The other day I, among a few others, were lucky enough to review a book. This book being called Endgame, which was written by author James Frey (A Million Little Pieces, My Friend Leonard) along with Nils Johnson-Shelton. I thought, this would be a perfect way to introduce book reviews to my blog, as I am of yet to review one.
Here is a quick synopsis of the book:
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| The Day I received Endgame! |
Endgame is real. Endgame is now. Endgame has begun.
Twelve ancient cultures were chosen millennia ago to represent humanity in Endgame, a global game that will decide the fate of humankind. Endgame has always been a possibility, but never a reality… until now. Twelve meteorites have just struck Earth, each meteorite containing a message for a Player who has been trained for this moment. At stake for the Players: saving their bloodline, as well as the fate of the world. And only one can win.
Google Niantic is building a mobile location-based augmented reality videogame inextricably tied to the books and mythology, a major prize will be tied to a puzzle in each book, and Twentieth Century Fox has bought the movie rights.
Read the Books. Find the Clues. Solve the Puzzle. Who will Win?
So, lets get started. From the outset, I knew this was going to be a different book from any that I have read before. That being said, I just want to clear up a matter before continuing with my review. Before I sat down and read this book, I did a little research and what came up most was the fact that this book was just another copy of the 'Hunger Games'. Well, I can say right now that this book is a completely different book from the Hunger games, which shouldn't in no way deter you from reading Endgame. The whole story, the way the story is set out, and how the story progresses is in an entire world of it's own, and while I was reading this, I didn't compare it, or thought it was similar to the Hunger games in any way.
Okay, now that's out of the way, let's get back to it. I don't know whether the author intentionally wrote in this style, or whether it is his usual style, but Frey likes to write in a very blunt and straightforward manner, whereby he writes in full. Also, whenever he mentioned numbers, he never rounded them up, instead keeping the exact figure of the number(s) instead. This, I found to be a little weird, but necessary for the progression of the book. He likes to use full stops quite a lot to make a point and to create suspense. In the beginning, I found this method to be a tad annoying, but after a while, I soon got used to it, and thought that this is one of the many reasons why I liked the book so much.
The story is about twelve people, from twelve different bloodlines across the earth, who has been selected to play in a contest called 'Endgame', which is a game that specialises in determining the fate of mankind. The objective of Endgame is to find three keys that have been placed somewhere on the earth. The twelve players must battle each other to find these keys, not just to save themselves, but to also save their bloodline from extinction. Whoever finds these keys, wins and therefore survives Endgame.
What I like about this book, is that it is told through all of the protagonists in this book, and not just one person. This gives us, the reader, an idea into every individuals mindsets and feelings, and therefore you can make an overall judgement on every character participating in Endgame. The only problem I found with this book is that for the first few chapters, up until Endgame begins, it is a very slow moving book. I was finding it quite difficult to stay with the story, but I'm glad I did. As soon as the contest began for the protagonists, the book became exciting and a page turner, with many twists and turns along the way to keep you gripped and unable to stop until the end. Another little bit of excitement is that James Frey includes a little treasure hunt within the pages of the book. All you have to do is decipher the code(s) throughout the book, once you do that, it should lead you to a location where you could find something VERY special!
Overall, despite the slowness at the beginning of the book, this is well worth a read. I think the suspense of the book is enough for you to carry on reading it until the end. This story is completely different from what I have read before. This isn't the type of book that I normally read, but now I've read it, it gives me some encouragement to read more like it.
If you are interested in this book, and would like to watch a teaser trailer on it, you can click through to YouTube here...
Also, If you liked this review and want to give the book a read also, the link to find Endgame on Amazon can be found here...
This book will also be available as an audio download, for those of you that find that listening to books works better for you. :)
Disclaimer: I was asked to review Endgame. All thoughts on this book are my own.
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