My copy of this is an ARC that I picked up at a conference four years ago. Yes, it took me this long to finally read it. Because it's an ARC, I won't be quoting from it.

Phoenix and his team spend their work days fighting battle after battle. Each time they die, they're regenerated. That's because they aren't people - they're the NPC enemies that human gamers try to defeat. The only difference between one day and the next is what game they're in. When Dakota, a new member, is added to Phoenix's team, things gradually start to fall apart.

Dakota won't stop asking questions. She has what she thinks are memories of a life prior to being in the game. Doesn't that mean she, and all of them, are really human? Doesn't that mean there's a life she could get back to? Phoenix tries to ignore her and concentrate on being the biggest, baddest opponent gamers have ever fought against, but then things start happening that even he can't explain away.

I went into this thinking it'd work reasonably well for me. I like "stuck in a video game" stories, and this seemed somewhat in the same vein. Unfortunately, I disliked Phoenix, who I assume was written to primarily appeal to male gamers. His idea of a good life was battles, good weapons, and Mi, his only female teammate prior to Dakota's arrival, tucked under his arm when she wasn't pulling off an impressive number of headshots. Although Dakota annoyed him, he gave her living quarters closer to his because he thought she was hot...which was weird since he acknowledged that all women in his game world were hot.

I spent a good chunk of the book thinking Dakota would have made a better POV character, but I doubt that would have made me like this book any better. She annoyed me almost as much as she annoyed Phoenix. But at least she was less passive than Phoenix, who was aware that things were going on around him that he knew nothing about but who did nothing to learn more about those things.

For a book that contained cannibals and a Mad Max-style dystopian wasteland, this was surprisingly boring. The pacing was really bad, and none of the characters felt like actual people. Part of the latter could have been due to Phoenix's POV. Mi, for example, came across as his token girlfriend. Why were the two of them together? She seemed more inclined to question things than him, and there were hints that she had thoughts and emotions he hadn't even tried to find out about. And yet the two of them stayed together. The only explanation I could think of was that Phoenix was team leader, and as team leader he was required to have a girlfriend. Which was...depressing.

The book's ending was garbage, a last-ditch effort to mess with readers. The result was hugely unsatisfying. Phoenix's shock and horror didn't exactly do much for my opinion of his intelligence, either. The ending he'd been about to have was filled with great big gaping plot holes (not to mention a stunning display of selfishness and wastefulness, but that's a whole other issue). It shouldn't have required dragging him over and rubbing his nose in them for him to see them.

Extras:

I don't know if these made it into the final book, but the ARC came with a few illustrations and stats for Phoenix and his teammates.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

This book was far better than I thought it was going to be.

The concept of this almost post-apocalyptic world where most people are just slave labour and everyone uses video games to escape their miserable lives had me pulled in almost immediately.

I knocked my rating down for a couple of reasons. 1-> the dialogue was a bit cliché in some moments and just had too much angsty teen feels to it. 2-> the story skipped around a little and at certain times it was hard to follow.

The ending was a bit confusing for me too. I thought one thing was happening, but the last chapter proved me wrong, though without any real explanation. ( )

This book was far better than I thought it was going to be.

The concept of this almost post-apocalyptic world where most people are just slave labour and everyone uses video games to escape their miserable lives had me pulled in almost immediately.

I knocked my rating down for a couple of reasons. 1-> the dialogue was a bit cliché in some moments and just had too much angsty teen feels to it. 2-> the story skipped around a little and at certain times it was hard to follow.

The ending was a bit confusing for me too. I thought one thing was happening, but the last chapter proved me wrong, though without any real explanation. ( )

Ok, folks forget the vampires, werewolves, fairies, and zombies. Hold on before you start yelling "What the heck, I love Team Edward." I have something better for you...first person gamer books. Yes, for all those geeks, both male and female, and both console or computer then you are probably already familiar with these books but for the rest of the readers out there you need to get familiar with these books. The best part about reading these books is that it is like you are part of the game and not just a spectator.

Well let me tell you that Game Slave is right up there as a really good book. To be honest, I was first drawn to this book by the cover. It is eye-catching and reminds me of a video game cover, which I am sure was the whole idea. I wanted to read this book just from the cover and the book title alone. I did not really care about what the book was about as I knew it was a first player gamer book.

I flew through this book. It is like when you pick up a new game and you have to play it all in one night so that you can get to the final boss and beat him. This book was not just a video game with a bunch of characters running around, it also had a good storyline as well. This book needs to come with a warning...Game Slave is addicting. ( )

The first 100 pages caused me to skim a little. The nitty gritty of all the games they were playing was more than I wanted to take in. However, there will be some teens who will love the first 100 pages. Once the escape happened I was caught up in the story which kept my interest all the way to the spooky ending. ( )