue was for the most part awkward and unnecessary.

I just found I didn’t connect to any of the characters, and so much of the plot didn’t really make sense. I was just sitting there going: Why? And that seems like a stretch. And why would she do that?

I’m honestly not sure who to recommend this book to. I just know… I was not the target audience at all.

So much cursing right off the bat I just can't keep reading it. I didn't get far enough to judge the story itself. But as a book, I didn't like it.

I want to say enjoyed the book but it was more of a dissappointment because of high expectations i guess. As a coder, I was interested to see how it plays out but as a reader i didn't enjoy it much. The narrative seemed forced and the characters unrelatable. And the potholes were pretty frustrating. It also requires more of a background into some of the concepts. The only redeeming quality were the fast pace and the original plot with unpredictable twists.
My Rating : 2.5/5

I was so excited to read this from the summary description but I have to say that it was a bit of a disappointment. The opening immediately pulled me in and made for a scary world that Amanda inhabits and her place in it is on the cusp of peril. All things were great as she receives what Tangle's sent her and her meeting Tatsu, a contracted AI helper and the story is well on its way.

Unfortunately, around the 30% mark things started to feel a bit mired down for me and that didn't resolve until the back 20%, so ultimately I enjoyed about half of the book. I wanted more at the very end as the build up was very good and I felt deprived at not hearing what Amanda would next say. Tatsu was easily my favourite character. The world-building was a bit choppy and felt more like a sketch of familiar things as opposed to a solid place this story was grounded in and the social commentary info dumps didn't help. The social credit score really got my attention in the book summary (because China) but ultimately was just a great hook not a prime mover in the story.

Many thanks to the publisher for the Advanced Reader's Copy

By reading the description I thought this would be a great book. It turned out to be... decent.

There were a few things that annoyed me, the conversations felt very forced and were sometimes odd to follow. Sometimes everything would stop so that one of the characters could lecture you about politics / race / gender etc. that came across pretty condescending. I don't want to use the term SJW, but it basically felt like some rich college kid was telling me how hard her life had been.

I wish more had been done with the social credit score, I feel like it was alluded to quite a bit but then it was mentioned like... 5 times? It would have been an interesting aspect to delve deeper into.

Honestly the 2 main characters just annoyed me, the one character I ended up liking the most was the AI, and I couldn't get over some seriously dumb plot holes. "There's 7 government agencies after me, I'll just continue showing up to work and we'll plan all of our moves in the apartment where everyone knows I live!"

After a pretty slow start it did pick up and the ending was pretty good. I'd be interested to see where the story goes from there.

Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review

2.5 stars.

As someone who has a history in both finance and tech, I was excited to read this book. I wasn't exactly sure what the plot would be but I thought it had potential.

I am loath to say anything bad about a book because I know a ton of effort goes into writing a book and it's a huge accomplishment. This book has an interesting story line and I liked the last 15% more than the rest of the book. For someone who's looking for an interesting, plot-driven story, it might just be the thing.

For me, there were several things that made the book less than ideal. The beginning of the book dragged quite a bit longer than I would have liked. It took a long time for the reader to find what was in the drive and what this whole thing was about. This would have been interesting in a character-driven story but in a story that was mostly about the plot, it made me impatient and frustrated. Some of the details of this future world were interesting to me but I felt the author didn't give me the depth I would have liked. The characters were reasonably under-developed with possibly the exception of the main character. Even Ichi did a lot of telling of her backstory as opposed to feeling like a 3-dimensional character for me. Most of them didn't change or grow much (except Amanda) so it just fell flat for me.

What ended up being the most frustrating part for me was the lectures the women gave each other (and the men) about how hard it was being a woman (or being biracial). It felt super didactic and super condescending. As a woman, I felt offended and annoyed. As a reader, I felt like the characters were taking a pause in the middle of the plot to lecture each other. It just really didn't fit at all. There were several other political commentary sections that felt the same way. Like the author was lecturing through the characters. It bothered me enough that I almost put the book down.

I don't want to give away the interesting parts of the plot but I did enjoy Tatsu and found the plot around Tatsu to be interesting and enjoyable. I think this story would have been more enjoyable without some of the extra commentary, especially if you enjoy plot-driven stories.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.