I have my review below plus an excerpt from the book I picked out. Warning, the excerpt is from the uncorrected proof (ARC) from the publisher via netgalley. :)
Author: Tracy Deebs
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Release date: January 8, 2013
source: publisher (via netgalley)
Beat the game. Save the world.
Pandora’s just your average teen, glued to her cell phone and laptop, surfing Facebook and e-mailing with her friends, until the day her long-lost father sends her a link to a mysterious site featuring twelve photos of her as a child. Unable to contain her curiosity, Pandora enters the site, where she is prompted to play her favorite virtual-reality game, Zero Day. This unleashes a global computer virus that plunges the whole world into panic: suddenly, there is no Internet. No cell phones. No utilities, traffic lights, hospitals, law enforcement. Pandora teams up with handsome stepbrothers Eli and Theo to enter the virtual world of Zero Day. Simultaneously, she continues to follow the photographs from her childhood in an attempt to beat the game and track down her father, her one key to saving the world as we know it. Part The Matrix, part retelling of the Pandora myth, Doomed has something for gaming fans, dystopian fans, and romance fans alike.
My Review:
Doomed is the second Tracy Deebs book I’ve read, the first one was Tempest Rising. I remembered not liking how that one ended (I mean who the girl ended up with), but other than that the writing was good as well as the other mermaid stuff involved in the story. But despite that, I took a chance with Doomed because I’m a sucker for dystopian books and I wanna see how Tracy Deebs does in this genre.
Doomed did not disappoint. Right from the start, the story does not linger on any irrelevant events. This is such a breath of fresh air for me because I’ve been reading slow-paced books the past few days, and I’m slacking. Doomed is not exactly dystopian, but it is sort of that or post-apocalyptic, so it’s only dystopian-ish. But it is scifi. I love love how fast the things went. The main character, Pandora, is not your usual long-haired blonde/brunette main character, but she’s quite the opposite. For one, she has red spiky short hair (which is so hard for me to imagine, for some weird reasons), a nose pierce, but she’s so different from what you’ll expect her to be. I like her, and let’s leave it at that. I also love how the book exudes a modern day Pandora, and there’s a “box”, and how “evil” was unleashed through her. She was clearly used in the story, and that’s a bit sad, but you’ll know more about it later on in the story. A must-mention though, there are two hot guys to watch out for: Theo and Eli. I like their names, and I think it matches their qualities and characteristics. From the very start, I was leaning on to Theo, and I still do. heh heh.
Overall, I was very very happy with this fast-paced and quick read. :)
EXCERPT! :)
“Damn it, Pandora! We don’t have time for this.”
Theo’s standing in the doorway, my laptop in his hands. “Open the damn thing or I will!”
“Why? Why can’t I just refuse to play?”
He looks around the darkened kitchen. “Because this is happening whether you want it or not. It’s stupid of you to keep out everyone who can help just because you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared!” It’s a total lie, but I feel honor bound to say it. The look he gives me calls me a liar, but he doesn’t say anything. Just waits. Patiently. Which is somehow much worse than when he was pushing me.
“You really think you can help?” I finally venture after a long silence.
“This is what I do,” he answers.
“Play video games?”
He lifts an eyebrow. “Hack systems.”
I look at him, standing there in his button-down shirt and khaki pants and can’t imagine him as anything but a rule follower of the highest order. I mean, even his shoes are perfectly polished. But then I make the mistake of meeting his eyes, and they’re not cold anymore. Instead, they’re totally bad ass. Filled with confidence and the thrill of the chase. There’s no sign of the sickness that’s churning inside me.
Again... “You really think you can do this?”
“Damn straight.”
Woot! That was an exciting excerpt, right? (to self: Duh! That’s why I chose it.)
GIVEAWAY! (tour-wide)
About the Author:
Tracy Deebs collects books, English degrees and lipsticks and has been known to forget where—and sometimes who—she is when immersed in a great novel. At six she wrote her first short story—something with a rainbow and a prince—and at seven she forayed into the wonderful world of girls lit with her first Judy Blume novel. From the first page of that first book, she knew she’d found her life-long love. Now a writing instructor at her local community college, Tracy writes YA novels that run the gamut from dark mermaids and witches to kissing clubs and techno-Armageddon stories… and she still has a soft spot for Judy Blume.Official site: http://tracydeebs.com/
OOh nice!! Read this one too and really liked it!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! Thanks for participating :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed that excerpt. I have had Tempest Rising sitting on my bookshelf forever. I need to get to it.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys! Im glad you liked the excerpt! And thank you too Shane! :)
ReplyDeleteLove the excerpt!!! It sounds so amazing. Great review. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteJenea @ Books Live Forever