Megadeath

by Tory Quinn, Marie Vibbert (Contributor)

Death plays dirty. It’s 2112 and war between nations has become a spectator sport. Soldiers are now gamers who live and die based on the outcome of the match, and every four years a worldwide MegaDeath tournament gives countries a chance to air their grievances. This year, however, an enterprising company has made it possible for ordinary citizens to bet their lives on their country’s team. Winning players will become national heroes, but losers will be responsible for the deaths of millions of their fellow citizens. For North America’s talented star player, Megan Mori, death can’t come soon enough. Haunted by the loss of her daughter, which she blames on her own government, she has nothing more to lose and no one to fight for. But as the games begin, it becomes clear that a much more sinister agenda is unfolding, and Megan will need to rally her fellow gamers against a threat that could end humanity as they know it.

Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fiction

Audio CD

First published July 12, 2022

About the author

Working for a government think tank specializing in future technologies by day, Tory enjoys spending the evenings in front of the fire, sipping wine (a good but cheap Merlot from a box), while spinning yarns about technology gone astray and the lessons we can learn from the people faced with those situations. How does a scientist like Tory become a prolific writer? As Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. Many of the same skills required to dream up tomorrow’s great technologies apply to building fictional worlds, then setting extraordinary characters free within them.

Reviews

[C.E. Clayton · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a futuristic semi-dystopian where country disputes are settled through Olympic-style virtual sporting events played to the death (kind of like the Hunger Games), but with a distinctly “Matrix” vibe to it, well, that’s “MegaDeath” in a nutshell. In this futuristic version of the world, the global pecking order is decided every 4 years through a series of virtual simulator competitions which have replaced all wars. Sounds kind of nice, except the losing team dies and there’s something very fishy going on with the bets people make around these top athletes, and the Control system that puts on these virtual games. That’s where our main character, Megan, comes in. She is the elite of the elite when it comes to dominating in these games, but she doesn’t play for glory. She plays because she is in such intense anger and grief that she wants these games to punish her. That’s really compelling, but, unfortunately, Megan spent too long being an unlikable character to really get me invested in her, or the conflict.

I am all for showcasing the various degrees of grief in fiction. But when one of the characters describes Megan’s three personality types as “angry, sad, and angry-sad”, they weren’t kidding. She pushes away every single person who tries to reach her through her grief. Some of that push back makes sense, while others didn’t. Like how adamantly Megan pushes away her little sister which results in her being very callous for most of the book, and Megan’s parents seem unbelievably out of touch for both of their daughters. It took far too long for Megan to think about anyone but herself, and even then, because Megan came off as a fairly two-dimensional character, her transformation was too little too late for me. Unfortunately, that can be said of most of the characters. There are a lot of characters in this book, but all of them only have one or two traits that encompass their whole personality, making them all a little superficial.

But if you’re a fan of a lot of action around different kinds of sporting events, “MegaDeath” delivers that in spades! We get to see how Megan and her team play each event and the survivors guilt she gets saddled with each time. However, I could have have welcomed a little less focus on the post-game antics and more character development so the many twists at the end came across more grounded, personally. Some of the twists this story takes are big, others rather small, but most felt a bit too convenient for me. Some of which undermined the light romance in this book to the point where I didn’t believe two characters even had any kind of meaningful relationship. There was one curve ball I did like a lot though, and it makes me wish we got more of the cheerleaders in this book, but that’s all I’ll say about that. While this book is a standalone, I wasn’t a fan of how the story ended, even though I am a fan of the Matrix movies, so take that as you will. The ending, coupled with the fact that I just never could root for Megan much as a character, is why this book gets 3 stars from me. But, like I said, if you are a super fan of dystopias’ like the Matrix and the Hunger Games with high stakes virtual games, you may really enjoy this! And thanks to Novel Cause Publicity for sending me a copy to review.

[Kaylin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure I was going like this book and in the beginning, I didn't. Like the main character, I had a difficult time engaging in the world and caring about anything. However, like Megan, as she started to emerge from her grief and care about the world and her own life, so did I.

[Zacch · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn’t really my favorite book. The main character was pretty lame. The romance subplot didn’t hit. Stupid decisions all around. Spoilers below:


I also wasn’t particularly impressed by the matrix-esque ending.

[pastiesandpages - Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to @level4press for the ARC.

'Rules, terrain - nothing mattered but that ball. She wouldn't have seen a volcano if it had erupted.'

This book fitted perfectly with my #SciFiJuly reads. It's like a sci-fi action movie on steroids.

2112. The year of a new MegaDeath tournament. Six players/gamers are chosen to represent each nation. The tournament winners get better living conditions for their population at the expense of the other nations. A four yearly spectacle that has replaced war.
Death awaits all players from the losing teams.

Megan Mori is a young talented gamer suffering from grief. The only way she can cope with the loss of her young daughter is to emotionally cut herself off from friends and family, train and play and play.
Her relentless fanaticism to gaming brings her to the attention of Central and she suddenly finds herself on the North America tournament team.

She doesn't care that she's likely to die. She thinks it's what she wants to end her suffering.

Can the rest of the team help her find something to live for?

I'll admit that I didn't like her character in the early chapters but then I found myself getting sucked into the story and by the time I got halfway it got really exciting and I read the second half in one sitting.

There's a great supporting cast, an interesting array of virtual reality games in the tournament from football to being Knights on horseback to a Hunger Games style free for all.

There's scifi concepts from the VR technology and AI to the future world politics and alongside the tournament there's the realisation of a threat to humanity.

I grew to care about Megan and some of the others, particularly her sister Lola and ex-gamer/cheerleader Mitzi.

A fun, action packed story and the ending may not be what you expect. I can say no more. You'll have to read it to find out.

✨✨✨✨4 stars

[Mik Wasiak · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good story that kinda felt like this could become real one day video game and war I like the character and future setting I got this book for free and honest review

[Mars Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's like an adult Hunger Games with an ending that was kind of a chilling surprise....

[Arturo Serrano · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reviewed this novel for the Hugo-winning blog Nerds of a Feather:

http://www.nerds-feather.com/2022/10/...

[Nathan Mullins · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 star concept
2.5 star execution

A worse version of the hunger games and the matrix

[Ticana Zhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining read! Can't say I cared much for any of the characters (except for Mitzi), but the e-games were fun and the plot kept me hooked.