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The Glare

Margot Harrison (Goodreads Author)

3.47 · Rating details · 152 ratings · 48 reviews

After ten years of living on an isolated, tech-free ranch with her mother, sixteen-year-old Hedda is going back to the world of the Glare-her word for cell phones, computers, and tablets. Hedda was taught to be afraid of technology, afraid that it would get inside her mind and hurt her. But now she's going to stay with her dad in California, where she was born, and she's f ...more

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Hardcover, 336 pages

Published July 14th 2020 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

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· 152 ratings · 48 reviews

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Jul 29, 2020 Bethany rated it really liked it

A deadly game on the Dark Web. A girl kept away from technology for ten years. Until now....

Hedda is 16 and has spent the past 10 years on an isolated ranch with her mother, protected from what she calls "the glare" of screens and the internet. We know that something traumatic happened when she was six, and now she's going to spend a few months living with her dad and stepmom. Back in the world of technology for the first time in a decade. She begins having flashbacks of lost memories and re-dis A deadly game on the Dark Web. A girl kept away from technology for ten years. Until now....

Hedda is 16 and has spent the past 10 years on an isolated ranch with her mother, protected from what she calls "the glare" of screens and the internet. We know that something traumatic happened when she was six, and now she's going to spend a few months living with her dad and stepmom. Back in the world of technology for the first time in a decade. She begins having flashbacks of lost memories and re-discovers a horror survival game on the dark web. Urban legends say that if you did 13 times on level 13, you will die in real life too.

The Glare is the kind of horror novel that slowly builds a creeping sense of dread that something isn't quite right, eventually culminating in a lot of violence. I didn't want to put it down. It grapples with the fears that come with technology as a constant part of our lives. Questions of privacy and secrets, of addiction, of disturbingly personal marketing, of cyber-bullying, online anonymity, and of how that can intersect with issues of trauma and mental health. It is creepy and disturbing, but a solid horror novel that feels all too possible.

I'll admit that because this YA novel, I got a little nervous partway through reading that this would be a didactic message about the harmfulness of screens, social media, and video games for teens. Thankfully it isn't that, although I think it does suggest the value of balance and connecting with the non-digital world. It also opens a conversation on the potential dark side of all the technology that has become so entwined with our daily lives, and how little we sometimes know about people, even those closest to us.

Overall, I had a really great reading experience with The Glare. The author is particularly good at conveying an underlying tone of dread, and writing tense and disturbing scenes where you aren't quite sure what's real. The sense of atmosphere and the actual game are fantastic. I also appreciated that the author wasn't afraid to kill of characters, although I wanted a bit more from character development at times to make those deaths have a greater impact. I don't think I cared enough about most of the side characters for it to have the emotional weight it was supposed to. I also wish this had grappled more with the mental health implications of things and offered the possibility of solutions involving therapy etc. That said, I think this is a very solid example of YA horror and would recommend it. I received an advance copy of this book for review from the author. All opinions are my own.

Content warnings include graphic violence, stabbing, monsters, self-harm, uncertain reality, mild cyber-bullying, teen drinking and drug use, death, murder, and (view spoiler) among others. ...more

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Apr 16, 2020 Julie Zantopoulos rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-in-2020, arc

This was another YA thriller miss for me. This had so much potential and went so far off the rails at the end that it couldn't be saved. We start off with the potential to be creeped out when a dark web game takes itself offline and starts tormenting its players but along the line we seriously lose grip on the real "villain".

CW: Some questionable comments: casual throwing around of "well, he's not a date rapist but maybe be careful" and also potentially outting a character's sexuality ("have it ...more

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Sep 11, 2019 Jesse Sutanto rated it it was amazing

My allocated reading times are: 1. When I’m on the treadmill, and 2. When I’m curled up in bed.

But I couldn’t read THE GLARE in bed...because HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS IT IS SO CREEPY. But that’s okay, because THE GLARE is so good that I found myself looking forward to my treadmill sessions. Yes, this book is so good that it made me look forward to EXERCISING. If that’s not magical, then I don’t know what is.

The beginning made me think it was going to be like a Black Mirror-ish type thing where scree My allocated reading times are: 1. When I’m on the treadmill, and 2. When I’m curled up in bed.

But I couldn’t read THE GLARE in bed...because HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS IT IS SO CREEPY. But that’s okay, because THE GLARE is so good that I found myself looking forward to my treadmill sessions. Yes, this book is so good that it made me look forward to EXERCISING. If that’s not magical, then I don’t know what is.

The beginning made me think it was going to be like a Black Mirror-ish type thing where screens (TV/phones/computers) are literally called the Glare, but this isn't it at all. This is a good thing, because honestly I've had my fill of Black Mirror and similar stories. Sooo what is it about? Well.

There's a game on the Dark Web. If you play it and you die 13 times on level 13, you will die in real life.

As a gamer, I found the premise interesting (and creepy as hell). And then I read it, and all the instances of gaming were so convincingly written I found myself WANTING to play the Glare. I felt as hooked as the characters did. I wanted to charge in and shoot at Randoms (faceless monsters in the game) and I wanted to prove that I wouldn't fall victim to the level 13 curse. The author has executed the addictive nature of games and screens in general so, so well.

Speaking of screen time addiction, reading the book also made me more aware of how much screen time I'm getting. I've read the same stuff probably everyone else has, about how we're way too addicted to screens and so on and so forth, but reading this book really drove it home, especially the feeling I get sometimes, about our virtual lives leeching into reality and starting to feel more real than meatspace. It really made me take a step back and try to put a limit on random screen time, like looking up stuff that I don't really need to.

I really felt for Hedda, especially how convinced she was that she wouldn't get hooked on screens again, and how quickly the Glare pulled her in. Thing is, Hedda is smart. She isn't one of those too-dumb-to-live characters, which is why it's even more effective when she does succumb to the seduction of the internet. Like, I GET IT, HEDDA. Been there, done that, still spending way too much time staring at my phone. I relate so hard to her struggle (as most of us do, I'm sure!) and I empathized with her when things start going wrong.

Okay, so TL;DR, this is an intense read, do not read it before bed because you will definitely get nightmares!!
...more

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Jul 13, 2020 Amber (The Book Bratz) rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, netgalley, reviewed, young-adult, science-fiction, 2020-reads, thriller, horror, stayed-up-way-to-late-to-finish, finished-in-one-sitting

The full review + more can be found at The Book Bratz

*Thank you so much Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review THE GLARE*

Content Warnings: Suicidal thoughts, self harm, suicide, death, underage drinking, drugs, psychological torment, murder.

Dark Web. Psychological Thriller. Horror. Alright, I was sold immediately. I am really glad I gave this book a shot, I enjoyed it so much more then I thought I would. I stayed up until 4 a.m. to finish The full review + more can be found at The Book Bratz

*Thank you so much Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review THE GLARE*

Content Warnings: Suicidal thoughts, self harm, suicide, death, underage drinking, drugs, psychological torment, murder.

Dark Web. Psychological Thriller. Horror. Alright, I was sold immediately. I am really glad I gave this book a shot, I enjoyed it so much more then I thought I would. I stayed up until 4 a.m. to finish because I needed to know what was going to happen next.

For the past 10 years of her life, Hedda has lived on a ranch isolated from society and technology by her mother who is protecting her from "the glare" which is any from of technology with a screen, mainly cell phones. Now 16 years old, Hedda is going back to California to live with her dad, step mom and step brother in a world full of technology that she has no idea about. Shortly after arriving and being reintroduced to technology Hedda begins to have flash backs from her childhood and that dark things that happened because of technology and the final straw that led her mom to whisk her away to their isolated ranch. Exploring her belongings from childhood Hedda comes across a link to a game from the dark web and begins to play. But urban legend says if you die 13 times on level 13, you will die in real life too and Hedda just died for the 13th time.

I think The Glare brings up a good discussion on technology in this day and age. There is no set time frame of this book so I am going to assume present day (2018/2019) which would make 10 years ago 2008/9. Tablets were only released in the last decade for Android ('08) and Apple ('10), which would mean that when Hedda was 6 years old this technology was still fairly new. It also talks about a social media that is used and most of the characters have used as children. But we live in a day and age now that this isn't unheard of, children using Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and having cell phones. The internet can be a dangerous place and I think The Glare does a good job in showing that, even if 99.9% of children don't have access to darkweb games.

The Glare actually refers to the game that circles on the Dark Web that played a huge part of Hedda's childhood. When Hedda is introduced to the game and then introduces it to her friends is when the story begins to get interesting. The horror and creepiness of this story really does creep up on you, at first I was like "this isn't that scary" and then suddenly my dog was making noise outside my room and I was paranoid that one of the creatures from The Glare was behind my door. The later half of The Glare is unpredictable and the action keeps happening and as more of the secrets behind The Glare are released the more I needed to know.

Overall I really enjoyed The Glare and I am really content with how the story ended. Margot did a great job in keeping her readers invested in the story as well as addressing the issues in current day society about technology. If you love sci-fi, horror and thrillers you should check out this book!
...more

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Jun 23, 2020 TheCrookedHouse rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror

I'm glad that I got the opportunity to read this.

The Glare is basically Creepy Pasta meets The Ring, which I think is perfect for a YA Horror storyline.

All that I will divulge about the story is that there is an urban legend about a video game on the dark web and it's called The Glare. If the player dies on level 13, 13 times, then they are cursed to die in real life.

In the first third of the book, I was afraid that it was going to be more about a young girl that has been basically traumatize ...more

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Apr 28, 2020 Margot Harrison added it · (Review from the author)

Hi! I wrote this book, and I hope you enjoy its dark twists and turns. Because The Glare is a thriller with strong horror elements, I want to provide some content warnings, under the spoiler tags:

(view spoiler)

If you're a reader and find something I've missed here, please message me—I appreciate it ...more

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Jun 21, 2020 Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* rated it really liked it

Shelves: high, high-school

The Glare by Margot Harrison, 327 pages. Hyperion (Disney Book Group), 2020. $18

Language: R (53 Swears, 8 ‘F’ words); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG-13

BUYING ADVISORY: HS – OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Hedda has spent the last ten years living in seclusion on a ranch with her mom. Her mom tells her she did this for Hedda’s own good, because when Hedda was 6 years old she had an experience with digital devices (which Hedda called “the glare”) that sent her “off-kilter.” Hedda now has to face The Glare by Margot Harrison, 327 pages. Hyperion (Disney Book Group), 2020. $18

Language: R (53 Swears, 8 ‘F’ words); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG-13

BUYING ADVISORY: HS – OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Hedda has spent the last ten years living in seclusion on a ranch with her mom. Her mom tells her she did this for Hedda’s own good, because when Hedda was 6 years old she had an experience with digital devices (which Hedda called “the glare”) that sent her “off-kilter.” Hedda now has to face the world of the glare again as she returns to live with her father in suburban California—where screens are everywhere. Quickly, Hedda realizes what the glare actually is—a first person shooter video game that messes with your mind. The game sends you texts to encourage you to keep playing and mocks you when you die. There is an urban legend surrounding the glare that says that if you die thirteen times on level thirteen, you die in real life. Hedda laughs this off until her friends start getting hurt. Now Hedda has to get to the bottom of the legend to save her friends, as well as her own sanity.

Hedda's story took me some time to get into, in part because of the writing style. My personal preference is that I dislike novels written in present tense, as this book is, because it makes them feel passive. Once I got passed that, however, I found myself enjoying the story. Some of the interesting themes are relevant today - the danger of digital devices and how they can affect mental health, particularly teenagers. We see good examples of teenagers dealing with different mental and emotional difficulties while they struggle to go about their normal lives. “The glare” forces them to focus on their difficulties and their shame and it damages them. Older teenagers would find this story compelling because of these themes, as well as the action sequences and twists that are revealed throughout the plot.

John Rollins – Junior High English Teacher
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2020... ...more

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Jul 24, 2020 Kya Young rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, 2020, 3-star

The summary of this book had my attention. A girl named Hedda lives out in the middle of bum frick nowhere in Arizona with no technology, which she calls the glare. Then she moves in with her dad in California. They have technology like crazy and what does she end up doing? Get's on the dark web. Oh yeah, because we all just browse the dark web for fun these days when we have a cell phone!

Anyway, she finds this game and if you die thirteen times on level 13 you will die in real life. Basically ...more

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Sep 21, 2019 Karen Hattrup rated it it was amazing

I loved the description of this book as soon as I read it: 16-year-old Hedda was raised an isolated ranch & taught to fear technology, and when she returns to real world, she gets caught up in a deadly video game on the dark web - AHHH! The eeriness of the story creeps up on you slowly and steadily, making you question what's real, until all hell breaks loose, leading toward a wild, rewarding showdown at the end. The approach to technology is delicately handled - the book's not trying to make an ...more

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Jun 03, 2020 Melissa rated it liked it

The story of Hedda trying to remember her past as she frets about her present and future is thrilling and the plot is well constructed. It is a lot like the play on endorphins that technology plays in the book. The only feeling is I don't like about the book is the "mom" tone that you can feel is constantly preaching to you about how addictive technology can be. I'm sure that is the point of the novel, to make you think about how technology is used in your life. But some themes are better left l ...more

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Jul 21, 2020 Jennifer rated it really liked it

The glare was so good. I really liked the mystery and everything in it. The twists was pretty fun in it.

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Nov 26, 2020 Jackson rated it it was amazing

While I'm not typically a YA reader, I enjoyed Harrison's fresh take on modern horror. In a genre that has been pounded into the ground, it is hard to break new ground, but The Glare practically reinvents the ghost story by creating ghouls that are not necessarily supernatural, but more a product of present-day technology -- or, more specifically, a product of the detrimental cognitive effects of this technology.

The Glare follows a teenaged girl, Hedda, who has just moved back to the Bay Area of While I'm not typically a YA reader, I enjoyed Harrison's fresh take on modern horror. In a genre that has been pounded into the ground, it is hard to break new ground, but The Glare practically reinvents the ghost story by creating ghouls that are not necessarily supernatural, but more a product of present-day technology -- or, more specifically, a product of the detrimental cognitive effects of this technology.

The Glare follows a teenaged girl, Hedda, who has just moved back to the Bay Area of California after a decade spent living off-grid in the Arizona desert with her mom. Now living with her dad and stepmother, Hedda must readjust to modern society and its obsession with social media, smart phones, and, above all, screens -- what she refers to as "the glare." Though her mother warns against using screens, Hedda almost immediately falls in-line with other kids her age, obtaining a phone and using a computer.

Unfortunately, she soon rediscovers a game on the Dark Web -- a first-person shooter also called The Glare -- that she vaguely remembers playing as a young child. As Hedda gets back into playing the game, she realizes that it is because of this game -- and the terrifying real-world consequences of playing it -- that she had to take refuge in the desert in the first place.

As the game becomes popular within Hedda's small group of school friends, horrifying events begin to occur, largely caused by pale, faceless specters known as the Randoms, who make the leap from the game world to the physical world.

Or have they? Harrison cleverly delves into the psychological phenomena known as "game transfer phenomena" (similar to the "Tetris effect"), wherein elements of addictive video games infiltrate all aspects of a player's waking life. Is this what Hedda and her friends suffer from? Or have the Randoms truly freed themselves?

More importantly, who is behind the game? Who keeps the servers running, and who is responsible for continually luring unsuspecting gamers into this dangerous virtual world? There are many questions to be asked as you read Harrison's novel, and the guessing game culminates with a surprising ending that will likely catch most readers completely off-guard.

I feel that, in writing this novel, Harrison set out on a difficult journey herself, attempting to meld current technology and authentic terminology with complex psychology and the tone of a classic horror story -- all intended for a discerning YA audience. A tall order indeed. But with The Glare she has succeeded, creating a very unique read. ...more

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Aug 16, 2020 Sean Carlin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

My first foray into literary "cyber-horror," a subgenre classification I only recently learned about through Margot Harrison's excellent New York Times essay "The Horror Novel Lurking in Your Busy Online Life," has set a very high bar! The Glare is inventive, scary, suspenseful, and, despite its potentially off-putting designation as "YA lit," boasts appreciably smarter dialogue and characterization than your average Young Adult offering; the story traffics in nuanced emotion, not on-the-nose em ...more

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Oct 28, 2020 Thalyta S. rated it really liked it

Shelves: page-turner, read-in-english, audiobooks, big-plot-twist, ya, mystery, thrillers, 2020-reads

The glare is about Hedda, she has been living away from technology for the past 10 years because of a traumatic event that happened when she was young. Now, she must return to the world of technology and uncover what really happened in her past.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The plot was well thought-out, the mystery kept me guessing all the way to the end, and the spooky atmosphere really sucked me in! Also, I really enjoyed Hedda's development as a character and her learning to limit her ...more

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Dec 18, 2020 Jen (LOHF/Book Den) marked it as dnf

Shelves: horror, young-adult, lohf-2020-ya

This is coming off as preachy so I'm having a hard time getting into it. ...more

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Jan 19, 2021 Jo Clyburn rated it liked it

This book sounded more entertaining than it was.

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Aug 14, 2020 Chris Tebbetts rated it it was amazing

There's a slightly fraught aspect to reading a friend's book. By the same token, it's a great feeling to get to the end of one of those books and eagerly look forward to telling your friend how much you liked the novel. Which is the case here. The thriller story itself is absolutely compelling, but it's Margot Harrison's writing and character creation that really sold me. The voice of her teenaged character is exactly what I love in a YA novel -- believable, unaffected, consistent, and fully aut ...more

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Oct 17, 2019 CherryCarrot rated it it was amazing

It's kind of ironic that I read The Glare at a time when I was trying to cut down on my own screen time. Otherwise, I think I would quite happily have sailed through this in a sitting or two - the writing is lovely, with an absorbing slow burn plot that draws you in and then accelerates in the second half as the stakes increase. The premise - an addictive first person shooter where, if you die thirteen times on level thirteen, you die in real life - comes straight from horror land, and while the ...more

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Sep 12, 2019 Nicole Lesperance rated it it was amazing

You will never look at your phone the same way again after reading this! This was one of the most chilling books I've read, and I loved that it's scary on two levels. First, there's all this downright terrifying stuff happening to the characters as a result of them playing the Glare, but second, on a more subtle and worrying level, there is all this stuff about the internet, addiction, social media, gaming, and the ways screens have taken over pretty much all areas of our lives. I found it thoug ...more

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Jul 07, 2020 Erin rated it really liked it

Shelves: received-for-review, read-in-2020, 2020-release

4.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Margot Harrison for an e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

"The only winning move is not to play."

Harrison has done it again with the Glare. Like her first book The Killer In Me, this book had me on the edge of my seat needing to know what was happening and what was causing it.
Hedda has lived tech-free since the age of six when something happened to scare him, mom, into taking them as far away from the city, and tech-life as possible. Now at the age of s 4.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Margot Harrison for an e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

"The only winning move is not to play."

Harrison has done it again with the Glare. Like her first book The Killer In Me, this book had me on the edge of my seat needing to know what was happening and what was causing it.
Hedda has lived tech-free since the age of six when something happened to scare him, mom, into taking them as far away from the city, and tech-life as possible. Now at the age of sixteen, Hedda is having the opportunity to go and live with her dad who is big into tech as he is a programmer while her mom goes and takes care of a friend. While Hedda is being given freedom her mom still wants her to stay as tech-free as possible... Well, I think we can all guess how quickly that want goes out the window as soon as Hedda gets the opportunity to be like other teens her age.
Once back to 'civilized life' Hedda gets her hands on some tech thanks to her dad and step-mom Erika. Erika is the main parental figure in Hedda's life now as her dad is a very busy man. So Erika is the one we see helping her get adjusted to being back with tech and around her old friends again that she hasn't seen since she was six. While some things have changed, others haven't.
Hedda ends up stumbling upon the game The Glare and because she has no idea what to do with it she asks her old friends for some help. This is when the chaos starts happening and the game starts getting all too real. People start getting jumpy at any type of electronic noise, and others start trying to figure out why it suddenly stops after a certain point. One thing they all have in common though is a fear of what they can't undo.

Overall this book is terrifying to a certain extent. Harrison always manages to make her books feel very real and she did it again with this one. You can feel the fear that Hedda and her friends are experiencing while also wanting to know what is happening, and why it's happening all over again like it did ten years ago. I loved Hedda's step-mom and brother and the interactions they had. It was so nice to see an involved parent for a change in a young adult book, especially a step-parent not being made the enemy for a change.
The ending was one that I wasn't expecting and I loved that. I figured out what was happening at the same time Hedda did. Harrison is always able to surprise me and scare the daylights out of me when it comes to her books and I love that!

There is so much packed into The Glare that I know I am going to have to read the finished copy when it comes out to catch everything that happened. ...more

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Feb 02, 2021 Elna rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, ya, soft-sci-fi, mystery, lib

The most annoying thing is the whole absolute world is when you KNOW that you're right, or that what you're saying is true, and people refuse to listen or believe you.

A very close second is when people (usually parents) keep VERY IMPORTANT information away from the people it pertains, which always comes back to bite them in the butt. How hard is it to have those conversations with someone so you can introduce it gradually and make sure they understand??

So our poor Hedda heads out into the world ...more

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Aug 13, 2020 Sachin rated it really liked it

“I can see you! It’s going to get inside, you too!”

The Glare is basically The Ring meet One Missed Called meets Creepy Pasta. The prefect YA horror story.

The glare, if a player dies on level 13, 13 times, then they are cursed to die in real life. When Hadda is introduced to the game and then introduces it to her friends and the chain reaction begins and the story definitely starts to get interesting.

“The expertly balanced reality-blurring storyline and strategic technology depictions seed psyc ...more

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Feb 23, 2021 Suki rated it really liked it

Shelves: reading-list-2021

Allow me to start off saying I really enjoyed this book. It had likeable, somewhat relatable characters, {initially} relatable scenarios and the plot made sense, for the most part. Of course, I can't entirely compare this book to my personal experiences, because as far as I know, we don't have any first person shooter games from the dark web that cause us to go insane until we die. However, the opening of the book seemed relatable enough if we put ourselves in Hedda's position. I can't say I wou ...more

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Jul 07, 2020 Brittany pharmfreshreads rated it really liked it

This book is deliciously creepy!! Adding such a high creep factor to the intense, lengthy screen time most of us have today is brilliant. I loved the characters. The plot hooks you pretty quickly and gets creepier as you read...Did I mention it’s creepy?? I would love to read more books by Margot!
Heddy’s mom has sheltered her from The Glare (Heddy’s designation for technology with screens) for most of her life. They fled their high tech life in California when Heddy was 6. She has always been ta ...more

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Jan 08, 2021 Mary rated it liked it

Hedda has been living with her mother on an isolated tech-free ranch for ten years. Now she is returning to California to visit her father, while her mother visits a sick friend. Hedda doesn't remember much of her life before moving to the ranch. She does remember her friend, Mireya, and her neighbor, Ellis, and Ellis's sister, who was her babysitter. Something happened to the babysitter and Hedda has suffered from nightmares ever since.
She returns to California - the world of the Glare - deter ...more

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Aug 10, 2020 Kim rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, netgalley-edelweiss, young-adult-fiction, fiction, horror

Sometimes you just need a campy B horror movie, and this is the bookish equivalent.
There’s plenty of creep factor as more and more teens get sucked into an addictive game on the Dark Web and meet various gruesome ends. I appreciated Harrison’s cinematic writing and the diversity and development of secondary characters.
Teen readers may or may not pick up on the gentle digs Harrison weaves in about our screen-obsessed culture, but they’ll enjoy the twists and turns along the way.

Thanks to Hachett ...more

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Sep 26, 2020 Aiko rated it it was amazing

This. Book. Is. AWESOME! It had me looking around my bedroom for monsters and stay awake till 2 in the morning. I read it in one sitting! The book wasn't focused on the romance making their friendship even more sweet. The author kept me guessing who the creator was and I was so sure on who it was but she kept on proving me wrong. LOVED IT ...more

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Oct 18, 2020 Dana * rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, young-adult, mystery, 2020

I wanted to like this more, and I give it an extra star because I need to remember it is YA. I think I may judge it too harshly otherwise. I like the idea of the plot, and found a lot of the characters believable, but The resolution seemed forced after all of the plot buildup. I found a bit of the language used for descriptions really well done, and some very confusing.

Its a good story,

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Jan 09, 2021 Greer rated it it was amazing

Have to say that I almost DNF'd this book the beginning was a slow start but I'm glad I persevered. It turned out to be an exciting book to read that had me turning pages faster than I could read...almost. An online game that can embed in your mind even when your aren't playing. "The only way to win is not to play at all" ...more

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Nov 19, 2020 Amanda Shepard (Between-the-Shelves) rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, dystopia

This is going to sit somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me, so I rounded up. The story is suspenseful and the plot unwinds in a twist manner, but almost all of the side characters felt flat to me. The plot makes you keep turning the pages, though! I just wanted more from the characters.

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Science Fiction > Dystopia

3 users

Holiday > Halloween

2 users

Games > Gaming

2 users

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About Margot Harrison

Margot Harrison

98 followers

Margot Harrison was raised in the wilds of New York by lovely, nonviolent parents who somehow never managed to prevent her from staying up late to read scary books. She now works at an alt-weekly newspaper in Vermont, where her favorite part of the job is, of course, reviewing scary books and movies.