Rabbits Review

Conspiracies abound in this surreal and yet all-too-real technothriller in which a deadly underground alternate reality game might just be altering reality itself, set in the same world as the popular Rabbits podcast.

It’s an average work day. You’ve been wrapped up in a task, and you check the clock when you come up for air–4:44 pm. You go to check your email, and 44 unread messages have built up. With a shock, you realize it is April 4th–4/4. And when you get in your car to drive home, your odometer reads 44,444. Coincidence? Or have you just seen the edge of a rabbit hole?

Rabbits is a mysterious alternate reality game so vast it uses our global reality as its canvas. Since the game first started in 1959, ten iterations have appeared and nine winners have been declared. Their identities are unknown. So is their reward, which is whispered to be NSA or CIA recruitment, vast wealth, immortality, or perhaps even the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe itself. But the deeper you get, the more deadly the game becomes. Players have died in the past–and the body count is rising.

And now the eleventh round is about to begin. Enter K–a Rabbit’s obsessive who has been trying to find a way into the game for years. That path opens when K is approached by billionaire Alan Scarpio, the alleged winner of the sixth iteration. Scarpio says that something has gone wrong with the game and that K needs to fix it before Eleven starts or the whole world will pay the price.

Five days later, Scarpio is declared missing. Two weeks after that, K blows the deadline and Eleven begins. And suddenly, the fate of the entire universe is at stake. If I didn’t have such an affinity with wolves, I would absolutely be wanting my spirit animal to be a rabbit right now, and not just any rabbit oh no, no cuddly bugs bunny for me

I want a badass rabbit that wants me to follow it down a rabbit hole into some crazed wonderland that I may never return from.

So why the tangent on rabbits and not talking about the novel? Well buckle up.

This is a dark nerd gamers paradise think DBD meets D and D with masterful twists and turns that makes you feel more than any computer game ever did or could – yeah it is that good. If you love your games on the obsessive, intellectualy and highly playable side then you will love this book.

Imagine playing a game where the it is the world but more than that it takes over everything you have and becomes so much more than just a game.

I refuse to spoil it for people but OMG what a rollercoaster ride and I never wanted to get off, I was adoringly satisfied from opening page to finishing page and I just wanted it to keep going. 5 stars really isn’t enough.

Feeding the Gods Review

I received an ARC of Feeding the Gods by Elizabeth Harrison in return for an honest review through NetGalley. Thank you so much to the author, publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to do so.

Roberta, Rosie, Sandra and Linda meet at college in the 70s and remain constant friends, despite life’s up and downs. The sudden death of one of the friends leads the others to suspect that a slimming drug she had been taking was perhaps to blame.

Was this a wonder drug or a threat to life?

The friends start to uncover long-held secrets and betrayals both personal and professional, but the pharmaceutical industry is not yet finished with them. Feeding the Gods is a thriller that addresses friendships, the different roles a woman must take on through life and the power of the drug giants.

Feeding the Gods is a novel that follows the lives of four women who meet at a university party in the mid-1970s. Then, when thirty years later, one of them dies in suspicious circumstances, the fallout that follows uncovers lies and betrayals.

As they seek out the truth, lives are put in danger as they take on the power of the drug companies who are happy to prioritise profits before safety, and the government who are desperate for ways to cut the healthcare bill.

Elizabeth Harrison along with Dee Harrison and Liz Buxton have created a wonderfully powerful thriller that spans between 1970 and 2005 and is set in Manchester and Cheshire within the United Kingdom and reflects on life long friendships, the power that the pharmaceutical companies wield, the corruption of government and the roles that women undertake throughout their lives.

I found the premise of this story fascinating and although initially attracted to the genre and the front cover I found that I could not put this book down and more than that I want to read it again and again.  It is a bold storyline that is engaging, thought-provoking and witty.  The authors were not shy of posing powerful and tough questions and they followed this through with a punchy narrative that was packed to the brim with character.

I would recommend this to anyone that fancied something new to try or wanted to read something hard hitting. Thank you NetGalley for another 5-star read.