The God Game, Danny Tobey | Book Review

It is not often that I come across a book so well written, gripping and full of excitement that I can’t put it down and I think about it any time I’m not reading it. That was how The God Game by Danny Tobey felt for me.

The God Game, Danny Tobey

Themes: Science fiction, fiction, AI, technology

Reading Format: Hardback

5 STARS

Thank you to Gollancz for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no extra cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

This book contains strong themes that could be triggering for readers, this is a dark read so please be aware. Themes included: attempted suicide, relationship and parental abuse, violence, blackmail, depression. 

When I received an email offering me a copy of The God Game, it was billed to me as a book for fans of Stranger Things and Ready Player One, the front cover reviews it as ‘like an episode of Black Mirror’. These three comparisons were enough for me to be intrigued.

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!

With those words, Charlie and his friends enter the G.O.D. Game, a video game run by underground hackers and controlled by a mysterious AI that believes it’s God.

In the G.O.D. Game when you win, you win big and when you lose, you die. With these threats, it makes the plot of this game very fast and exciting. We follow Charlie and his friends in this book as they battle against an AI game that started off as harmless fun but has soon turned into torment and real danger.

Charlie, Peter, Vanhi, Kenny and Alex are the five friends we follow in this book. Charlie was a perfect student, but when his mum died his grades dropped and so did his efforts. Peter is the mysterious kid that moved over from a different school after a run-in with the FBI. Vanhi is desperately trying to get into Harvard and impress her mum whilst also struggling with being her own person aside from their expectations of her. Kenny is a studious guy, he is into philosophy and logic and is the only one of the group, not a hardcore coder and tech-head. Alex is on the outside of the group, he has depression and struggles to fit in and is picked on by the bullies. These friends form a group called The Vindicators and spend a lot of their time playing video games, so of course, the G.O.D Game is perfect for them and completely pulls them in.

There is a huge mystery that surrounds this game, where has it come from, who has created it? The reader doesn’t know anything more than the main characters of the book, we are experiencing everything first hand with them. Each of the five leading characters has their own complex issues with morality, which is mainly what this game plays on. The idea behind it being the game is representing a virtual god, toying with people’s values and morals and what lengths they would go to to get what they want.

The religious element of this game controlling the player’s lives, but still giving them free will is very interesting. They are each given choices throughout the book, offering them an easy path to their goals. They are always given a choice in how the game plays out and whilst it is a manipulative system, they do lead to their own downfalls. It also makes the reader think about what we would do to get what we want. There’s a real theme of Icarus in this book when they succeed they really do succeed and the wins are big, but sometimes they will push it too far and fly too close to the sun.

This book is set in a pre-Trump world where the election is upon America. It’s interesting reading this knowing the outcome because lots of side comments are made about Trump and his stupidity. So this book involves both politics and religion, it’s quite the mix of subjects for a good debate! It makes the world seem very bleak and already has the undertone of lost hope within America. The game itself though transforms this world, overlaying the environment around the players with a virtual world filled with AI. The idea that you could flick on some glasses and see a different setting around you is so interesting. I know AI is a real thing, but it’s not a household experience yet.

 

The characters in The God Game can put on glasses and suddenly the world seems very different. In a phone-obsessed time, it’s interesting that this book plays on the difference between reality and fiction. Sculpting spaces to elicit emotions and motives in the characters was so intriguing to read about. One of the earlier scenes details a character being created by the game and being seen by the characters through their phones, they can interact with him and he furthers the plot of the game’s scheme. This takes Pokemon Go to a whole new level!

I think I could talk endlessly about how immersive and clever this book is. From the first 50 pages, I know it would be a five-star read for me, if not a new favourite. Danny Tobey’s writing did not disappoint. This book had perfect chapter lengths that made it very easy to have the mindset of ‘just one more chapter’ and therefore I just kept reading. What a brilliant read to start off 2020 with.