God Game is an interesting take on Artificial Intelligence. The characters were real and not always predictable. I thought it was interesting and posed a lot of ethical questions that the characters had to answer through their choices. The ending was not at all what I expected, but that made it even more interesting. 4 stars

This will appeal to fans of Ready Player One. It's perfect for teenagers and up. It's a dark thriller, with teenage underdogs leading the charge. I found this very compelling and the pacing was spot on.

High school senior Charlie, and his small circle of friends are known as The Vindicators. They are invited to play The G.O.D. game. A highly intelligent AI game on the web. What starts out as simple pranks eventually turns dark and dangerous, as The Vindicators' lives spin out of control. Although, what do you expect from a game that says "if you win, your dreams come true. Lose, and you die!"

This book hooks you and becomes an addictive read. The tension and suspense keeps mounting and the chapters are so short, you'll find yourself staying up deep into the night thinking, "just one more chapter." The author does a fantastic job of getting the reader to feel sympathy for some characters and dislike for the others. The technological descriptions can be confusing if you're not in the IT field, but that can easily be overlooked because of how good the story is.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and author Danny Tobey for gifting me with an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a super interesting premise, and overall I enjoyed this story.

A group of teens get an invitation to play a computer game with someone calling themselves God. The game instructs them to complete tasks (mostly pranks) for money, but the tasks start to become more challenging and it causes the teens' lives to spiral out of control.

My only complaint is that I found myself unable to really connect with the characters; they made terrible decisions and seemed so whiny, but they were just teenagers so I can forgive that somewhat.

The story was very fast-paced, a true thriller!

3.75 stars

Unlike anything I've ever read and surely not my typical genre. Kept hearing wonderful things about his title though so I just had to dive in and see what all the hype was about.

A group of teenage outcast friends known as The Vindicators are drawn into what seems to be a perfectly innocent video game at first until it becomes clear that what happens in the game, translates to real life. G.O.D., as it's known, starts to require more dangerous tasks to advance and things start to get highly questionable and flat out scary for this group. Every task seemed like a bigger test of morality... This was a thrilling and highly addictive read and I can't help but feel the comparison between the obsession with the game and our society's current social media/technology obsessions.

With a chance to play a highly technological game against God, who wouldn't play and see what could happen? That's what this group of friends agrees to, and they are hooked from the beginning. Looking through their phones, the world is altered, there are people to communicate with who have tasks for them, and the rewards are great.

Except when things aren't so great, because of course, that's how it goes. They're being asked to do more and more dangerous things, things that compromise their morals and who they are. Yet not all of them are ready to quit the game and we watch the tasks get more complicated and more dangerous.

This was a fun read, I thought the way the world was altered through the game was fun. Tobey had some inclusive characters who had a wide variety of issues that affect teens today. The level of distrust that was built grew to epic proportions and you could visibly watch the group fall apart. This was a fast-paced read, once the action started you didn't want to put the book down because you had to know what the game was going to ask for next. Nicely done. Thank you St. Martin's for sending this along!

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
**
You're invited!!
Come and play with G.O.D
OK first off I think I've watched way too many horror films because the first thing that popped in my head was: "HA! I think not!"
Let me be the first to tell you my instincts would have been right.
**
Charlie and his friends, a couple of outcast nerds, formed a group freshman year; and they call themselves The Vindicators. Now, during their senior year they are invited to play the G.O.D game; win and all your dreams come true... Lose, you die. Clearly this is a game from the deep dark web, and is filled to the brim with its shady characters. You've got the active players, who seem to expand worldwide; to the Watchers. Watchers observe whatever they want in a game, they wear black masks and white porcelain doll like faces. My thinking is if you start to see the watchers multiple run; nothing good can come from that many surrounding you. Once you get to a level high enough you can become one and this gives you the ability to view basically anything you want with the games help. (again... SUPER creepy) Goldz is good, this is a currency you earn while playing the game or doing things for it. Oh also if you have enough Goldz like our boy Alex in the game did you can buy these really cool Azetech glasses that blend AI game visuals and overlap them to real life... this part was REALLY cool if you ask me.
Blaxx is something you want to make sure you never accumulate; I mean 2,000 got someone run over by a car.... and they earned that by trying to make a call the game didn't approve of. To say the game has controlling issues is a bit of an understatement.
At first what was seeming to be a fun AI game turns very sinister. There's drug deals, satanic ritual symbols, violence, and so much more hidden within this games facade.
This book while lengthy in pages will pass by in a blur while you try and figure out just what the end game is.

The God Game by Danny Tobey is an intriguing concept. A group of high school friends get invited to a super secret online game. If they do well in the game they will do well in real life but if they fail in the game they will fail in real life. The book has a "big brother is watching" feel. In today's world electronics with recording devices are everywhere. Someone could always be watching and/or listening. The author takes this idea and creates a secret gaming society that knows all, sees all, and hears all. Once you are in the game you are in for life. What would you do if someone knew all your secrets? What if they blackmailed you with your secrets? Would you do something completely against your beliefs to keep your secret?

This book brings a world of possibilities to life. Technology is far reaching but exactly how far? In a world of good vs evil and right vs wrong what would you do if you or someone you love was at risk of harm?

I did not want to stop reading. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

General Fiction (adult)
Release Date: January 7, 2020

The God Game is a young-adult sci-fi thriller, which is not something I would normally pick up, but I was definitely intrigued by the AI element in this novel. Think about how much technology we use on a daily basis. You’re most likely reading this review on a device that could likely affect your life if someone were to hack it or use it to spy on you. Now imagine if there was an AI out there spying on everyone, hacking anything connected to the internet – phones, computers, security systems, cars – and thought it was God. That it had the power to decide who lives or dies. If that idea doesn’t scare you, it will after you read The God Game.

I really enjoyed this book. It was thrilling and interesting. Personally, I like technology elements in books, so I didn’t mind all of the science and coding (even though I didn’t understand any of it). I really liked how the AI God was based on world religions – I thought that was pretty clever. I love when philosophy is discussed in books, and I think it was used well here.

The characters themselves were interesting. I liked the diversity of the main group of friends (although I wish there was more outside of the group). However, I did think that a lot of the characters’ ages didn’t seem totally believable. A lot of the issues these kids deal with just seemed incongruous with their ages. And even the adults sometimes acted younger than they later turned out to be. It’s not a huge issue, but it was a bit distracting.

I enjoyed Danny Tobey’s writing for the most part. It fit the story well. The pace was thrilling – especially towards the end of the book, I had a hard time putting it down. The ending was a little bit unsatisfying – the last chapter in particular felt a little bit out of place with the rest of the book – but I guess that’s up to you to decide.

High school senior Charlie and his friends are invited to play an online game - The God Game. They are told that if they win, their dreams will come true, but if they lose they die. They find themselves sucked into a virtual reality where it becomes hard to distinguish what's real and what's the game. People are getting hurt, can anyone stop The God Game?

This book is reminiscent of Ready Player One and I think fans of that book will enjoy this one. I was a little confused in parts of this book and had to re-read passages to get a better understanding of the technical terms and what was going on. But overall it is an entertaining and interesting wild ride of a book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Danny Tobey and St. Martin’s Press for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting into with this one, but I couldn’t help but be interested when they suggested it because I enjoyed Recursion! I actually found this one super enjoyable and I flew through it! The characters may all be high school students, but I didn’t find this book similar to YA really. It was dark and twisty and it really took you on a journey that you aren’t expecting. The idea behind this book in so very interesting and yet terrifying! I would definitely recommend giving it a try! I don’t read much of science fiction, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it!

Out January 7th!

You are invited!
Come inside and play with G.O.D.
Bring your friends!
It’s fun!
But remember the rules. Win and ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE. Lose, you die!

While the God Game by Danny Tobey is well written and the plot is very intriguing, it just didn't appeal to me. If you like YA sci-fi you should give it a try.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a lot going on...gaming, religion, virtual reality, family drama, deep friendship, YA fantasy. There were def times I had to reread the code-writing and some biblical references, which made for a difficult read to start, but I enjoyed this was totally different from any book I’ve read. Personally, like the short chapters as well.

This was actually extremely creepy. Everytime G.O.D. texted or called I got this ominous feeling.
I wasn't a fan of the high school setting and the main characters to be honest. At the beginning I had a hard time to remember which boy was which and got Peter, Kenny and Charlie mixed up. I liked the different motives of everybody and thus could be real life, but I wasn't able to connect with anybody except Vanhi. The ending was pretty fitting.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

A well-paced and thought provoking story. A science fiction morality tale with a lot of teen angst and gaming thrown in the mix.

disclaimer: i received a copy of this book via st. martin's press in return for an honest review.

the god game by danny tobey is an interesting story concept and there's a good thread of "how far is too far" running through it. it was hard to find any of the characters compelling enough to invest in the story, however. overall, it wasn't a terrible book, it just didn't keep my interest.

two out of five stars

I’m going to call it quits on this one. It’s very well written just not my cup of tea. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.

Kind of like a mix of the losers from IT and the stranger things kids....i enjoyed the story. Its.definitely different and refreshing.

The God Game was created by feeding all the moral philosophy and sacred texts of the world into an artificial intelligence chatbot. People can only join by invitation, its exclusivity adding to its allure. Imagine your own reaction to this invitiation.

You are invited!
Come inside and play with G.O.D.
Bring your friends!
It’s fun!
But remember the rules. Win and ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.™ Lose, you die!

The Vindicators are a group of high school students, brilliant but estranged from the social center of gravity, always on the outside and wanting to be part of the main. Joining the game, they enjoy getting some of their own back against the bullies who make their lives miserable, but as the Augmented Reality that turns their school and community into the game arena becomes more demanding and the moral quandaries more difficult and dismaying, some of them think about quitting the game. However, no one can just quit.



I loved The God Game. What would the aggregatore morality of all beliefs systems look like? What kind of morality would it inhabit? More than one person has argued that God is a sociopath. I think some might think that is so after trying to understand the moral values of the G.O.D. game. I was puzzled at times by the Game’s values, but when we learn the process of moral decision-making it makes sense. Some players are playing harder than others and the role people play in the game is clear and fair. The “surprises” have a solid foundation so there is nothing unfair about the resolution and game play.

The God Game is fast-moving and the kind of book that will keep people reading late into the night. I passed my ARC to my best friend to read on Sunday afternoon and she had finished it by Monday morning. I don’t think she was happy about that, but she said she could not stop reading. That was my experiene, too.

The God Game will be released on January 7th. I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley and Shelf Awareness.

The God Game at St. Martin’s Press | Macmillan
Danny Tobey on Facebook

This was a very different read for me. I am not a gamer. I had a learning curve to overcome. It is a very interesting story. The author did a great job.