Mundie Moms

Monday, January 14, 2013

Book Review: Doomed by Tracy Deebs


By: Tracy Deebs
Published by: Bloomsbury
Released on: January 8th, 2013
Source: arc from publisher to review
4 Stars: I Really Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound


Beat the game. Save the world.

Pandora’s just your average teen, glued to her cell phone and laptop, surfing Facebook and e-mailing with her friends, until the day her long-lost father sends her a link to a mysterious site featuring twelve photos of her as a child. Unable to contain her curiosity, Pandora enters the site, where she is prompted to play her favorite virtual-reality game, Zero Day. This unleashes a global computer virus that plunges the whole world into panic: suddenly, there is no Internet. No cell phones. No utilities, traffic lights, hospitals, law enforcement. Pandora teams up with handsome stepbrothers Eli and Theo to enter the virtual world of Zero Day. Simultaneously, she continues to follow the photographs from her childhood in an attempt to beat the game and track down her father, her one key to saving the world as we know it. Part The Matrix, part retelling of the Pandora myth, Doomed has something for gaming fans, dystopian fans, and romance fans alike. -quoted from Goodreads

Given that we live in a world that thrives and mostly runs on the internet, it was only a matter of time before an author took the "what if" I've conjured up in my mind over the years, and brought it to life. Tracy Deebs does just that, and in a really exciting way. I've always wondered what would happen if/when someone found a way to control or unleashed something that would virtually shut down the Internet. How long would it take to effect everyone, how would the world go on, what catastrophic effects would it have on the world etc, etc. I know, late at night when I can't sleep my mind tends to wonder, but you can't tell me you haven't ever thought of the "what if". Even if you say no you have never thought that, I'm happy to know that I'm not the only one who did, because Tracy apparently has as well (yay I'm not the only one). 

I enjoyed the way Tracy told Pandora's story. Pandora is not only a butt kicking heroine who's stubbornness kind of got on a nerves just a bit through out the story, she's a smart girl, who's also an incredible game player. She's independent, a bit lonely since she lives alone most of the time due to her mother never being around since her work has her flying all over the country. Luckily she has a few close friends who keep going, and until now her  father who's never really been apart of her life unexpectedly becomes apart of it again. Let's just say after the little number her father pulls in DOOMED, you'll understand why Pandora's mother never wanted him in her life. Thanks to dear ole' Dad, Pandora's unleashed a monster virus, and it's going to take everything she and her friends Eli and his bad boy older step brother Theo, can do to stop it. 

Theo and Eli. I enjoyed the complicated relationship these two brothers had, and I liked the relationship Pandora has with them. She's already friends with Eli, and has her reservations about Theo. Y'all know I like a bad boy, and though Theo doesn't ride a motorcycle this tall brooding, dark her hacker boy definitely fits the bill for a good ole' bad boy in this story. Together these three made for a fun story. They're not only on the run from every Government agency in the US, they also have a time limit to stop the game before the world ends. Yep, you read that right. This virus was unleashed in a game, and though they have to play the game in order to defeat it, they're also dealing with the virus and it's horrific consequences in their own world. Throw in dealing with attacks, accidents, falling in love and oh yeah, traveling around the US without having any sort of internet, way to get $, gas, food etc. and you've got yourself an adventure mixed with plenty of danger and mystery.

I really enjoyed this book! Normally these type of books aren't my thing, but this book surprisingly was. I think part of it had to do with Tracy's writing style, and other part was due to how fast paced and fun this story is. It's one that is full of mystery, excitement, danger, and course has a romance, though the friendship between the characters plays the biggest part in the book. Normally books that are sci-fi or deal with techy stuff lose me, but with DOOMED, I felt like everything made sense. There are a lot of little details that add up as the story goes along, and plenty of bigger reveals that all wrap up by the time the story finishes. Sometimes it's nice to get out of my element and read something I normally wouldn't. DOOMED for me was a really fun read I read in a matter of a few hours. If you're a fan of what I like to call realistic dystopian, I'd definitely recommend picking this one up!

2 comments:

  1. I am about 78% done with the ARC...on the fence a little, but I do like it so far.

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    1. I'm so glad you like it. I liked it, because it was something different. It was a fun read for me and something I normally don't find myself liking it. I liked how well the storyline flowed and how fast paced it was. I hope you like the ending :)

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