Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley

Calling themselves the Vindicators, a small group of clever, computer-literate high school students band together. Like most teens, they lead angst-filled lives and struggle to understand how to accomplish what they believe they want for their futures.

Then the G.O.D. Game comes into their lives. They soon learn that an artificial intelligence runs the game. An artificial intelligence that believes itself to be god and seems to be both omniscient and omnipotent.

And nothing can ever be the same again.

Despite the well-defined characters, readers are likely to find it difficult to care about any of the characters in this tale filled with fear, hacking, morality, and the pitfalls of friendship. Throughout the story, the actions the players take in response to the demands of the game have consequences, but they don’t necessarily follow logically; readers will find the unfolding story both predictable and frustrating.

It’s an ingenious premise, and the story itself is well-written. Readers are certain to find it difficult to set the book aside and the ever-present tension created by the unpredictableness of the game keeps the pages turning. But the underlying theme of the story seems to be one of selfishness and deliberate cruelty. And when it’s all said and done, all that remains for the reader is a sense of hopelessness.

There’s no place for mean-spirited stereotyping and the use of words such as “retard” to refer to people, even fictional ones. Ultimately, this thoughtlessness combined with the extensive overuse of a particularly offensive expletive and the unnecessary political commentary lowered the rating for this book.

I received a free copy of this eBook from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley
#TheGodGame #NetGalley

I really enjoyed this one - it served up a perfect blend of conspiracy, techno-thriller, and action. The story felt fresh and relevant and shined a light on a lot of the pressures that face kids on the cusp of adulthood in the modern world. The characters were compelling and well crafted and offered a melange of personality traits and foibles. The action was consistent and the drama and tragedy felt genuine and believable and even though it was centered on high school kids, it was very relatable to me as both an adult and a step-parent to teenagers. There was a twist at the end that I didn't see coming (although in hindsight maybe should have) and I really enjoyed the way things wound up - it was open-ended enough to keep me guessing about what would happen next, but resolved itself enough to not leave me feeling cheated out of an ending. This was a great find and I'd definitely pick up a book by Tobey again!

Holy crap, this was a really creepy, twisted book that is excellently written and grabs you immediately in it's clutches. Hard to put down, but I do have to work, sleep and eat, although I've mastered eating and reading, sort of.
The story presents around a group of misfit, highly intelligent high school kids that call themselves "the Vindicators." Each of them has a harsh experience that the God Game dials into. But what IS the "God Game?" These kids are gamers as most kids are these days. One of their gang tricks them into playing the game, but they can't get out and can't decline what is asked of them. Initially it feels like just a video game, but it grows and evolves as it exposes its true nature to them. The reality of it is frightening and enticing at the same time. Only the main character, Charlie, keeps to his pure nature and attempts to resist. It's a hard thing to do though: The Goldz is pretty fantastic...but what about the Blaxx? It can be fatal...
Superb book on AI. Or is it really God?

Smart, propulsive and engrossing, The God Game is a preview of the power and danger of AI. Worth the read!

This was quite a page turner of a novel. I found myself really enjoying book and understanding how we could be not too far off from this becoming a reality.

The GOD Game is well fleshed out, rewarding characters in the real world for successful completions of in game challenges... And punishing them when they do not follow through. As we learn more about the AR/AI game, a deeper web of intricacy is woven as we head to the pulse pounding thrills of the final third of the book.

The pace is excellent and the characters are mostly well established. Each character has a solid motivation for participating in the game and has numerous levels of deception to manage. The book definitely had WarGames and Ready, Player One vibes to it, which is an added bonus.

I only had two gripes. I had a hard time sometimes keeping the three main boys, Alex, Charlie, and Peter, straight because they had such generic male names and had similar issues to deal with. The ending felt a little rushed, but it may be to set up a sequel without being obviously baiting.

Definitely recommended for fans of realistic sci fi thrillers. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read and review this book.

The God Game is a work of fiction by Danny Tobey. To me this story falls into the Young Adult category. At times I found this book slower than I would have liked it. For this reason I would give it 3 and 1/2 stars. Because this is impossible I am upping it to 4 stars. I want to thank St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for an early copy to review.

When Charlie and his friends are invited to play a new online game, they’re excited. The God Game seems like a really cool deal, and one that no one outside their circle knows about.

At first the challenges are simple, but G.O.D. soon ups the demands and the moral challenge. The AI controlling the game sees all and knows all — and threatens to reveal their secrets if they don’t complete the tasks it gives them.

The author is inside the heads of today’s teens, with all their problems, hopes, and dreams, making the characters true to life, and the storyline compelling. Recommended for both mature YA and adult readers.

An exciting addition to the thriller universe.

This was a book that was hard to put down. With an eye catching cover and a storyline filled with action and unease, I was hooked.

Five high school friends, kind of the nerdy outcasts, get caught up in this game that no one really understands. It's the GOD game, and at one point it's call G.O.D. . At times, it seems like a really smart, all knowing (evil) AI, other points it almost sounds like talking to a teenager. And the group of friends start keeping secrets from one another, when they should be banding together.

You know those books that leave you feeling unsettled and uncomfortable? This is one. No clear good guy, no clear happy ending, and it definitely had twists and mean surprises. I haven't read anything like it before.

Five friends decide to accept an invitation to play the G.O.D. game. The game is amazing, and they are completely enthralled as they see an entirely different world through their phones, and later through special glasses, called Aztecs, where they can see the world of the game, overlaid over the real world they live in. Initially, it is all kinds of fun, but then, they are asked to do particular things -- nothing major at first, things like delivering a package. All harmless. Well, maybe not.... but they do not know what the game is leading to. They do not know how quickly they can get wound up in the game, or what they may be willing to do, to keep themselves safe.

I devoured this book in 5 days, reading it every chance I had, as I was completely caught up in the story. The characters were interesting... the plot was gripping, and I was able to suspend my disbelief in favor of the next page of the story, the next piece of the action, wanting to know where it all led. It led to places I did not expect, to a conclusion that was unexpected. Tobey's The God Game is was extremely creative... unlike any other book I have read thus far.

If you life Y.A., have enjoyed books like Ready Player One, have an interest in technology, gaming or the choices people make under the most wild circumstances.... then this book is for you. Just make sure you clear the next few days, as you won't be able to put it down.

Thank you Net Galley and the publishers for the advanced reading copy. I really wanted to love this book. The idea behind it is brilliant. A bunch of teens begin playing a computer game run by hackers and A.I. that thinks its God. The game and real life blend is twisted ways. For example you get enough good points and suddenly an A.T.M spits money at you. However if you get enough bad points you could be physically attacked. The then game starts asking you to do shady things, even dangerous things. It was an interesting book, perhaps I am just too old to really enjoy it. There was a lot of hacking and coding vocabulary that I just don't understand. To a person who loves coding and computers this would be a great read. The pace was fast and kept me turning the pages.

When Charlie gets an invitation to the G.O.D. Game, his friend Peter accepts for him. And soon their little band of misfits and computer hackers are all playing. 

At first, things seem all right. G.O.D. is saying all the right things. But from the beginning, Charlie is suspicious and not really wanting to play along. When the game begins commanding they do bad things, they all want out, except one. But remember the only way out is death. But does it have to be their own death?

At first, I thought this was going to be like the television show, God Friended Me. It was not. It's not like Stranger Things, or any other show it's currently being compared to.

There were some good undercurrents going on. The AI believed it was God. The chaos with the Trump controversy. Can one person make the entire world bend to his will? Are we only in it for ourselves? Under the story, there were good pieces you could pick out underscoring our lack of compassion and lack of any moral compass. If the AI got all of its knowledge from watching us, we are in for a sad state of affairs.

I think this would be better as a YA book. It wasn't my favorite.

NetGalley/ January 7th, 2020 by St. Martin's Press

The God Game
By Danny Tobey

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Danny Tobey for an ARC copy of this extraordinary book that keeps you intrigued throughout the entire book.

The God Game is an action packed novel mixed of several genres. It brings a group of friends that are tech savvy and “computer geeks” into the world of the dark web by the way of a game presented as harmless and no repercussions. But it is exactly the opposite of that. The GOD Game is a masterful game that thinks and makes choices and decisions on its own. It manipulates, kills and gets whoever is within its grasp to do things they never would have thought to do or done on their own. Each person that is now controlled by the GOD game must follow the rules and instructions or face the consequences; some good, some bad. Some fatal!

The group of friends known as the “The Vindicators” experience more than they bargained for and desperately searching for a way out and to protect their family and loved ones. But is getting out even a possibility; unless your dead?

This book had me scared, grossed out, cheering on the little guy and crying for some of the backstories. It is scary to think that something like this could exist with the advancements with AI & technology that we have thus far achieved. Put in the wrong hands and spread worldwide as a game as it’s cover, the potential of something destructive and horrifying as “The God Game” can be a reality. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This book, about an online monster masquerading as a game, is highly disturbing. Do yourself a favor and skip it.

Thank you to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of The God Game.

I usually don't read books that feature A.I. or similar themes but this premise really intrigued me so I was excited when my request was approved.

When a group of misfit computer geeks begin to engage in a computer game headed by a powerful A.I. named G.O.D, Charles and his BFFs soon realize that when you play with G.O.D. there is no turning back.

I really liked the diverse cast of characters, Charlie and his friends are young, smart people; hormonal, angsty, troubled teens with real issues and difficult backgrounds I could relate to and sympathize with.

Most of the technical jargon went right over my head, but I was pulled into the disturbing game, the role playing Charlie and his friends quickly became immersed in, as well as the power and omnipotence playing such a game makes you feel.

The God Game isn't just a novel about the perils of artificial intelligence; its also about people, regardless of your age, gender or identity, seeking comfort in a world that is sometimes much more seductive and engaging than reality, a world that is a safe haven from the troubles at home, problems at school, bullying, distant parents, abusive partners, financial woes and sorrow and grief.

It is about the desire to be in control of one's life, to not want to be scared.

But, a game is not real life, and real life has serious, sometimes, consequences, when you stray beyond the boundaries of right and wrong.

The God Game is a frightening look at A.I., but also into the frailties of the human species; how quickly we can lose control and forget what it's like to be human, and how being human is not a bad thing.

This was one of the most frightening books I have read recently. A group of teenagers receive an invitation from “God” to play a game. There is a chance that the game will give them many rewards, but it soon turns dark and intense. This will make a great movie!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. was one of the most frightening books I have read recently. A group of teenagers receive an invitation from “God” to play a game. There is a chance that the game will give them many rewards, but it soon turns dark and intense. This will make a great movie!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The premise of The God Game is deliciously clever: imagine a brutal, bloody take on Pokemon Go designed by a malevolent and omniscient A.I. who happens to believe it is God. A machine learning algorithm trained on all of history's sacred and philosophical texts. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. And apparently the Lord commandeth a flash mob army of faceless thugs to terrorize a gang of misfit high school students.

The plot is dazzlingly fast-paced with deftly structured, suspenseful scenes. Unfortunately, the characters are straight out of a 1980s teen movie, almost caricatures. I couldn't identify or sympathize with any of them. As a result, the stakes felt low. I didn't care whether the heroes managed to get into Harvard, hook up with the popular girls or discover their parents were crooks and adulterers etc. By the end of the book I would have been fine with all these navel-gazing, whiny protagonists dying in a horrific fire.

I was in high school myself not THAT long ago and these kids felt younger, perhaps junior high students. The tone feels off, wavering between a very special sitcom episode about youth problems and an ultraviolent thriller. The author's style and voice seem intended for young adult or MG audience, but the content begs for a darker, grotesque tone. This story is the perfect fit for a completely off the rails slasher/thriller film adaptation for mature audiences, something in the vein of The Strangers, The Purge, The Game etc.

I can't praise enough Danny Tobey's command of pacing and teasing out the tension and suspense in every scene. The ending is also clever, although I hoped for something truly mind-blowing.

The scenes are well-written in a way which engages the reader's interest in the immediate goals of the protagonists, but the interior lives of these characters are empty tropes. What's needed is a bit of the grit and complexity of the compelling and flawed heroes you tend to remember long after finishing a novel. Many of the important story decisions were not believable and ultimately I found it difficult to root for any of these kids to succeed. At times I was even cheering on the AI, the most interesting character in the book.

This is a highly proficient thriller in its tension and pacing, which was almost enough to compensate for the unlikeable and unbelievable lead characters. I do look forward to the author's next book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press / Macmillan for providing advance review copy

A gripping tale of grand proportions! Containing realistically flawed, relatable characters found in a life altering scenario with the right amount of intensity to create a wonderfully dark story. It left me wanting more. Danny Tobey has kept me awake night after night and I loved it! Rarely has a new novel surprised me as this particular gem. Looking forward to seeing more from this author.

There is a lot of promise here, despite the idea that some game could upend the lives of a group of teens by making their dreams (or nightmares) come true isn't all that new. Clearly there's someone in the group who is more involved than we're led to believe and all the kids will be greatly changed by what happens in the game. It's the 0-to-60 speed of things that is disappointing, that rather than slowly draw the kids in the game starts to make the serious demands almost immediately. There's also a lot of stereotyping here that is disappointing, like the fact that these kids are misfits, or the really good looking transfer student is hiding Dark Secrets. Yawn.

eARC provided by publisher.

It wasn’t the best example of the fantasy genre but surprisingly this book hooked me from the beginning, glued to my fingers, captured my mind even it’s quite mash up of Stranger Things concept waltz with some Black Mirror episodes and finally doing Macarena dance with “Ready Player One” and takes a bow after the powerful performance accompanied by “Nerve” (Emma Roberts and brother Franco teamed up for deadly truth or dare concept) There are also some vibes of “Ready Player One” hid inside that you easily catch.

So when you see all those references you want to dive in without thinking. This kind of fast paced, full of action and entertaining books interestingly relaxes my mind and make me feel like I’m a part of team to fight against the obstacles for achieving my goals. It’s better than wasting my time by competing at play station tournaments (I had a husband spent his last weekend with his friends sleepless/ bath-less/ proper food-less on the couch like a statue, only his fingers for moving, eyes glued on the screen, playing Fifa 18! So I know if they read my review about the games, they’ll come after me! I am not afraid of you sleepless, game addict zombies!!!)

Let’s get back to the plot. Story starts with Charlie and his gang’s invitation to play a game with “God”( We don’t know it is a sign of inferiority complex or they are playing games with Morgan Freeman) on the computer. It seems like their God stalking their daily moves and commands them to pull some pranks on students and teachers in exchange cash rewards. But the challenges become compelling, confusing and finally their friendship seems to be broken because the tasks they get start to turn them against each other.

Finally everything gets out of their control. They became jealous, paranoid, and find their loyalties, priorities getting tested.

So this marvelous, entertaining, heart throbbing page turner gave me so much fun and I want more. I felt like I still had some place to taste more sweets of game world.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press to share this wild and exciting ride /ARC COPY with me in exchange my honest review.

At a high school in Austin a group of teens who call themselves "the Vindicators" begin to join in an online game with an A.I. who calls themselves God. Promising great riches and rewards but also severe punishment for losing the group thinks it is a harmless game until they find themselves locked into a very powerful and deadly game with some frightening repercussions. GOD has control over all their devices, virtual reality glasses, social media and it seems over any online systems. The worst part is that the game is only over when GOD says it is over. This scary A.I. plays with our emotions and greatest fears preying on adrenaline-seeking teens. Take a group of super stressed out, highly driven teens and give them an opportunity to exert control on their environment then sit back and wait for the chaos to ensue and you have THE GOD GAME. Intense thriller/science fiction that hits a little too close to reality to make you comfortable. This will appeal to teens and adults who enjoy borderline futuristic, creepy thrillers that make you think. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.