Rabbits: Spiel um dein Leben

Rabbits #1

by Terry Miles, Kai Andersen (Translator)

Deine Mitspieler: unbekannt. Die Regeln: tödlich. Der Einsatz: Dein Leben.
Es ist ein normaler Arbeitstag. Du siehst auf die Uhr: 4,44. Du checkst deine Mails, und 44 ungelesene Nachrichten warten auf dich. Schockiert realisierst du, dass heute der 4. April ist – der 4,4. Und als du in dein Auto steigst, um nach Hause zu fahren, zeigt der Kilometerzähler 44,444 an.

Zufall? Oder hast du gerade RABBITS für dich entdeckt?

Seit vielen Jahren hat K keine Familie mehr und kann sich nur noch auf zwei enge Freunde verlassen – Chloe und Baron. Gemeinsam sind sie süchtig nach RABBITS. Niemand weiß genau, seit wann dieses geheime Spiel im Untergrund existiert. Wann endlich die nächste Runde beginnt. Wer mitspielt. Was der Gewinner bekommt. Doch diese eine Regel ist klar: Die Spieler dürfen nicht darüber sprechen. Und wer gegen die Regel verstößt, schwebt in Lebensgefahr. So wie ein berühmter Ex-Spieler, der K einen Auftrag erteilt und plötzlich spurlos verschwindet. Alarmiert schlägt K alle Warnungen in den Wind und fängt an, den Hinweisen zu folgen – ohne zu ahnen, dass die gefährlichste RABBITS-Runde aller Zeiten längst begonnen hat.

»Eine Achterbahnfahrt voller Twists, die sich nahtlos von einer Schatzsuche zu einem Verschwörungsthriller zu einem Escape Room wandelt.« Kirkus Review

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Fantasy, Audiobook, Adult

496 pages, Paperback

First published June 8, 2021

About the author

Terry Miles is an award-winning filmmaker; creator of the Public Radio Alliance and that network's series of hit podcasts: Tanis, Rabbits (#1 on Apple Podcasts), Faerie, and The Last Movie; and co-creator of The Black Tapes. He splits his time between the dark emerald gloom of the Pacific Northwest and sunny Los Angeles.

Reviews

[MarilynW · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a podcast called Rabbits that preceded the writing of this book. I haven't listened to the podcast (yet) but I bet it would have made this story even more assessible to me. I've loved RPGs over the years although I'm not all that familiar with the early games. Still, I understood most of what was going on in this book although I'd probably fail at describing it very well. I won't even try to describe much of this story because it would give things away. And anyway, no one is supposed to talk about the game. Doing so could lead to injury, death, or disappearing forever!

The game is Rabbits (you didn't hear me say that). If I were in the book, I'd be among most of the world who never noticed Rabbits or the things that could lead some special folks to nosing around and getting addicted and enmeshed in the game. K has always been different. He's been aware of patterns and connections in all parts of life and his parents even fostered that talent in him. He also had eidetic memory, which allows him to see past what might seem like coincidences in the sights, sounds, and happenings around us. Because of his talents, he's hardwired to find his way into Rabbits and the more he's warned off the game the more he wants to know about it. 

K's has friends who are trying to figure out this game too but a few of them drop by the way side one way or another. At times his friend Chloe wants him to quit having anything to do with the game but then something will happen and she's hot on the trail of it again...making it easy for K to not give up the chase. There is a lot of mention of old songs, old computers, old games, old movies, and old books but getting close to the game seems to cause an alternate reality and what K once knew as fact becomes fuzzy or just plain wrong.

This story will take you down a deep rabbit hole...ha ha...and there is a chance no one will make it out. All of existence may be at stake if K can't fix what is wrong with this game that might not even exist. Is K crazy or is reality changing right in front of him?

You can also experience the world of Rabbits through the podcast.
https://www.rabbitspodcast.com/
Publication: June 8, 2021

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine/Del Rey and NetGalley for this ARC.

[Blaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

No pattern hidden in the wet gray-brown cobblestones, no clues in the number of rungs that made up each of the fire escape ladders, no hidden messages in the graffiti spray-painted on the brick walls and dumpsters that lined the alley.
...
“That’s what’s happening to the multiverse? It’s becoming one giant, super-unstable, decoherent wave?”

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending me an ARC of Rabbits in exchange for an honest review. Rabbits is being marketed for fans of Blake Crouch, Ernest Cline, and Black Mirror. While I am a fan of all three (even if I was disappointed by Ready Player Two), this novel just didn’t work for me at all.

Rabbits is a difficult novel to describe. There’s allegedly an underground game called Rabbits that takes place in the real world from time to time right under everyone else’s noses. There aren’t any formal rules or structure to the game, but if you start noticing odd coincidences (the same number appearing again and again around you) or discrepancies (a building that you’re sure used to have two windows now has three) around you, you can follow those clues and find ... other clues. And if you get to the end of this string of clues then you’ll win ... a prize, maybe, no one’s really sure. The game is believed to be dangerous to play, but when a former winner turns up and tells our narrator, K, that she* has to fix the game or the whole world may be destroyed, K and her* would-be girlfriend Chloe try to “Win the Game, Save the World” (an actual chapter title).

And that’s pretty much it. I mean, other characters get involved and K has a backstory. But the plot is basically just K and Chloe talking, then noticing something weird, following it for a while, stopping, then noticing something else weird, lather, rinse, repeat. The book honestly could have been 200 shorter or 200 pages longer without any real difference to the story—it just seemed to be a matter of how long the author felt like telling the story.

Compounding the problem of the repetition was the unreality of it all. If you never really know what’s real and what’s not, it’s very difficult to become invested in or attached to any of the characters. While the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon and Mandela effect discussions were interesting, the happenings here were extreme to the point of absurdity. If a friend of yours in real life started telling you that they were seeing connections between unrelated events the way K and Chloe do, you would call to get them psychological help.

Rabbits is set in the same world Mr. Miles created in a 2017 podcast. The publisher says you don’t have to be familiar with the podcast to enjoy the book. Perhaps, but all I can say is I wasn’t familiar with that podcast and I unfortunately didn’t enjoy the book. If you really liked the podcast, I guess I’d say give the novel a try. Otherwise, I can’t recommend it.

*P.S. After reading an e-book ARC of Rabbits, I initially posted this review describing K as he/his. That led to some discussion in the comments about K’s gender, which is never explicitly stated in this first-person narrative though the audiobook is read by a woman. Apparently in post-release interviews, the author confirmed that K is female.

On one level, it doesn’t matter at all; K’s gender is completely irrelevant to the story. But on another level, I’m not sure why the author didn’t call attention in the text itself to the fact that either: 1) he was deliberately leaving K’s gender unstated, allowing the reader to fill in that gap with their own predispositions, which is kinda cool and could have even allowed readers to confront their assumptions, or 2) Rabbits has a gay lead character, which is a nice bit of representation especially because her orientation is so irrelevant to the plot. Either of those would have been cooler than just staying silent on the matter, letting the whole question get by missed by most readers, and then making your reveal in post-release interviews that most readers will never see. It could have been the best part of this otherwise mediocre book.

[Misty Marie Harms · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Door Is Open

Rabbits is a secret underground game. You probably never heard of it except in whispers or on the dark web. No one knows who runs the game. In fact, you don't even know you're a player. All you have to do is see or hear the phrase "The Door is Open" to know a new game has begun. If you can find the patterns, uncover the clues, and can open your mind, the game might pick you. Dangers are everywhere. You might lose your life. However, the winner gets his/her heart's desire.

The last two games, something has been amiss. Now entering the 11th round since its conception, players are going missing. Bodies are being found murdered. The lines of reality are being blurred. K has to win the game before our world comes to an end. Or maybe it all is a figment of K's imagination.

Mind-bending read. Recommend!

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Rabbits" is a book for those who couldn't get enough of the tv series Lost, the tv series Stranger Things, or Ursula Le Guin's Lathe Of Heaven. Forget it's a debut novel cause it's spectacular. It takes the world of computer gaming combines it with drifting between multiverses and throws in cults, conspiracies, blackouts, deadly fog, and coincidences that may just be more than coincidences. Is it just a game or is it about saving the world before it's too late?

One of the great things here is that like the lead character K. (And yeah it's just K.) you, the reader, are never sure where this cosmic chess match is going to take you next. On one hand, you get a handful of retro hipsters who hang around arcades and like to play on the dark web via their tor browsers. But, there's this mysterious game, which like Fight Club you are never supposed to talk about, and it's a game of following patterns and finding coincidences, following the clues. But, you've been warned that something's wrong with the game and players are disappearing, even well-known multi-billionaires. At what point is it real and at what point merely a game with reality as you know it being the stakes?

It's not possible to say enough good things about this ultra-absorbing novel. Maybe you just need to wait till the next iteration of the game begins. That is, if it's not too late.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I didn't already have a spirit animal, I'd probably insist that my spirit animal is NOW, ABSOLUTELY, a rabbit. But not those squeezable fluffy creatures. Oh, no. I mean the kind of rabbit that Neo sees in a tattoo in the Matrix, or the one Alice chases, or the kind of toothy monster that fits into that comfortable zone between a Lovecraft story and the monster from Monty Python's Holy Grail.

So, wait, what the hell does this have to do with the novel?

I'm trying to tell you!

This is my spirit animal! A million nearly perfect references to MY outlook, MY worldview, from Donnie Darko to Persona to Dragon's Lair to D&D but twist all these into deeply paranoiac versions that are actually just intense patter recognition systems on speed.

Look for the clues. Hell, this is like Fincher's The Game but impressively MORE funded, MORE involved, and deeper than anyone could have imagined. It's THAT kind of novel. And I LOVE it.

It's a geek paradise. Designed for obsessives, OCD, intensely intellectual gamers who define themselves by a simple tenet of "What is out of place here?"

Only, the gameboard is the whole damn world and your own memory and, eventually, your sanity.

This was satisfying from start to finish. It was MADE for me. Maybe that makes me a bit crazy, but the RIDE was totally worth it. I'm sure Jeff Goldblum would approve.

Follow the Rabbit, people. :)

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Rabbits is a real-world, highly secretive game, with a massive prize at stake. It's been going since about 1959 (maybe much longer? no one is quite sure) and there have been ten iterations of it so far. The ability to observe and follow up on patterns in everything around you is critical, as is a knowledge of 70's and 80's tech and videogames. (Sounding a little familiar?)

Rabbits has always been an edgy and dangerous game, but now as the 11th game is starting, people are disappearing and dying right and left. Our main character, K, has been a fan of Rabbits for years. A famous player in the game finds K and tells him he needs to fix the game or the whole world will pay a terrible price ... then promptly disappears. And now it looks like the nature of reality itself may be being affected by the game. K and his gaming friend/love interest Chloe keep getting told to stop playing the game or they'll die ... but it's really hard to let it go.

If you loved Ready Player One you might really enjoy this. I was only so-so on Ready Player One, and I think this book has other issues that one didn't - it's disjointed (seriously, it jumps around in really bizarre ways, part of the whole "what is real?" element to the plot), characterization is slim, and the answers in the end left me dissatisfied. But if you like the idea of following up on obscure game clues and doing it in a real world setting, with lots of geeky details, you may really enjoy it.

Full review to come. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC!

Content advisory: Tons of F-bombs.

[Whitney Jamimah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel like I've been running into unnecessarily long books lately. Now, this book wasn't really all that long actually but considering the page count to things that actually happened here were in a large discrepancy with each other. Those who have a feeling for my tastes also know that I am typically a character driven reader so I don't mind a meandering book if there is a lot of character development and moments in those quiet times in the book but this book wasn't character driven. This book was written in about as of a heavy plot driven style as they come. BUT. Still, nothing happened. Strange huh?

Keeping it spoiler free, the characters kept running into these "clues" over and over. In fact, the majority of the book was our main character, K walking around the Seattle area discovering clues forever and ever. What's even better? The clues really had no bearing on the final outcome of the story. There are many many authors that are SPECTACULAR at weaving all these tidbits into the final showdown but Miles, sadly, did not do that here in Rabbits, not even close. the majority of the book just felt like unnecessary and boring filler. I got so bored just following K around as she discovered more discrepancies and fainted 10000000 times. I was about to DNF it and I really wish I had now, it didn't get better, just like it usually never does. Why can most of us readers never listen to our DNF

I see a lot of good reviews for this book too though so take my review as you will. This book reads a lot like an action movie so if you like that style this might work for you.

[Mia Anti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't really know what to say about this book as it made no sense whatsoever. It had a lot of really cool concepts like multiverses, time displacement, leyline magic, psychedelic computer game cults, doppelgangers. Like all the really cool sci-fi concepts all rolled up into a tasty burrito with a sweet gamer topping to it. But it all falls apart sometime midway and you start losing track of the plot in the same way the MC loses track of time.

[Jack Tripper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a confession to make: I love conspiracy theories. I don’t really believe in very many other than the boring ones that are virtually canon anyways like Lee Harvey Oswald not acting alone and the 1969 moon landing being fake (kidding), but I enjoy going down the various rabbit holes to see just how impressively creative people can get at connecting various disparate threads and finding patterns. And I like that it’s nearly impossible to poke holes in even the most outlandish ones like Flat Earth, because no matter what, one can make any “evidence” support their premise. If evidence is discovered that fits the theory perfectly, great. If there’s no evidence or even evidence that contradicts it (satellite images, etc.), well that obviously all but proves just how deep and massive the cover-up is.

Rabbits deals with the ultimate conspiracy: reality itself. What if it’s all just a game, but you can only play if you know there’s a game to be played? And it’s hard to find out about it considering the #1 rule is never to talk about the game, so it’s rarely spoken of except in whispers or the most hidden places online. The objective is unclear, as is the prize for winning, but it’s seemingly all about noticing patterns and making connections. Why is there a video on the dark web showing an assassination attempt on Jeff Goldblum by a deranged fan at a convention, yet all evidence points to it never happening? Why does that office building on the corner have one less floor than it did the day before? And why does no one else remember how it used to look? Clues may be found in the high score listings of a particular arcade cabinet from 1981, or in the credits to an indie French film. Even a random park bench in a random town may provide a lead.

K is obsessed with the game. He (or she or they; it’s never made clear, though I lean toward he) has always been good at picking up on patterns and synchronicities, so it’s a natural fit. When a famous billionaire, rumored to have been a past winner of “the game,” shows up at the local arcade in Seattle to tell K that something has gone terribly wrong with the game only to then go missing, K grows even more compulsive in his quest to discover the truth.

This was right in my wheelhouse. I was in the mood for a good reality-bending mystery, and I got an excellent one. Definitely a fun, fast-moving page-turner if you’re into this sort of thing, and pretty damn tripped-out as a nice bonus, with constant revelations that only add to the intriguing puzzle. A lot of people compared this to Ready Player One due to all the 80s pop culture references, but I felt more of an early Neal Stephenson vibe if he was more into Philip K. Dickian concepts (not that I’ve ever read Ready Player One, but I know enough about it). The 80s stuff here is mere window dressing and not the focal point. Some are sick of 80s nostalgia already, but not me. The only negative I can think of, if one could call it that, is that K isn't very well drawn other than interests and quirks, but I think he's meant to be a sort of "blank slate" character for the reader to project themselves onto, so I didn't mind it. In fact it worked quite well, I thought.

Maybe I should check out the Terry Miles’ podcast that inspired/connects to this novel. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for his next novel. I'm surprised Netflix hasn't snatched up the rights to this yet.

[☆LaurA☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

ℂℝ𝔼𝔻𝕀𝔸𝕄𝕆 ℕ𝔼𝕃𝕃𝔼 ℂ𝕆𝕀ℕℂ𝕀𝔻𝔼ℕℤ𝔼?

L' altra sera mio figlio se ne esce con un ragionamento insolito per quel momento : " ma oh, ma ci hai mai fatto caso che il 13 ci segue?". Lui è nato il 13, mi sono sposata il 13, la nostra casa è la n⁰ 13 e la casa dei nonni ha il civico 13. La somma dei giorni di nascita mio e di suo padre fa 13. 13 è anche l'anno in cui è morto mio padre.....insomma avete capito no?
Tutto questo quando sto leggendo Rabbits? No, non può essere un caso. Poi ti svegli alle 2.22 per due notti di seguito? Dite che mi lascio suggestionare troppo😅?

Cᴏᴍᴇ sɪ ɢɪᴏᴄᴀ ᴀ Rᴀʙʙɪᴛs?
Trova le discrepanze, segui gli indizi; segui gli indizi e trova le discrepanze. Giocare è la parte facile; più difficile è sapere se stai giocando o no. Non c’è una quota d’iscrizione, un modulo da riempire, un manuale, e chiunque ne è responsabile non parla. Quindi, come fai a sapere se stai giocando?
Una delle chiavi di Rabbits sta proprio nell’abilità di riconoscere pattern complessi, connessioni e coincidenze e discrepanze.

Se sei disposto a guardare un po’ più a fondo, alla fine avrai trovato le connessioni dirette fra il gioco e certi eventi particolarmente importanti: guerre, crolli del mercato, assassinii, suicidi di massa, e molti altri fenomeni globali.

Rabbits ha la stessa regola del fight club:
_ non si parla del rabbits club
A mantenere l'integrità del gioco ci sono i Wardens, figure potenzialmente mortali.
Un tecnothhriller che vi terrà incollati alle pagine.
Nerd al punto giusto, con un sacco di rimandi a libri, dischi,film e soprattutto videogiochi, tanti videogiochi, molti videogiochi.
Siete pronti a giocare e scendere nella tana del Bianconiglio?
Siete pronti per la XII iterazione?

LA PORTA È APERTA se troverete il SORGERE DELLA LUNA siete sulla strada giusta

Vi lascio il link del podcast da cui è tratto il libro, nell'attesa del seguito

Rabbits
https://www.rabbitspodcast.com/

[Trike · Rating 1 out of 5]

WTF? No.

This is purportedly about playing a game called “Rabbits” but — and I can’t stress this enough — THERE IS NO GAME. The entire conceit of this book doesn’t exist within the book. Seriously.

Stuff just happens and the characters (who are so sketchily-drawn that I’m not even sure one can call them characters; they exist just as mouthpieces) compile a list of these oddly inconsistent things they notice and then it’s over. No solving anything, no discovery of anything, nothing. It ends and another character explains to them what might or might not have been going on. It’s not even a bullshit deus ex machina ending because, once again, there is no resolution because there is no game.

It’s also interminable. It’s a long series of mostly-unrelated events that just go on and on. This could easily have been a 90-page novella, due to the repetitive nature of the events. If you removed 90% of the set pieces, the ultimate effect would’ve been the same.

Plus, for all the talk of the Mandela Effect and deja vu and quantum mechanics and the multiverse, this is NOT Science Fiction. It’s just straight fiction where mentally ill people talk about those things. I’m frankly surprised this hasn’t raised the ire of mental health advocates, because the main pinball — sorry, “character” — is clearly desperately mentally ill and is psychologically manipulated and emotionally abused throughout this story but everything is fine at the end because they “won” the nonexistent “game”.

Treating someone who has a clear mental illness is cruel, but it’s also dangerous. Given what K experiences throughout this book, from simple gaslighting all the way up to witnessing a murder, there’s no guarantee they wouldn’t go down to the local gun shop and just start killing people. After all, the whole thing is predicated on the notion that people are being murdered and that Rabbits is causing the universe to implode.

There were several scenes in the story where K could’ve solved all of their problems by simply shooting someone in the face. If you truly believe the world is being rewritten around you and that people are disappearing due to the actions of some of these “players”, the simplest way to save people’s lives and to test the hypothesis is to just murder the apparent manipulators.

And given that K is being led to believe that there are an infinite number of versions of everyone out there, killing the so-called bad ones should quite literally save the entire multiverse. Miles doesn’t seem to have realized this, just as he doesn’t realize that there is no game being played. It’s just a person with an obvious dissociative disorder and apparent paranoid schizophrenia being mentally tortured. Dangerous in real life, totally uncool in fiction.

Brief spoiler: This is just a really bad rehash of the movie The Game starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn. And by “really bad” I mean fucking terrible.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rabbits follows K., someone who has become obsessed with seeking out and discovering patterns and connections throughout their day-to-day life. A few years ago, they discovered an almost alternate reality style game played in secret amongst a select few. Very little information is available about the game, but its roots run deep in both culture and time.

K. is approached by Alan Scarpio, a somewhat reclusive billionaire believed to be one of the winners of a past iteration of Rabbits. Over a plate of pie in a Seattle diner, Scarpio tells K. that something is wrong with the game, that he needs K.’s help to fix it. Before he can explain, Scarpio is interrupted by a phone call and abruptly leaves. The next day, Scarpio is reported missing leaving K. to pick up the ball and run.

Based on a podcast of the same name, Rabbits has achieved a certain level of notoriety through its compelling first season. Author and podcast creator, Terry Miles, launched a Kickstarter to fund a potential follow-up but with the fundraising coming up short, a book became the next logical medium.

The original podcast flew under my radar and was one I’d not heard of before I was approached by the publisher with a review copy, so I was going into this one blind. I would say within the first 10% of this book, I experienced Ready Player One vibes and quickly began to worry that I was getting myself into an Ernest Cline-esque 80s geek reference extravaganza, which is not something I ever want to experience again. Thankfully, the geeky pop-culture stuff is merely window-dressing although it does appear to be ham-fisted at times.

The plot here is a hell of a lot deeper than I expected. Once it’s revealed what the purpose of the Rabbits game is and what is really happening under the surface, I was ready for the story to hit the next gear, but it never really does. It began to feel clunky and almost too expansive. I felt I couldn’t establish a connection with the story because even three-quarters of the way in, we’re introducing new layers and characters. I felt the urgency at which K. had to put things right was at odds with the general pacing of the narrative. It all became very tedious leaving me struggling to maintain my attention.

I also didn’t care much for K. nor the other main character of Chloe. Chloe felt especially thin and seemingly existed as a love-interest/sounding board for K.’s detective work, who at the best of times was barely tolerable. I didn’t feel the slightest chemistry between the two compared to what I felt the author had been trying to portray. I swear, if I ever have to hear the exchange, “Are you OK?” followed by “I’m fine” again, it will be too soon.

I can appreciate what the author is going for here because stories about anomalies in reality and multi-verses are certainly a favorite of mine, but I felt maybe this was a tad too ambitious. I think we could have lost maybe one hundred pages here and tightened things up thus allowing a much stronger story.

[Nicholas Eames · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm biased, because a good friend of mine wrote this book, but I loved it. Haruki Murkami meets Ready Player One!

[TheBookWarren · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 Stars (Rnd ⬆️) — Rabbits. Let’s just forget about this being a debut novel for a second and allow me to say, this is just an excellently-apt Novel for someone like me. There are no two ways about it. It appeals to just about all of my main draws, it has a lore that almost feels as if it was written by me for me and to me. So, biases now foretold and cast aside, all of that withstanding — Miles has written a truly fantastic novel that dips its toes in so many genres and tropes without ever being stuck in any of them. Perhaps the origins of the material help, sure — the podcast etc goes somewhat to aiding the plot, however I forgot entirely about any prior knowledge of this world & was all the more consumed by its adaptation in this novel.

Think of a mystery wrapped in a puzzle that’s layered with a — subtle yet also strangely pungent — odour of “the-man-behind-the-curtain” alas Mel Gibson’s Conspiracy Theory more so than Wizard of Oz. The authors most reticent asset and sharpest tool —outside of maybe only tying, weaving, cascading a large, taught narrative — which is the simple nature of the prose itself, which helps resonate page by page, paragraph by paragraph, the heavy themes of the folding of reality, quantum theory, and so forth. Yes, professedly this is something that’s now seen more often outside of strictly prose-rich literary fiction, however rarely is a book of this much imaginative lore & ball-juggling components full of such elegant & honed prose. The morass nature of the narrative in Rabbits is often an abattoir for sharp, seductive sequences such is seen here, which to me, makes this feel far more like Le Guin than it does say Herbert or Asimov. This is a big comparison and one not yet earned as far as big-picture goes, but I think it is something that will indeed be attributed to Terry, in the not so distant future, where the author is less recondite than was the case when Rabbits hit the shelves. Having re-read most of this effort in readiness for the 2023 follow-up, The Quiet Room — What amazed me the most was how intense it still felt, despite there not being potentially the intrigue and losing the element of surprise. Despite this, the tense, taut narrative works so well with Miles simplistic, honest prose — is spectacular! The prose dances effortlessly, akin to the nimble movements of the titular creatures that serve as both symbols and protagonists.

Miles’ novel, is a literary tapestry woven with finesse and an intricate understanding of storytelling. From the first page, readers are plunged into a world where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur, creating a narrative that is as enigmatic as it is captivating.

The characters themselves are a symphony of complexity. Miles has breathed life into each of them, making them more than mere players in a story. They are conduits for the exploration of some truly profound, modern themes—identity, love, loss—all wrapped in a cloak of mystery that keeps the reader guessing until the very end.

What sets "Rabbits" apart is its ability to transcend genre conventions. It's not merely a tale of suspense; it's a philosophical journey that invites readers to contemplate the intricacies of existence. The narrative unfolds like the layers of an onion, slowly revealing and revelling in the layers as they’re peeled back. It’s a rather mesmerising dance, that I again absolutely loved.

I now cannot wait to tuck-into A Quiet Room, the Hardcover which I’ve been staring at longingly on my coffee table for a week now… (best bit about a new book, right? The anticipation)

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

Let me start by saying that I am not a gamer, I have no interest in games and have never heard of Rabbits or the podcast. To give some context, my gaming resume includes some Pitfall and Pac Man as a child, some Super Mario Bros and Tetris as a teen and some sporadic Wii bowling as an adult.

However, I requested Rabbits because I have been digging this new-ish (at least to me) genre of alternate reality sci-fi or sci-fi lite, as I like to refer to it (think Dark Matter, Recursion, Evelyn Hardcastle). And let me tell you, Rabbits did not disappoint! Sure, there were quite a few times that the technical gaming aspect was over my head and plenty of “what in the heck am I reading?” moments, but this book DELIVERS.

The pacing was great and I was completely captivated by K and his quest to fix / win “the game”. It did take me a few chapters to really get into the story, but once I was hooked, I could not put this book down. About halfway through the book, the pace really ramped up and I could not turn the pages fast enough.

If you can get past (or through) the gaming aspect and the technicalities, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books where things are not what they seem, alternate reality settings and even time travel.

Thank you to Random House for my copy of this book via NetGalley

[Kate♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5stars

Absolutely incredible, weird, mind fucky, and genius

This book is like if you somehow mixed "The Lathe of Heaven," "Ready Player One," "The Ring," "Dark Matter," and Murakami into one book and yes it's as brilliant as that sounds

I'm so confused if the murakami refs I found in this book were supposed to be there cause they were never address - the "man called Crow" being a ref to Kafka on the Shore, and the main characters name being K is a reference to "Sputnik Sweetheart." But neither of these books, or murakami, were ever brought up.

[Shannara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t write a review on this right now!!!! My brain has been turned to absolute mush!!!! Like exploded by the complicated awesomeness of this book. Full rtc!!

Okay, I think I’ve sorted out my brain, fluffed it back up after it was blown away by this book!!!! It kind of reminded me of Blake Crouch’s Recursion, but with video games, coffee, and clues. This kept my interest throughout, but I’ll admit I felt dumb for a huge portion of this story. I just felt like I had no idea what was going on!!!! All I knew was that I liked it!!! Trying to follow along with each clue was impossible, but such fun!!

K was the best protagonist and his memory and crazy journey through this book were just like a car accident. I could not stop staring!! K’s friends were great additions and just about everyone who made an appearance in this was important. There were no wasted words.

And small quoted mild spoiler here…this is quite possibly my most favorite sentence ever, “As we ran across the street, Chloe reached out and grabbed my hand—and, for just a moment, I felt like I was living in a normal world, like Chloe and I were a regular couple running across a street in the rain toward a warm table in a cozy bistro, not a couple of game-obsessed lunatics rushing toward a porn shop basement in order to ask a crossbow-wielding shut-in to help us win a deadly game that might be the only thing keeping the multiverse together.”

I seriously recommend this to science fiction lovers, vintage video game lovers, Blake Crouch fans, and those who like a book to take your brain and shake it up a bit. This was some intense good fun.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine, and Terry Miles for allowing me to read this for my honest and unbiased opinion. Sooo good!!!!

Check out my cover pics and other reviews on my blog @ https://shannarareads.com/?p=543
Thanks!!

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rabbits by Terry Miles is a science fiction fantasy that is supposed to be thrilling, but more on that later. In this one there is an underground game that has been running for years but things are taking a turn for the worst.

K has been a long time fan of the Rabbits game and wants nothing but to get into it himself. The game is on it’s 10th running when one night K runs into Scarpio who is rumored to have won a previous version himself. Scarpio tells K that he needs to look into issues with Rabbits before the 11th version begins and the fate of the world is in K’s hands.

However, shortly after speaking with Scarpio K finds that the mysterious former player has gone missing. As time ticks my K is at a loss as what he needs to do and before he knows it the 11th game of Rabbits is beginning. K begins to notice clues around him though as he begins to play the game himself.

Ok, some of my favorite books I’ve read have been science fiction gaming fantasies, I mean Ready Player One anyone?? Rabbits for me however was not anything like those books that I’ve devoured in the past as the “game” in this one was just our main character fumbling around here and there looking for clues then it would stall with an alternate reality reset moment. There are times the story seemed like it would get engaging but then it just stalled out again and for me this one took three days to trudge through when I can normally read a book in a couple hours. There are those that love this one but I just wasn’t one of them as it seemed slow and choppy with a not so exciting ending to me.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wild ride!

I was so addicted reading this that I smashed through most of it in two days, and yet the ending has me feeling unsatisfied. I have no idea what just happened. And I was following along so well!

The premise revolves around a secret, worldwide game known as Rabbits. Not much is known about it, except that it involves recognising patterns and connections in seemingly random things, and that it's so secret that people talking about it usually end up dead.

I was expecting this to move into sci-fi territory but it was relatively easy to follow. There's a lot, definitely, but it's mercifully 'dumbed down' a tad so that you can understand the message under all the science. I also really enjoyed following all the clues, even though a lot of the time there was, 'so this clue led me to find another random clue which led me to this random clue ...' without much explanation of the how. Who cares. I was happy to suspend all disbelief and just follow along on the journey.

I'm sure there are plenty of sciency plot holes here but I'm smart enough to know I'm not smart enough to find them. So once I was happy to settle in for whatever was thrown my way I really enjoyed it. It rockets ahead at an intense pace and there are plenty of dramatic scenes to keep things real. The science starts off light and mysterious and gradually seeps in so you never feel overwhelmed.

The characters are all quite interesting, and typical hacker types. K was a fascinating lead, though I always wanted to know more. There are also a lot of pop culture references which I immensely enjoyed.

I was hoping that, following things as I was, the ending would blow me away. There were some twists I enjoyed but the ending was a little too confusing for me to fully appreciate what had happened. I still have a lot of questions, and I'll be hoping for a sequel that might clear some of these things up, though I think that's blind wishful thinking on my part.

Overall, this was a fast-paced thriller with a lot of love for games in all forms. Highly recommend for those looking for an addictive mystery with a little sci-fi in the mix.

[Dannii Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A game has been played in secret for decades. Those who compete do so under pseudonyms and without any real understanding of the stakes or what is awarded to the winner. Some rumour that your wildest dreams will be granted and others that it is a form of CIA recruitment. The game has no name but amongst its disciples it has been awarded the name of Rabbits. Follow the clues and explore the Wonderland it leads you to.

Inception meets Ready Player One in this mind-bending and uniquely-constructed read. I was quickly enamoured with the story, even when my understanding was very minimal. It took almost the entire novel for me to get to grips with all that was occurring and even then I was left with many questions and a furrowed brow. I did not dislike the novel for that, though. In fact, it felt like part of its charm.

This was a read hard to categorise, devoid of sure footing for its readers, with an abundance of untrustworthy characters, and in a setting that could never be trusted for remaining where it was meant to. It only made sense that any sense truth would be hard fought for and also come with its own air of mystery and a potential, double-sided, duplicitous nature too.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Terry Miles, and the publisher, Macmillan, for this opportunity.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Sterne, Rezensionsexemplar, All You Can Read-Buch

Wieder so ein Buch, das Riesenpotenzial hatte und sich dann verrannt hat. Wer sich darauf einstellt, mitgerissen zu werden und nicht groß nachzudenken, kann sich auf einen rasanten Pageturner freuen. Auf den zweiten Blick schwächelt die Umsetzung allerdings immer wieder.

Die Idee des weltumfassenden Spiels Rabbits, das im Grunde in unserer realen Welt stattfindet, ist super. Alles beruht darauf, dass bestimmte Themen seltsam oft auftreten. Diesen Hinweisen gehen die Spielenden dann nach. Das kennt man ja selbst: Gerade random an Rhabarber gedacht und plötzlich taucht das Obst überall auf (Frequency Illusion). Ist mir beim Lesen mehrmals zwischen dem Buch und meinem eigenen Leben mehrmals passiert. Auch andere parapsychologische Phänomene wurden eingewoben (Mandela-Effekt etc.). Das bringt Spaß!

Da diese Hinweise im Buch aber SOO random waren, muss man das Miträtseln schnell aufgeben. Es ist eigentlich unmöglich, von selbst auf den weiteren Verlauf zu kommen.

Größte Schwäche: Das Verhalten und die Motivation der Figuren. Das Spiel ist angeblich saugefährlich. Warum stellt ihr dann nicht konsequenter Fragen und ringt nicht heftig mit euch, überhaupt weiterzuspielen?

An ein paar Stellen habe ich mich im deutschen Hörbuch über Formulierungen gewundert. Der stichprobenartige Blick ins englische Original zeigt, dass in meinem Empfinden eher nachlässig übersetzt wurde.

Daumen hoch für queere Figuren, deren queerness kein big deal ist!

[Paul Ataua · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Sci Fi thriller in which the new iteration of an underground alternate reality game may possibly end up altering reality if someone doesn’t act fast. The novel came out of a podcast of the same name, and although I have never listened to that particular podcast, I want to applaud all the modern stuff that is happening in the podcast world. Because of the book’s nature, I chose the audio version, and wasn’t disappointed. It moved along at just the right pace and quickly got me hooked. Just the ticket for anyone who is fascinated with the drawing together of loose connections, just like I am.

[Kathleen Miller · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m gonna go ahead and just let you know what happened in this book but I’m not going to put a spoiler warning on this review because….well me telling you what happened won’t actually give anything away. The characters are so underdeveloped that I even don’t know if the main character was male or female. I assumed female because of the female voice in the audiobook but many of the reviews referred to K as a he and that’s when I realized it never specified. Maybe that’s what the author intended but it annoyed me. I couldn’t visualize K at all. I didn’t connect with ANY of the characters. At the end I thought one of the main characters may be lost/dead/gone and didn’t care at all. At ALL. I was completely indifferent- I just wanted the damn story to be over with.

K plays a game called Rab……wait no. I should mention. There is no game. It’s literally seeing coincidences in real life and attempting to “follow” the coincidences. Follow how? I don’t even know. You see stuff about rockets all in one place and a woman wearing a NASA shirt so you stalk her until you find something else that catches your eye. Yes it’s as dumb as it sounds. Okay so back to K. K follows coincidences in life and encourages others to do the same even though you’re not supposed to talk about this “game” called Rabbits. And then a previous winner (it’s not a game so there aren’t winners and it’s all convoluted and makes zero sense but the book says there are winners so I’ll pretend there are) talks to K and says the world is in danger then disappears and K tries to play the game to save the world.

At one point there was a woman and two twins? I honestly couldn’t tell you the role they played in the book but I know they seemed threatening and K followed them into a museum. I’m not sure if they were the good guys or the bad guys. There are a bunch of characters but even now that I’m done with this book I couldn’t tell you which were bad and which were good. I can put a few in each category but it’s solely based on how K felt about them at the end of the book, not based on their actions because no ones actions made any sense to me at all.

That’s all I know about this book. I can tell you snippets…there was a tracking device put in Ks shoe….Ks childhood friend died….it hints at multiple universes…but I truly can’t put together in a way that tells you a shortened version of the story.

Are you tired of this rambling review yet? If so, the book is pages and pages of the same incoherent babble. You could ask me almost any question about this book and I’ll answer with “I have no freakin idea.”

Lastly, for those of you who compare this to Blake Crouch…how dare you. 😤

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a debut thriller/SF/psychology novel written in 2021. It is eligible for the 2022 Hugo nominations and had a good review in Locus Magazine, therefore I decided to try it.

The protagonist is K, and we don’t know their full name or gender, but clearly can see some psychic issues, like obsessive counting or finding links between seemingly random coincidences, like a drawing of a horse in a café, a horse in an ad on passing by bus and a song with words like ‘ride’, you hear from the next street.

The protagonist tells us about the Game, which sometimes colloquially called Rabbits (I guess linked to following the Rabbit in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass, but not sure). It is extremely secret and to play one needs to follow the cues or discrepancies, randomly spread, which can include things like a color photograph from the 50s of an old woman feeding a bunch of passenger pigeons, which went extinct in in 1914, or Sonic the Hedgehog in a computer game from 1983, when it first appeared in 1992.

SF fans I guess will quickly assume some version of parallel universes, but this is at least not the usual parallel universe story. It is more of a person seeing one strange happening after another, trying to get a consistent picture out of them, if possible, but the very possibility is questionable. I guess other reviewers are correct in comparing it to Lost TV series in the sense that a sense of weirdness and WTF is going on was much more interesting that the answers the watchers finally received.

It is definitely a promising debut but I cannot recommend it to readers, who like to get definite answers at the end. It is more about thew ride, not destination.

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just could not connect to this book at all. I could not follow it. It seemed to go all over the place. Rabbits is a secret game that one looks for patterns and coincidences to guide them. It is also a very dangerous game. There have been 10 previous games and no one knows what happens to the Winner, but it is thought great rewards come his/her way.

Science Fiction and Fantasy is not my Genre. I read the blurb about this book and it sounded interesting. I decided to give it a try. This was a mistake. I am not the right reader for this book. I lost interest trying to figure out what was happening. Was K, in an alternate universe or was that fake? It was based on Science, Quantum Physics and such. I honestly just could not get drawn into the story enough to care and try and figure out what was happening.

I think the idea of this book was creative and those who enjoy gaming and alternate reality I could see liking this book. So, I’d recommend it for for big gaming fans, trying to know if you are in an alternative universe, and trying to put disparate pieces of this puzzle together. I tried, but just could not follow the plot line.

Thank you NetGalley, Terry Miles, and Random Hose~Ballentine for sending me a copy of this book. I always review books I read and am happy to do so.

[Ajeje Brazov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rabbits. Gioca ne se hai il coraggio, un coniglio in copertina... come avrei mai potuto non leggerlo?
Ovviamente il solo titolo e la copertina non sono un sintomo di buona riuscita, anzi alle volte, mi è capitato poi di trovarmi tra le mani una ciofeca assoluta.
Fortunatamente con questo libro non è successo, anzi già dalle prime pagine sono stato risucchiato da un vortice assoluto di coinvolgimento ed interesse tale, che molte volte mi son ritrovato a sogghignare come un pirla, cioè se qualcuno mi avesse scorto sogghignare in quel modo, mi avrebbe preso sicuramente per un emerito pirla :-P
Comunque è impossibile parlare di questo libro senza scadere nello spoiler assassino, non avrebbe senso, il libro è un continuo mistero e chi potrebbe resistere a tale premessa?
Sicuramente a chi piacciono i videogames, soprattutto quelli degli albori, i film e libri a tema giochi di ruolo, non ne rimarrà di certo indifferente. Poi il piacere intrinseco, già la parola lo enuncia, è personale.
Ma se quando giri per la città in cui vivi, ti guardi intorno e scorgi ogni minimo particolare e poi dici alla persona, con cui sei in giro, che hai visto una determinata cosa e quella persona ti guarda come se fossi pazzo da legare, ecco questo libro fa per te!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RNmN...

[Shana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the Rabbits podcast, so I was excited to receive an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. I was not disappointed--this book was an insane thrill ride, and I mean insane in the best way possible. If you like the podcast, you'll definitely like the book. If you're not familiar with the podcast but you're fascinated by the Mandela effect, mysterious games, weird coincidences, or the possibility of alternate realities, you'll probably like this book. Be prepared to, at times, be confused or creeped out when reading this, but it's definitely worth it!

[Gabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those wonderful books that totally draw me in so that I absolutely don't care about logic or plot holes or whatever. So perhaps there are some, but I so don't care.

It is a rather slow paced mystery story in the world of game play. A bit like a mix of Ready Player One and Recursion, but imho way better written. The narration jumps in the timelines, which I love, but I know that some readers hate this, so be warned. And the more the story evolves, the more it is playing tricks with the mind and the perception of reality.

I thoroughly enjoyed this cleverly done piece.

[Mogsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2021/06/15/...

Wow, this one was real head trip, and I mean that in the best way possible. Rabbits is the kind of story that worms its way into your mind, and you find yourself mulling over it even days after you finish. Sometimes I still go back and forth between a 3 or a 4 star rating, depending on my mood, but as I’m sitting here typing out my review, I’m feeling right in the middle. This was a good book! But I won’t lie, it was also strange as hell. It’s not going to be for everyone.

First a bit of background. In 2017, the author Terry Miles created a pseudo-documentary style podcast called Rabbits. I had not heard of it prior to reading this, but although it is set in the same world, not being familiar with the podcast will not hinder your understanding of the novel in any way. Nor would it help you, I suspect, though it may help prepare the reader for some of the story’s more idiosyncratic traits, such as its alternate reality gaming themes or heavy use of pop culture references. The book’s storyline focuses on “K”, a fan obsessed with the game Rabbits. Using the real world as a platform, players would seek out patterns and unlikely connections, following them down a particular path filled with more clues, ultimately ending in the fulfillment of the individual’s deepest desires. Once an iteration of the game has been won, another round will begin again.

Like many Rabbits players, K has become completely addicted and can’t stop trying to find a way into the game. An opportunity presents itself, however, when our protagonist is approached by reclusive billionaire Alan Scarpio, who had reportedly won the sixth iteration. But what Scarpio actually wants to share is a dire warning. He believes Rabbits is corrupted and must be fixed before the next round, the eleventh, is to begin, or else the world as we know it will cease to exist. Together with close friend Chloe, K seeks to find out more about Scarpio’s claims, but before they can get far in their research, the billionaire is reported missing. The eleventh iteration begins as K and Chloe fail to learn what Scarpio was talking about. Like it or not, they are playing now.

What happens next is something readers will have to find out for themselves if they choose to read this book. For one, I don’t want to accidentally spoil anything, and two, a lot of it simply gets too complicated and weird to describe. If you know about anything the nebulous nature and definition of ARGs, you might have some idea. In the real world, many media companies have employed them for marketing campaigns for movies, video games, etc. but in Rabbits, it is a secret underground hush-hush kind of situation, similar to Fight Club—outside the game’s ultra-exclusive circles, you don’t ever mention you’re playing or even acknowledge its existence. There is also a dangerous element, as rumor has it that the game has been around for decade, and many players have gone missing or lost their lives over the years trying to unravel its secrets.

As we soon find out, some folks are also better equipped play Rabbits, giving them an edge. Being well-versed in pop culture and a gaming geek helps. If you are tech savvy, that is another advantage. Then there’s K, who is especially good at spotting patterns of coincidences and clues. The story explores this aspect later in the book, though by this point, things get so convoluted it’s difficult to trust our protagonist’s point-of-view, especially as it becomes increasingly unreliable. Thing is, I wouldn’t say the plot itself is too difficult to keep track of, but problems do arise when as time goes on and everything becomes more complex with memory lapses, alternate realities and the Mandela effect thrown in. There’s a sense of “anything goes” at this point, and needless to say, it’s incredibly frustrating to find yourself constantly questioning what you’ve read or wondering what the whole point is.

So, should you read Rabbits? It is very difficult to say. If you followed the podcast, I would say, yes, of course. If you like books heavy on geek culture references, then maybe. If you’re intrigued by the premise, or perhaps you’re drawn to unique mind-bendingly weird books and are curious to see what the fuss is all about, I would give it a try. For the most part, I actually enjoyed myself quite a bit, at least until things kind of went off the rails towards the end. Like I said, it won’t be for everyone, but I can promise you one thing: it’ll never be boring.

[inciminci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you pan macmillan for the proof copy of this whirlwind of a book.
Phew, that certainly was a race to the finish from the first page to the last - a very addictive and entertaining race.

Rabbits is basically the story of a young person who finds themselves trapped in the titular real-life game which is orchestrated by some kind of ominous intelligence, trying to find an error which causes it to malfunction. But because this mysterious underground game has a very crucial function in the universe beyond being pure entertainment, the mission is equally significant. The game itself is based on finding certain patterns, certain coincidences, glitches, déjà vu’s, which in the Matrix Rabbits mean that you're basically on to something and should follow that clue (It is in reality a little more philosophical and complicated than that but the point is for you to read this book, and not get spoiled). These signs can be particularly unsettling or even scary -clearly remembering a movie or a café that has never existed, seven men with the same name going for the same coffee in Starbucks...) or just a certain pattern, like a song or word repeating itself in different contexts. So most of the book we follow K and their girlfriend Chloe running from point A to point B following these freak-out moments.

Let's get over with the criticism first; Rabbits isn't a literary masterpiece. It is written pretty dryly and can even be repetitive at times. But although it shouldn't be first choice for readers who are looking for well-crafted prose, flowery writing or an intellectually challenging read, it's still of a certain charm. It is, above all, a love letter to popular culture, in which Miles grasps the opportunity to fill in the glitches with songs or scenes or motives from films, books and games that certainly had an impact on him. I definitely enjoyed these references and they added a book or two to my TBR, even though they were in my opinion a little overexplained. I have to add that I am a person who likes to do the research on these things, I like a little hint but not an explanation, puzzling on these matters is a pleasure to me. I guess it gives me a feeling of actively joining in the storytelling, but I also see the author not wanting to exclude readers who don't have the background to recognize these allusions. And that's a plus as much as it is a criticism on my part.

I probably would have known more had I listened to Terry Miles' podcast Rabbits, which this book is based off.
Still, I enjoyed the book Rabbits as a fast-paced, entertaining read. If you listen to the podcast or enjoy books written like games, touching on themes like multiverses, sentient games, speculations on the nature of our world, with a touch of cosmic dread -but not too much by any means- this should definitely hit that mark for you.