Saturday, July 18, 2015

Endgame: The Calling

The Endgame: The Calling
by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Synopsis:  Twelve thousand years ago, they came. They descended from the sky amid smoke and fire, and created humanity and gave us rules to live by. They needed gold and they built our earliest civilizations to mine it for them. When they had what they needed, they left. But before they left, they told us someday they would come back, and when they did, a game would be played. A game that would determine our future.

This is Endgame.

For ten thousand years the lines have existed in secret. The 12 original lines of humanity. Each had to have a Player prepared at all times. They have trained generation after generation after generation. In weapons, languages, history, tactics, disguise assassination. Together the players are everything: strong, kind, ruthless, loyal, smart, stupid, ugly, lustful, mean, fickle, beautiful, calculating, lazy, exuberant, weak. They are good and evil. Like you. Like all.

This is Endgame.

When the game starts, the players will have to find three keys. The keys are somewhere on earth. The only rule of their Endgame is that there are no rules. Whoever finds the keys first wins the game. Endgame: The Calling is about the hunt for the first key. And just as it tells the story of the hunt for a hidden key, written into the book is a puzzle. It invites readers to play their own Endgame and to try to solve the puzzle. Whoever does will open a case filled with gold. Alongside the puzzle will be a revolutionary mobile game built by Google’s Niantic Labs that will allow you to play a real-world version of Endgame where you can join one of the lines and do battle with people around you.

Will exuberance beat strength? Stupidity top kindness? Laziness thwart beauty? Will the winner be good or evil? There is only one way to find out.

Play.
Survive.
Solve.
People of Earth.
Endgame has begun.
from GoodReads

Review:  This book took itself a little too seriously.  It was very drama filled and there were plenty of moments that you could say "bum hum BUM" because you knew something dramatic was going to happen.  I think that the authors were writing this book so that it could be made into a movie.  Parts of the book seemed like it would be perfect for a screenplay.  This book is definitely a thriller and I wondered why it was young adult and then the book goes into young adult relationships and you can't help but roll your eyes at young love.  There was a puzzle in the book and the prize is $500,000 so there were quite a few things added into this book that made no sense at all to me that I assume were for the puzzle.  There were pictures that didn't go with anything.  There were random numbers thrown into the text that made no sense to the book.  There were numbers and quotes between chapters that led to footnotes that led to google searches that sometimes led to maps, others to youtube videos and others to websites with random articles.  The footnotes did make sense to the book for the most part but not necessarily in the order they were presented.  The puzzle aspect of the book really got in the way and left me confused.

I did, however, enjoy the story.  It was definitely an intriguing concept which the authors claim is real (Endgame is coming).  You have to take it with a grain of salt.  The plotline was fast paced and kept you reading.  There were definitely some evil characters that made you shiver and some characters that you were really rooting for.  There was also some gruesomeness.  I am invested in the story enough to read the next 2 books (the next one comes out later this year) because I need to know who wins Endgame (if anyone).

Rating: 3.5 stars

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