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Ascending the Boneyard
Donnie Darko meets The Matrix in this mind-bending and captivating mystery about one teen’s surreal experiences after surviving a major trauma.
Everything’s a battle.
Sometimes life gets too real, and Caleb Tosh has taken one hit too many. First, there was the accident that changed everything for Tosh’s younger brother. Now his mom has left. All the pain, the grief and loss, have finally pushed Tosh over the edge.
If only he could have a do-over. Wipe his reality. Start fresh. Maybe he could fix all of his mistakes and everything would be different. Tosh immerses himself in the complex missions from the game he obsessively plays, The Boneyard. The game bleeds into the dark nature of his everyday life, folding reality into surreality until it’s impossible to separate one from the other. Tosh is desperate to Ascend, to reach the next level, to become Worthy.
Readers are brought on a one-of-a-kind, absorbing journey where no one can say what is real and what isn’t—right up until the shocking, yet deeply powerful conclusion.
Everything’s a battle.
Sometimes life gets too real, and Caleb Tosh has taken one hit too many. First, there was the accident that changed everything for Tosh’s younger brother. Now his mom has left. All the pain, the grief and loss, have finally pushed Tosh over the edge.
If only he could have a do-over. Wipe his reality. Start fresh. Maybe he could fix all of his mistakes and everything would be different. Tosh immerses himself in the complex missions from the game he obsessively plays, The Boneyard. The game bleeds into the dark nature of his everyday life, folding reality into surreality until it’s impossible to separate one from the other. Tosh is desperate to Ascend, to reach the next level, to become Worthy.
Readers are brought on a one-of-a-kind, absorbing journey where no one can say what is real and what isn’t—right up until the shocking, yet deeply powerful conclusion.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published February 16, 2016
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540 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
February 12, 2016
Ascending the Boneyard is being marketed as Donnie Darko meets The Matrix.
This is the single most confusing thing I've ever read. Thank god for it's brevity, or it would have made the dnf shelf.
So, the parts of the plot I could understand: Caleb Tosh is a hardcore gamer with a bad home life. His brother is disabled after an accident, his dad is a douchcanoe, and his mom can't handle all the stress. Caleb's escape from it all is The Boneyard, which he obsessively plays to avoid his real life miseries.
Then everything gets weird and weirder. Tosh's gaming reality merges with his real reality (I think?) or maybe he's hallucinating. Kid could have been having a full on psychotic break, I don't really know. I don't mind stories that slip away from reality. For example, Zero Echo Shadow Prime, one of my FAVORITE sci-fi books ever! It has multiple storylines, fragmented realities, all kinds of crazy multiple reality shit going on. But it works, because the writing and the characters are there to hold all of that craziness up. Boneyard doesn't have that. It just slips into half gamer-world weirdness and there's nothing to hold it all together. There are texting cockroaches, mass bird deaths, disappearing people.
Oh, and don't forget the sexy babes.
Tosh's attitude towards women is horrible! Aside from his mother, Tosh only discusses the women he meets in terms of their hotness. He also does the following things:
*refers to women as: babelike, hot chicks, ginger supreme, curvalicious, and wallpaper girl
*thinks about tits while eating fried eggs
*is disappointed in a girl's plainness & lack of makeup
*mentally criticizes the amount of makeup a waitress is wearing
*stares at more women's breasts, sometimes while they are crying and scared
The despicable objectification on the part of our so-called hero and the uber-confusing storyline made Ascending the Boneyard difficult and unpleasant to read.
Thanks to Simon Pulse & Edelweiss for the digital arc.
This is the single most confusing thing I've ever read. Thank god for it's brevity, or it would have made the dnf shelf.
So, the parts of the plot I could understand: Caleb Tosh is a hardcore gamer with a bad home life. His brother is disabled after an accident, his dad is a douchcanoe, and his mom can't handle all the stress. Caleb's escape from it all is The Boneyard, which he obsessively plays to avoid his real life miseries.
Then everything gets weird and weirder. Tosh's gaming reality merges with his real reality (I think?) or maybe he's hallucinating. Kid could have been having a full on psychotic break, I don't really know. I don't mind stories that slip away from reality. For example, Zero Echo Shadow Prime, one of my FAVORITE sci-fi books ever! It has multiple storylines, fragmented realities, all kinds of crazy multiple reality shit going on. But it works, because the writing and the characters are there to hold all of that craziness up. Boneyard doesn't have that. It just slips into half gamer-world weirdness and there's nothing to hold it all together. There are texting cockroaches, mass bird deaths, disappearing people.
Oh, and don't forget the sexy babes.
Tosh's attitude towards women is horrible! Aside from his mother, Tosh only discusses the women he meets in terms of their hotness. He also does the following things:
*refers to women as: babelike, hot chicks, ginger supreme, curvalicious, and wallpaper girl
*thinks about tits while eating fried eggs
*is disappointed in a girl's plainness & lack of makeup
*mentally criticizes the amount of makeup a waitress is wearing
*stares at more women's breasts, sometimes while they are crying and scared
The despicable objectification on the part of our so-called hero and the uber-confusing storyline made Ascending the Boneyard difficult and unpleasant to read.
Thanks to Simon Pulse & Edelweiss for the digital arc.
January 11, 2016
I saw the tag line mention Donnie Darko and I was pretty much sold and quite excited to read it.
I think the main problem I had was that I'm not a gamer. Yes, I do play video games, but not at the level and intensity portrayed here. I had no idea what some of the terminology meant and the overall structure of the "game" was lost on me.
Because I was confused right from the start, I wasn't able to connect to any of the characters. I didn't care why Tosh was making the decisions he was. There was a bit of a twist at the end, but by the time I got there, I was more relieved that it was over than anything.
I can definitely see how people will love it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a solid background in online gaming.
**Huge thanks to Simon Pulse and Edelweiss for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review**
I think the main problem I had was that I'm not a gamer. Yes, I do play video games, but not at the level and intensity portrayed here. I had no idea what some of the terminology meant and the overall structure of the "game" was lost on me.
Because I was confused right from the start, I wasn't able to connect to any of the characters. I didn't care why Tosh was making the decisions he was. There was a bit of a twist at the end, but by the time I got there, I was more relieved that it was over than anything.
I can definitely see how people will love it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a solid background in online gaming.
**Huge thanks to Simon Pulse and Edelweiss for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review**
November 21, 2015
I read an early version of this incredibly powerful story. It's got a Donnie Darko feel to it... how trauma in life can schism us from reality... can make the schism imperceptible... what's real, what's not? This book... man, this book... fast-paced, trippy, wholly authentic... the way C.G. Watson wrote this book, where you're not quite sure what's happening, how it's happening, why it's happening... you are in Caleb Tosh's head, right there with him, along for the roller coaster surreal ride of somebody who's been damaged by life without fully realizing it, who's struggling to move forward in a world that doesn't seem fair, to escape that world at times... to figure out how to heal all the broken.
Beautiful and powerful... this story... bonus... the writing, the poetry of the writing, the flow of it in flow with the character, is second to none.
Beautiful and powerful... this story... bonus... the writing, the poetry of the writing, the flow of it in flow with the character, is second to none.
November 30, 2015
It's no surprise that fans of Andrew Smith's Marbury Lens and A.S. King's I Crawl Through It will be drawn to this book. A richly written page turner that takes readers deep into the world of real and make believe, melding the landscapes with precision. The book explores aspects of gaming but even a novice video gamer can follow the terms and situations. This is a book for both boys and girls because Caleb Tosh's struggle is a universal one.
A stunningly cinematic book that balances the pangs of loss and the highs of surrealism that takes the reader on a journey that will feel part Percy Jackson and part Going Bovine. Still being all Ascending The Boneyard.
~ e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, author of ALA Award Winner for FAT ANGIE
A stunningly cinematic book that balances the pangs of loss and the highs of surrealism that takes the reader on a journey that will feel part Percy Jackson and part Going Bovine. Still being all Ascending The Boneyard.
~ e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, author of ALA Award Winner for FAT ANGIE
February 22, 2016
While I don't game, I live with a gamer so I have witnessed firsthand how he can become totally immersed in raids with his friends to the point of shouting at the screen and into his headset, completely oblivious to how crazy he appears. And this is my adult husband. I can only imagine how a teenager whose life has been torn apart by a terrible accident could lose himself in a videogame.
But that's the story of Tosh: when you don't know where to turn, when the people you need most aren't there for you, when you feel wholly responsible for the worst thing that could happen to someone you love, you submerge yourself in the one world you know and can control. You become your avatar. You are no longer Caleb Tosh, loser extraordinaire; you are T-Man, raid commander. You are the one who can save the girl. You are the one others can count on to complete the mission. You can reset everything.
It's what happens in the game - why can't it happen in real life? Why can't you go back and make everything right? Right?
Full disclosure: I write YA myself. I also read a ton of it, primarily contemporary realistic fiction. I think readers of YA are so used to narrators saying exactly what they feel, expressing themselves in cogent, clever ways - maybe not to their friends or family but to us on the page. Tosh is not that narrator. He's not telling us how he feels because he doesn't know how he feels and he doesn't WANT to know how he feels. He does NOT want to explore any kind of feelings. He wants to raid. He wants to be a hero.
The gamer lingo's not easy, I'll grant you that - more than once I had to ask my husband what something meant. Much of it I could figure out from context, though, and I think a reader not versed in the world just has to let it wash over them. Tosh has his own way of talking, his own tics, as it were, and whether you understand every single thing isn't the point. It's the immersion, the submersion, the dislocation of Tosh from the real world - that's what's important. It's sad and it's funny and you want so badly for Tosh to make it all right, even though you know that's really not possible. He can't rewrite history, none of us can, no matter how many missions he undertakes.
But that's the story of Tosh: when you don't know where to turn, when the people you need most aren't there for you, when you feel wholly responsible for the worst thing that could happen to someone you love, you submerge yourself in the one world you know and can control. You become your avatar. You are no longer Caleb Tosh, loser extraordinaire; you are T-Man, raid commander. You are the one who can save the girl. You are the one others can count on to complete the mission. You can reset everything.
It's what happens in the game - why can't it happen in real life? Why can't you go back and make everything right? Right?
Full disclosure: I write YA myself. I also read a ton of it, primarily contemporary realistic fiction. I think readers of YA are so used to narrators saying exactly what they feel, expressing themselves in cogent, clever ways - maybe not to their friends or family but to us on the page. Tosh is not that narrator. He's not telling us how he feels because he doesn't know how he feels and he doesn't WANT to know how he feels. He does NOT want to explore any kind of feelings. He wants to raid. He wants to be a hero.
The gamer lingo's not easy, I'll grant you that - more than once I had to ask my husband what something meant. Much of it I could figure out from context, though, and I think a reader not versed in the world just has to let it wash over them. Tosh has his own way of talking, his own tics, as it were, and whether you understand every single thing isn't the point. It's the immersion, the submersion, the dislocation of Tosh from the real world - that's what's important. It's sad and it's funny and you want so badly for Tosh to make it all right, even though you know that's really not possible. He can't rewrite history, none of us can, no matter how many missions he undertakes.
February 19, 2016
This is a stunning book. It speaks directly, with authority and a powerful voice, to teens, who will recognize themselves. They will probably have a hard time believing it was written by an adult! But C.G. Watson is knows her audience, their issues, and relationships. The sad situation will break readers' hearts but keep them riveted to the end. Highly recommended for teens going through tough times, especially those who might not think of themselves as "readers" until they can't put this down.
December 19, 2015
This book is a keep-you-guessing tale about grief, gaming and kinda-gross cockroaches that will have you wondering what's really true and what is not until the last page. The voice is wonderful, and there are clever half chapters between the regular chapters that provide a sentence or two that leave you laughing or wondering.
January 20, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. In Ascending the Boneyard, C.G. Watson masterfully blends reality with fiction, blurring the lines between what's happening in the real world and what's happening in the gaming world. Today I book-talked this book in my classroom, and students have already placed themselvs on a waiting list for this book.
August 28, 2016
I play a lot of video games. I'm a big fan of RPG type games. I don't hate first person shooters but I'm not the best and I want to devote more time to reading than playing so I like going at my own pace but still having a clan and a goal and - hey, I like killing Dragons.
So, I thought this book would be a good fit for me...but for the most part, I was confused. I can see the parallels the story is trying to have us see - and to try to muddle through the plot and missions to the final round, but I just thought it was too much. The points to pull together were almost frustrating. And I didn't find the final reveal all that big because I hadn't really connected to the characters to really be rooting them on.
but the story was interesting and it did keep me flipping pages. It was just an odd one.
So, I thought this book would be a good fit for me...but for the most part, I was confused. I can see the parallels the story is trying to have us see - and to try to muddle through the plot and missions to the final round, but I just thought it was too much. The points to pull together were almost frustrating. And I didn't find the final reveal all that big because I hadn't really connected to the characters to really be rooting them on.
but the story was interesting and it did keep me flipping pages. It was just an odd one.
September 22, 2017
I was going through my Edelweiss shelf and realized that for a good part of 2016 I read books, wrote a one sentence review on Goodreads, and promptly forgot to go back and add coherent thoughts. In my defense, Ascending the Boneyard is a very forgettable book.
This novel begins with the awful home life of Caleb Tosh. His brother is disabled, Dad is an awful human being, and his mother is unable to cope. Caleb's way of dealing is with a video game, The Boneyard. He spends all of his time in The Boneyard and it gets to the point where both Caleb and the reader can't tell the difference between the game and life.
I'll be real, this book was confusing. It was jumpy, fragmented, and hard to follow. I read once that authors use unclear words when they don't know what they're trying to say. This entire book felt like the author wasn't sure what they wanted to say. The author wanted to elicit emotion from the reader, especially with everything Caleb is going through, but I didn't care because the story was too convoluted. There were elements of a story here but it was never cohesive. I was left feeling baffled rather than feeling bad for Caleb.
Overall, I think I'm being generous giving this book two stars. I'm glad this book was short or I would have given up on reading it after the first 50 pages.
This novel begins with the awful home life of Caleb Tosh. His brother is disabled, Dad is an awful human being, and his mother is unable to cope. Caleb's way of dealing is with a video game, The Boneyard. He spends all of his time in The Boneyard and it gets to the point where both Caleb and the reader can't tell the difference between the game and life.
I'll be real, this book was confusing. It was jumpy, fragmented, and hard to follow. I read once that authors use unclear words when they don't know what they're trying to say. This entire book felt like the author wasn't sure what they wanted to say. The author wanted to elicit emotion from the reader, especially with everything Caleb is going through, but I didn't care because the story was too convoluted. There were elements of a story here but it was never cohesive. I was left feeling baffled rather than feeling bad for Caleb.
Overall, I think I'm being generous giving this book two stars. I'm glad this book was short or I would have given up on reading it after the first 50 pages.
March 14, 2016
The voice is achingly authentic in this page turning novel. The author nails the teen gaming subculture and this specific world, and the raw emotions of a protagonist battling grief and family trauma. Fantasy and reality flirt as powerfully as in Grasshopper Jungle but this time folks, we're talking ROACHES! The pace is fast and the chapters pack existential and poetic punches. The writing is beautiful and despite the action, I found myself lingering over word choice and phrases. Even though set in a world less known to some readers, this has universal appeal, especially for teens facing what can feel like overwhelming struggles that threaten the thread of identity they feel they have. I have several teens in my school to whom I will be recommending this once its's on our shelves!
March 13, 2016
This book was strange and weird and so great! Don't know what was going on half the time, but that ending? Wow! That was certainly an ending!
September 22, 2016
I didn't really enjoy this book very much. You couldn't tell what was real and what was fake. It was almost as if the book started and ended in reality but most of the book was just nonsense that didn't happen. You didn't get to know the character very well because he was always thinking about his video game. The book lacked emotion and all the girls he met he saw as damsels in distress. There were just people that popped up in the book and literally vanished right in the middle of a scene. I couldn't bear to keep reading it but I can't start a book and not finish it. I ended up skimming the last half of the book because I couldn't bear to read it word for word. If they meet someone and they disappear, the main characters never forget them and can even recognize their voice singing on the radio. Oh yea, can we talk about how time passed and they didn't have contact with anyone besides the "commandos" who were really crappy at giving them mission information? Yet they depended on them and the main character practically praised them for letting him do these missions. The whole book was how he was trying to "ascend" yet it never said what "ascending" was. You just kind of assumed it was getting to the next level or something because this book makes you read between the lines for everything.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 23, 2018
This BOOK needs to be thrown in the boneyard… haha. But for reals. This is only the second book in my whole life that I’ve had to slap a DNF label on. First book of the year and hopefully the only one that sucks this bad.
What Was Wrong?
The dialogue was dry. The characters didn’t really have any substance. The plots and sub-plots seemed dull and hastily thrown together. This book was a huge mess. I didn't even get a chance to get to half of it before I lost interest.
Tosh, at one point, crosses into the game world. Or does he? Literally? Or mentally? The lines are all blurred and I couldn't tell what was real or not. Maybe the author meant to do this? But everything literally just happened to fast. His mom left out of nowhere without us really getting to know her. It was never talked about amongst the characters, which I found strange.
To Make Matters Worse
I accidentally bought this book twice with different titles. Possibly a scheme to get more purchases because the story itself wasn’t a good seller? I think yes. So now I’m stuck with two books that are exactly the same amount of sucky.
What Was Wrong?
The dialogue was dry. The characters didn’t really have any substance. The plots and sub-plots seemed dull and hastily thrown together. This book was a huge mess. I didn't even get a chance to get to half of it before I lost interest.
Tosh, at one point, crosses into the game world. Or does he? Literally? Or mentally? The lines are all blurred and I couldn't tell what was real or not. Maybe the author meant to do this? But everything literally just happened to fast. His mom left out of nowhere without us really getting to know her. It was never talked about amongst the characters, which I found strange.
To Make Matters Worse
I accidentally bought this book twice with different titles. Possibly a scheme to get more purchases because the story itself wasn’t a good seller? I think yes. So now I’m stuck with two books that are exactly the same amount of sucky.
March 31, 2017
The concept presented in the blurb intrigued me, but once I started the book, I was disappointed. When used well, fluctuating reality can present an interesting story, keeping the reader on their toes, but I found this confusing, which could have been salvaged with a satisfying ending, but that didn't happen. The 'big reveal' of the event that the main character is trying to avoid throughout the story was mildly surprising, but so much else was left unresolved that I found no satisfaction in the ending. Leaving a reader with no idea what was reality and what was fantasy is, again, something that can produce a satisfying story if done well, but I didn't find that here. I was left with too many questions and a "that was it?" feeling.
May 1, 2018
God it was bad. I mean BAD. This book struggles to be coherent at the best time and attempts to be an edgy mix of dreams, slugishly and loosely trying to tie everything together. It reminded me of Mr. Nobody except poorly done and wayyyyyy worse.
April 11, 2019
I really wanted to understand this book but it just left me so confused. The plot was all over the place and I really didn't care for the characters. I only bought this book cause it was at bargain price haha
March 12, 2017
what the hell did i just spend a day of my life reading?
March 30, 2020
I don't know what happened
December 12, 2017
Ascending The Boneyard Review
Many of us struggles with their own difficulties which originates from your daily life, however every person has different methods of overcoming the difficulty. In the novel, Ascending The Boneyard, the author, “C.G. Watson” deliberately creates a scenario where “Caleb” suffers from family trauma. He attempts to escape from the reality by playing games with his friends; not only does he realize it wasn't making the situation any better. The author grabs the readers eye by the complicated dialogues between characters and strong constant motif would create scenery where anybody would be able to experience the true negativity of the novel.
Obviously, the motif throughout the entire novel would be Video Games called the “Boneyard”. The author tends to compare his in-real-life actions with video games which illustrates how he is unable to believe in reality, and trapped in his own world of his mind. The rapid change in setting makes the reader lose attention to what reality Caleb’s been going through, therefore representing how video games is currently Caleb’s world and the readers are too.
The “Girls” in Caleb’s reality would be another motif that makes this novel. Since Caleb is a teenage boy, he tends to bring up girls up to his mind from time to time, however treating them unwell due to his trauma. Relating an ordinary girl to a “underworld hostage” (Watson 162), representing struggle in showing positivity and no mindset of changing himself. Contrasting the rapid storyline and the character’s progression, the ratio would be completely opposite from each other. With overwhelming amount of disasters such as massive bird death to absolutely no change in the character, the author portrays a message how no matter what tragedy occurs, how many deal with them does not differentiate.
As I come to the novels end, it was definitely difficult to follow the storyline making the reader confused if the events were the past, present or even just a image in his head due to the complex and rather independent diction of her own.
Many of us struggles with their own difficulties which originates from your daily life, however every person has different methods of overcoming the difficulty. In the novel, Ascending The Boneyard, the author, “C.G. Watson” deliberately creates a scenario where “Caleb” suffers from family trauma. He attempts to escape from the reality by playing games with his friends; not only does he realize it wasn't making the situation any better. The author grabs the readers eye by the complicated dialogues between characters and strong constant motif would create scenery where anybody would be able to experience the true negativity of the novel.
Obviously, the motif throughout the entire novel would be Video Games called the “Boneyard”. The author tends to compare his in-real-life actions with video games which illustrates how he is unable to believe in reality, and trapped in his own world of his mind. The rapid change in setting makes the reader lose attention to what reality Caleb’s been going through, therefore representing how video games is currently Caleb’s world and the readers are too.
The “Girls” in Caleb’s reality would be another motif that makes this novel. Since Caleb is a teenage boy, he tends to bring up girls up to his mind from time to time, however treating them unwell due to his trauma. Relating an ordinary girl to a “underworld hostage” (Watson 162), representing struggle in showing positivity and no mindset of changing himself. Contrasting the rapid storyline and the character’s progression, the ratio would be completely opposite from each other. With overwhelming amount of disasters such as massive bird death to absolutely no change in the character, the author portrays a message how no matter what tragedy occurs, how many deal with them does not differentiate.
As I come to the novels end, it was definitely difficult to follow the storyline making the reader confused if the events were the past, present or even just a image in his head due to the complex and rather independent diction of her own.
March 5, 2020
Caleb Tosh can't always tell the real from the fake. When his mom leaves him, his father, his younger brother Devin, and older brother Nathan Haze, Caleb starts to see things that seem like they came straight out of his favorite video game.
I'd say this book was alright. Most of the time it was pretty fun to read. It shows the story of how Caleb Tosh, a 14 year old boy, goes on what he thinks is an amazing adventure.
This book blends the fake and the real. It can be interesting at times, but other times I just couldn't tell what was going on. This book seems to just throw stuff at you without showing any ties to reality. Personally, books like this only really work if you have something to connect them to reality. Something that you know is real so that you have an idea of what is happening.
Overall, this book is ok but I wouldn't recommend it to most people.
I'd say this book was alright. Most of the time it was pretty fun to read. It shows the story of how Caleb Tosh, a 14 year old boy, goes on what he thinks is an amazing adventure.
This book blends the fake and the real. It can be interesting at times, but other times I just couldn't tell what was going on. This book seems to just throw stuff at you without showing any ties to reality. Personally, books like this only really work if you have something to connect them to reality. Something that you know is real so that you have an idea of what is happening.
Overall, this book is ok but I wouldn't recommend it to most people.
December 31, 2017
I have many feelings about this book. One being confusion. Another being admiration. It's hard to put into words. Somehow the end brings things together in a decent way that I liked. However, there was such a blur of everything else throughout the book that I may not have enjoyed the end as much as I could have.
June 5, 2020
Incredible ending, powerful message and very cool how they relate the message so well to how the story ends. This was a 4 out of 5 until that ending. Amazing!!
June 27, 2022
wait what just happened
Read
April 6, 2016Caleb Tosh has a solution when life gets too "real." He dives into the gaming world in a game called The Boneyard. In the game he participates in missions that help him feel in control when the rest of his life is crashing around him.
Caleb blames himself for the accident that ended normal life for his little brother Devin. The same accident that split his already fragile family in two. His dad was always tough on everyone, but now he's even tougher, and watching his mother drive away with Stan the pest control man is the last straw for Caleb.
All life's disappointments combine to force Caleb into the game. Separating real life from the challenges of The Boneyard begins to be more and more difficult. Ascending to the next level to become Worthy absorbs Caleb to the point that even his best friend Haze doesn't understand.
Caleb's life is filled with the UpperWorld, the UnderWorld, swarms of cockroaches, mysterious text messages, and impossible to find on-ramps. Can he find his mother and can he rise above the guilt that he feels for everything that's gone wrong in his world?
Author C. G. Watson captures the online game world to a T. I know teens whose lives outside my classroom are filled with game strategies, controllers, and hours upon hours of screen time. ASCENDING THE BONEYARD is just the book to convince some of them that an equally amazing world can be found between the pages if they give Caleb and The Boneyard a chance.
Caleb blames himself for the accident that ended normal life for his little brother Devin. The same accident that split his already fragile family in two. His dad was always tough on everyone, but now he's even tougher, and watching his mother drive away with Stan the pest control man is the last straw for Caleb.
All life's disappointments combine to force Caleb into the game. Separating real life from the challenges of The Boneyard begins to be more and more difficult. Ascending to the next level to become Worthy absorbs Caleb to the point that even his best friend Haze doesn't understand.
Caleb's life is filled with the UpperWorld, the UnderWorld, swarms of cockroaches, mysterious text messages, and impossible to find on-ramps. Can he find his mother and can he rise above the guilt that he feels for everything that's gone wrong in his world?
Author C. G. Watson captures the online game world to a T. I know teens whose lives outside my classroom are filled with game strategies, controllers, and hours upon hours of screen time. ASCENDING THE BONEYARD is just the book to convince some of them that an equally amazing world can be found between the pages if they give Caleb and The Boneyard a chance.
October 17, 2015
I got an ARC of this book that was supplied to our store by the publisher. As a gamer, I really wanted to like this book about online gameplay and how the lines of reality and fantasy can be blurred. From the start, this YA had plenty of potential. Young man from a dysfunctional background slips into a his fantasy gaming universe to escape the harsh realities of life. The plot is very predictable and I knew from the beginning what the ending was going to be so there was no surprise there when I finally finished it.
Sadly, this book didn't do it for me. There was some confusion with the storytelling and I found some parts of the gameplay and this universe that the author created difficult to follow at times. In addition, some terms such as aggro and leveling were not defined to a non-gamer so I'm sure someone who picks up this book might not know what the narrator is talking about. Finally, the amount of metaphors and symbolism was lost in translation and I tried to make a connection to what the author was trying to say.
Ascending the Boneyard was an okay read for me. I think with some gaps filled and explained, it would make more sense and flow better. For now, I recommend passing on it.
Sadly, this book didn't do it for me. There was some confusion with the storytelling and I found some parts of the gameplay and this universe that the author created difficult to follow at times. In addition, some terms such as aggro and leveling were not defined to a non-gamer so I'm sure someone who picks up this book might not know what the narrator is talking about. Finally, the amount of metaphors and symbolism was lost in translation and I tried to make a connection to what the author was trying to say.
Ascending the Boneyard was an okay read for me. I think with some gaps filled and explained, it would make more sense and flow better. For now, I recommend passing on it.
July 31, 2016
The book is fast pace and putting in the elements of a game into the book was indeed interesting. I have not read a book that incorporated gaming to become a storyline. The adventures that Caleb Tosh went were dangerous and exciting. It made the readers want to read more as events keep on changing from one page to the other.
However, there was no explanation on how the world changed from normal to his game like in the story. It was abrupt which made the readers confused to continuing on reading. There was not really a mission for him to complete and the things that he did seemed pointless as he just roams around each time. His character was one-dimension with lack of progress in the book and the people he met was also just as boring as him. The unexpected ending was also pointless as I was not really able to follow the storyline and I could not understand what the story was trying to convey.
Overall, the storyline was weak as readers could not really able to follow. The decisions that Caleb made was not explained and the abrupt ending was not living up to the reader’s expectations. But, the intense adventures he had was fast-paced which made reading the book a little more enjoyable.
However, there was no explanation on how the world changed from normal to his game like in the story. It was abrupt which made the readers confused to continuing on reading. There was not really a mission for him to complete and the things that he did seemed pointless as he just roams around each time. His character was one-dimension with lack of progress in the book and the people he met was also just as boring as him. The unexpected ending was also pointless as I was not really able to follow the storyline and I could not understand what the story was trying to convey.
Overall, the storyline was weak as readers could not really able to follow. The decisions that Caleb made was not explained and the abrupt ending was not living up to the reader’s expectations. But, the intense adventures he had was fast-paced which made reading the book a little more enjoyable.
August 23, 2018
This BOOK needs to be thrown in the boneyard… haha. But for reals. This is only the second book in my whole life that I’ve had to slap a DNF label on. First book of the year and hopefully the only one that sucks this bad.
What Was Wrong?
The dialogue was dry. The characters didn’t really have any substance. The plots and sub-plots seemed dull and hastily thrown together. This book was a huge mess. I didn't even get a chance to get to half of it before I lost interest.
Tosh, at one point, crosses into the game world. Or does he? Literally? Or mentally? The lines are all blurred and I couldn't tell what was real or not. Maybe the author meant to do this? But everything literally just happened to fast. His mom left out of nowhere without us really getting to know her. It was never talked about amongst the characters, which I found strange.
To Make Matter Worse
I accidentally bought this book twice with different titles. Possibly a scheme to get more purchases because the story itself wasn’t a good seller? I think yes. So now I’m stuck with two books that are exactly the same amount of sucky.
What Was Wrong?
The dialogue was dry. The characters didn’t really have any substance. The plots and sub-plots seemed dull and hastily thrown together. This book was a huge mess. I didn't even get a chance to get to half of it before I lost interest.
Tosh, at one point, crosses into the game world. Or does he? Literally? Or mentally? The lines are all blurred and I couldn't tell what was real or not. Maybe the author meant to do this? But everything literally just happened to fast. His mom left out of nowhere without us really getting to know her. It was never talked about amongst the characters, which I found strange.
To Make Matter Worse
I accidentally bought this book twice with different titles. Possibly a scheme to get more purchases because the story itself wasn’t a good seller? I think yes. So now I’m stuck with two books that are exactly the same amount of sucky.
November 15, 2016
I Have finished Reading "Ascending the Boneyard", and I have found out it was great for myself to read. After finishing the book I realized the main character "Caleb Tosh" was not done, he was just getting started, that right there put me on the edge of my seat and I was thinking there's going to be a sequel to this book. Speaking about the book It all starts out with "Caleb Tosh" (who I already mention), Lives with mother and his younger brother, but all of that change when his mother leaves him and his younger brother. Now at the edge of pain and suffering Caleb Tosh try's his best to go save his mother and younger brother, with the help of his friends, but theirs one problem, he can't tell the difference between real life and virtual reality. Join "Caleb Tosh" as he goes on missions from his game and see if he can save his mother, Or die trying.
March 23, 2016
I had really been looking forward to reading this book, and am pleased to say that I really enjoyed it. The voice was great and engaging and kept me glued as I flipped through the pages. I love video games, and that part of this felt authentic and real. I kept wanting more, even when I realized that I was going to be reaching the end. It had such a cool vibe and kept me guessing. I know the book describes itself as being along the lines of Donnie Darko, and I would say that's accurate. Lines were blurred and it gave a disorienting feeling, which I loved. I felt immersed into this world and I think you will too.
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