I went into this not knowing it was a sequel and that probably was not the best idea. I will have to go back and read the first book and then this to appreciate it.

Thank you NetGalley

The The Quiet Room is an enthralling addition to the Pacific Northwest Stories universe, home to the acclaimed podcasts TANIS, Rabbits, and The Black Tapes. This captivating narrative pulls from real world elements, blurs elements of 'Alternate Reality Gaming,' reminiscent of the enigmatic Randonautica, where seemingly random things are often more than what they seem.

Terry Miles masterfully weaves an intricate and expansive web that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. The characters are multi-dimensional and full of surprises, each twist and turn revealing new layers of complexity. The story’s rapid pace alternates between the gripping perspectives of Rowan Chess (a newcomer to this world of 'Rabbits) and Emily Connors (the aficionado who is looking to win the game) as they struggle with their 'dimensional drift' and try to piece together their fragmented memories.

Fans of Rabbits will feel right at home with the atmospheric tension and mind-bending puzzles that The Quiet Room offers. If you were captivated by Book 1, prepare to be equally, if not more, enthralled by Book 2. There's no hint of a 'sophomore slump' here; instead, the story challenges your perception of reality, ignites your imagination, and drives your curiosity to unprecedented heights.

If you're looking for the excitement of Ready Player One but with a modern flare of the multi-verse, the door is open. Let The Quiet Room transport you to a world where the boundaries of reality blur, and every page turn reveals a new enigma waiting to be solved.

This sequel takes the story from the first book and runs with it. I just had to keep listening to it as I clean and cook over all I’d give it a 4 star rating.

The game of Rabbits is kind of like Fight Club – you don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist, and you tell no one you’re playing. Rumors about its purpose have surrounded the game for years, and the identities of the winners are unknown. It involves finding patterns, inconsistencies, and following clues in our everyday world, and the players seem to be pretty tech savvy and geniuses at detecting subtle irregularities.

This sequel focuses on Emily and Rowan. Emily has played the game before and wants to compete again – but she finds herself in a reality where the game doesn’t exist. Rowan’s never heard of Rabbits but begins to notice all sorts of odd coincidences (polar bears everywhere), and then his date vanishes at a restaurant.

There’s not much I can reveal about this series – it’s something you need to experience for yourself. It’s bizarre, mind-bending, and you’ll wonder what’s real. Alternate realities are a fact of life in the world of Rabbits, so if that’s not your thing you might want to pass. But if you’re an avid sci-fi fan? Hang on tight and dive into Rabbits where you’ll encounter endless twists and surprises. Considering the ending another book is coming, and I’ll be waiting. I highly recommend reading Rabbits before The Quiet Room.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Quiet Room is the second novel based on Terry Miles' podcast, Rabbits. Emily seeks out the 12th iteration of the Rabbits game along with some shadowy figures from her past. Much like the first book, detailing the 11th iteration, patterns and coincidences intertwine in a glorious tapestry. Better than the DaVinci Code and more realistic than Ready Player One, I completely adore these books for the mysterious trail Emily must follow and the deviously clever ways she avoids the Rabbits Police. You don't need to know anything about the Rabbits podcast in order to follow the story.

A great answer engaging follow up to Rabbits. The writing is crisp and easy to follow and coherent. Twisty and fun. Highly recommended!!!

Loved every wild, bumpy minute of this return to the world of Rabbits. I am not a sci-fi (or sci-fi-adjacent) reader whatsoever, but this series breaks down my resistance and pulls me along for the ride every time!

This is a surprisingly effective sequel to Rabbits: evidently, Miles has lots of ideas to explore beyond the initial concept. The star of this installment is Emily Connors, who finds herself trapped in a timestream where the game does not exist. She remembers her husband K dying, even though he allegedly won the previous installment of the game. She reconnects with billionaire Alan Scarpio from the first book, as well as her lover Pepper (who disappeared in the kind of mysterious circumstances associated with the game).

In this reality architect and theme park designer Rowan Chess is apparently the only person playing Rabbits at first. But all of the players find each other before long, after dodging the Rabbits Police who seem intent on preventing the game from happening. They all come to believe that they are in a
reality stem that is about to be cut off, ending that world and all of the people in it. What can they do? Play the game and hope they can find their way back to their own world. Against all odds Emily not only survives but prevails. After one last shock, she prepares herself for the next iteration of Rabbits, and one more chance to save the world.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader's proof.

The Quiet Room, Emily has drifted into another dimension that has been severed from the multiverse and will soon be destroyed. We soon find out that The Engineer, who is a threat to the multiverse, is trapped there and the reason for the split. Emily can’t seem to find Rabbits or any evidence of its existence.

Rowan is on the best date of his life and feels a true connection to her. Only, after having gone into the bathroom but never coming back out, she has disappeared. A possible clue written in lipstick on the back of the door says, “The Door is Open”.

When Emily and her friends are finally able to track down the list of Rabbits players, only one name is there, Rowan Chess.
But Rowan, has problems of his own, namely, a building he designed but never shared the design plans with anyone, not only was brought up in his interrogation with the “rabbits police”, but has appeared in Vegas.

Emily and her friends keep finding references to The Quiet Room, which supposedly exists outside of time & space. They realize it could be their way back to their own dimension(s) and set out to find it.

I’m absolutely obsessed with the whole Rabbits universe. I loved the first book, Rabbits & immediately listened to the whole Rabbits podcast after reading it. While I didn’t love The Quiet Room quite as much as both of them, I really enjoyed it. To say I can’t wait for the next book is a huge understatement.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book to review.

I actually enjoyed this installment of the Rabbits novels better than the first. While an understanding of the Rabbits universes/game is necessary, this book could potentially be read as a standalone. It follows Emily's journey to return home after the events at the end of Rabbits.

Since there was less world-building/lore being explained, we could really focus on the game and the cast of characters. Emily ends up in a world where Rabbits is hiding, and she discovers, along with some familiar and some new characters, that things are more sinister and dire than she ever imagined.

I love the relationships between all of the characters. They all complement each other and ultimately it's the team work between them that makes the story.

I'd definitely recommend this series to my followers and I'll for sure read any upcoming books in this series.

Great book from the author that brought us Rabbits (book and podcast). If you enjoyed the first book, you will be glad to pick this one up, as the world of Rabbits both continues and expands. It truly felt like a "next chapter" approach as this book picks up right where the first one left off. While different in many ways, we get the same escape room / meets MMORPG game / breaking reality excitement that you would expect from Terry Miles. Pick it up and enjoy!

I should have clicked that I will not be giving feedback on this one, but I accidentally didn't click that and now I have no option but to leave this here.

I cannot believe I am DNF'ing the sequel to Rabbits, one of my favorite books. The pacing in this one is too slow, and I know we're not supposed to worry about editing that much, but this really needs a good line edit. It's excruciating to read at some points.

I really appreciate the opportunity to review this title, and apologies that I am not continuing. I hope many others enjoy it more--this series' premise is so great!

After the Eleventh iteration, Rabbits goes so popular, it’s inter-dimensional. Emily Connors finds herself in a dimension where the game actually doesn’t exist at all. Meanwhile, Rowan Chess is having the opposite experience. The game is actually pursuing him relentlessently and people keep vanishing as if they’d never existed. When Rowan and Emily meet, they’ll uncover a conspiracy that could change the game (and reality) forever.

I enjoy the Rabbits universe, and this latest installment got wilder but no less entertaining than precious forays into this reality. It’s got that world in a world thing I enjoy so much. Explaining the plot would probably make my brain hurt and also not come out well, but if you’re caught up on the Rabbits world and want more story, check this one out.

I stumbled on to the world of Rabbits quite by accident a few years ago and was excited to devour The Quiet Room by Terry Miles, the second novel in the Rabbits series. This science fiction thriller grabbed me from page one and held me to the end. I cannot wait for the next one!

The Quiet Room picks up shortly after the ending of Rabbits, book one. While Miles does a stellar job of bringing new readers up to speed, I recommend starting with book one. This one fed my inner nerd and Dungeons and Dragons’ child.

Emily Cooper, who played the game Rabbits in the previous book, seems to have shifted into a corner of the multiverse where Rabbits is hiding. Rabbits is an underground game where players race to win by finding patterns.

It’s an average work day. You’ve been wrapped up in a task, and you check the clock when you come up for air—4:44 pm. You go to check your email, and 44 unread messages have built up. With a shock, you realize it is April 4th—4/4. And when you get in your car to drive home, your odometer reads 44,444. Coincidence? Or have you just seen the edge of a rabbit hole?

The game can be deadly. There can be unexpected consequences that affect our dimensions and others. Yep, lots of wibbly wobbly timey-wimey stuff. As a die-hard Doctor Who fan, I devoured the concept of Rabbits. This time, the reader will question whether they are playing the game or if the game is playing them. Something is VERY wrong with the game.

Rabbit agents, abductions, and more soon have Emily tracking down a previous winner. Meanwhile, a young architect named Rowan Chess crosses paths with Emily. Rabbits is hiding here, but it seems Chess is playing the game. Only he’s never heard of the Rabbits.

I loved the twists, the unknown factors, and meeting up with others we have previously encountered. This was such a stellar follow up to the first novel. Miles kept it fresh while taking us deeper down the rabbit hole. Perfectly paced with a wonderful buildup to the climactic scene.

The ending brings closers, but teases the readers about what is coming. This reader cannot wait.

While I enjoyed the previous novel "Rabbits," "The Quiet Room" felt like a jumble of plot points and info dumps that didn't really seem to gel at the end. I wasn't sure if the "rules" that I was being told about the world and various timelines were something that I had read in the previous novel or something that were pulled out of the air in this novel. I didn't feel as much of a connection to the stakes and the plot.

Multiple timelines and a game to find it all. Here are reasons to read the this SciFi book:

Sequel - in this Sequel to the book Rabbits

Game? - We are not sure if the game really still exists. If it does, it will be in it’s 11th Iteration

2 POV Meet - Emily and Rowan are 2 POV we follow in this book and when they do meet they discover

Reality - That their own reality might not be as stable as they thought

I was really excited to read this book as I really enjoyed Rabbits. It was kind of a strange book, but this one is just as much. I really do like how a lot of the characters from the first book are coming together to figure out what is happening and why there are people trying to stop them. There isn’t a lot I can say, except this book is definitely for you if you like sciFi books or books about games.

I would like to thank Random House Worlds and NetGalley for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.

The Quiet Room is a sequel to Rabbits, and while not absolutely necessary to be able to follow what is happening, I would recommend reading Rabbits first to familiarize yourself with the game and the characters.

The Quiet Room brings us back to Emily Connors, who almost won the last iteration of the Rabbits game. She has been having strange dreams and strange things happen to her, including being kidnapped by the Rabbits Police. This book also brings back some other familiar names in Alan Scarpio and Pepper, and K (indirectly). We also get introduced to Rowan Chess, an architect and theme park designer with a penchant for puzzles and escape rooms. The book alternates between what is happening with Emily and what is happening with Rowan, and things really heat up when Emily and Rowan encounter each other.

Emily and Rowan and a bunch of other players become trapped in a dimensional stream that has been cut off and will be destroyed. It is a race against time and the Rabbit Police to win the game in order to save themselves. But the game doesn't even seem to exist; either that or it's desperately trying to stay hidden. Add to that a very dangerous person (known only as the Engineer) is also trapped there and will do anything to get out.

The first 1/3 of the book was really good, and pulled me in right away. The middle 1/3 became a bit muddled and confusing at times. There were definitely points where I wasn't sure what was happening. There are several dimensional streams in play (and therefore different versions of the same people) and parts are in the past and parts in the present. It made it hard to determine exactly when in the timeline what I was reading happened. The last 1/3 of the book picked up again and I really enjoyed the ending. It definitely left it open for another book!
 
I enjoyed the first book a bit more than this one, as it was more straightforward and less confusing. However, if you are a fan of Rabbits, the multiverse, and sci-fi in general, I would definitely recommend this book.

First I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing for giving me access to an eARC copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

The Quiet Room is a story about games that can change the world, and if you’re not careful they will cost you everything. This is the second in a series of books that continue the events of the podcast Rabbits. I strongly recommend that you start by listening to the podcast first and then read the first book in this book series before you start this book. That said I’ll talk a little bit about the plot without giving too much away about the previous entries into the world of Rabbits.

This story follows Emily Connors, who made an appearance in the previous book in this series, and a new player Rowan Chess. Rowan is a fan of puzzles and escape rooms and has even made a name for himself designing interactive pieces of architecture for theme parks the world over. Emily is nobody, she woke up in this universe knowing full well it is not where she belongs. Emily has been playing Rabbits, a secret AR game hidden in plain sight, for a long time, but now she can’t find Rabbits anywhere. After a series of wild events puts Rowan in Emily’s path she becomes convinced that Rowan is unwittingly the only person currently playing the game, and his success or failure could have dire consequences for this universe and possibly every Universe.

The Premise here is really solid and exactly the kind of thing I’ve come to expect from the mind of Terry Miles. I have loved the podcast from the very beginning and I have also enjoyed a number of the other pods on offer with The Public Radio Alliance. Unfortunately the novel doesn’t hold up as well as the premise does. Part of this is probably my expectation that a Rabbits story is going to be edge of the seat suspense heavily dotted with puzzles and secrets that may never be fully solved. The mystery is a big part of the attraction to this franchise, however with The Quiet Room a large portion of the page count is dedicated to re-explaining all the previous findings of the podcast and the last book. It seems like the intent may have been for this to work as a standalone novel, but it really felt more like someone force feeding you lore and puzzle answers that didn’t forward the plot much.

I don’t want to be too hard on the story though, because if you strip away all the unnecessary exposition you’re left with a really interesting story that expands the lore in an interesting way and asks a lot of great questions about determinism vs free will. Once I got into the last half of the story it also seemed to find the sense of urgency that it really needed.

In conclusion, I continue to love the Rabbits stories and I’m looking forward to reading the next book. If you are a fan of the series already it’s definitely worth a read. I also can’t say enough good things about the podcast and it’s great for fans of games, puzzles, and unsolved mysteries. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you have a wonderful day. Happy reading.

Emily had nearly won Rabbits, the international and hidden alternate reality game. Now that it's over, she's in a world where the game never existed. Only, every time she goes looking for it, mysterious figures keep showing up.

The Quiet Room is the sequel to the Rabbits novel, so it takes place after the eleventh iteration of the reality-bending game is completed. Clues for the game rely on synchronicity, finding discrepancies between memory and reality, and chasing down coincidences to find the truth at the center of it all. For those not playing the game, it will feel like risk-taking for no reason and psychosis. A lot of this is explained as Emily meets Alan in the beginning, as well as when her path crosses Rowan's. So don't worry if you didn't read the first book, context is all here and you can dive right in.

Emily is trying to escape detection and knows about the game, but slips sideways into another dimension where it doesn't seem to exist. At the same time, signs are present that the game actually does exist, and the only player's name is Rowan's. He doesn't know about the game until Emily tells him about it, but he designs amusement parks for a living and has always loved puzzles, so he naturally takes to the spirit of the game. We learn more about the game as the book progresses, why this particular dimension seems so odd, and what the Escape Room is. Emily and Rowan have more allies than they think, but they're on a clock and there is resistance at every turn.

I really liked Rowan from the first time he was introduced. We've met Emily in the first book, but now we see her perspective more clearly and learn more about her history. She's more closely tied to the Rabbits game than I had realized, and I love how that history slowly gets revealed and contributes to finding her way out. I wanted to shout out loud when I got to the end of the book because what?! In other words, it's an ending that makes you want to go back to see what you might have missed and eagerly wait for the next book.

This series is amazing and The Quiet Room did not disappoint me one bit! The dimensional travel, barrier breaking and psychological impacts were well laid out and easy to follow along the labyrinth of thoughts and ideas. Miles is a gifted writer and keeps you guessing all the way through. Never giving up anything that would lead you astray or provide any idea where he's taking the story until he's already brought you there!