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Game of the Gods
Jay Shiffman's Game of the Gods is a debut sci-fi/fantasy thriller of political intrigue and Spielberg-worthy action sequences in the vein of Pierce Brown's Red Rising
Max Cone wants to be an ordinary citizen of the Federacy and leave war and politics behind. He wants the leaders of the world to leave him alone. But he’s too good a military commander, and too powerful a judge, to be left alone. War breaks out, and Max becomes the ultimate prize for the nation that can convince him to fight again.
When one leader gives the Judge a powerful device that predicts the future, the Judge doesn’t want to believe its chilling prophecy: The world will soon end, and he’s to blame. But bad things start to happen. His wife and children are taken. His friends are falsely imprisoned. His closest allies are killed. Worst of all, the world descends into a cataclysmic global war.
In order to find his family, free his friends, and save the world, the Judge must become a lethal killer willing to destroy anyone who stands in his way. He leads a ragtag band of warriors—a 13-year old girl with special powers, a mathematical genius, a religious zealot blinded by faith, and a former revolutionary turned drug addict. Together, they are the only hope of saving the world.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
335 pages, Hardcover
First published July 10, 2018
23 people are currently reading
769 people want to read
About the author
Jay Schiffman
2 books18 followersJay grew up in an unremarkable New York City suburb playing basketball, watching Steven Spielberg movies, and reading everything that Kurt Vonnegut ever wrote. As a kid, it was obvious what Jay’s two main passions were—writing and arguing. So, eventually, he would become a lawyer.
Jay went to the University of Michigan where he studied English and Political Science. After that, Jay received a law degree and Ph.D. in Political Science from New York University. He wrote his dissertation on competing theories of tolerance in American law and politics. He taught at NYU, published academic papers, and was a Bradley Fellow in American Government. Jay found the academic life a little too academic and so he committed himself to practicing law.
As an attorney, Jay worked on a wide variety of issues. He started as a Law Clerk to a United States Judge before joining his first firm. As a practicing attorney, Jay worked on civil rights, children’s issues, commercial litigation, constitutional law, criminal law, and federal death penalty cases. Towards the end of his legal career, he spent a lot of time visiting prisoners in detention centers. Jay worked many hours with individuals accused of murder and awaiting death penalty trials. In the confined spaces of these detention centers, he learned two important things—there’s a lot of humanity in people who do inhumane things and never take for granted the fact that you get to leave.
When his first daughter was born, Jay decided to leave law and start his first business, an educational learning company for children. A few years later, he sold that company to a large private equity firm. Jay had caught the entrepreneurial bug. Since founding his first company, Jay has been involved in a number of successful businesses in the digital, educational, technology, and consumer goods spaces.
Work
Jay currently runs two companies. His company Dreamkind is an award-winning entertainment studio dedicated to developing digital content for public interest organizations, educational institutions, and governmental bodies focused on social initiatives. Jay is the creative lead for all Dreamkind projects and is an award-winning writer and creator of games, animations, apps, and web experiences. Among other awards, Jay is the winner of the Cooney Center Prize for Innovation in Literacy Learning.
Jay’s clients include Disney, the NFL, American Heart Association, U.S. Defense Department’s Centers of Excellence, American Red Cross, Nickelodeon, UCLA Medical Center, Sesame Workshop, Carolinas HealthCare System, PBS, and many others. Jay has worked with: the NFL and American Heart Association to fight childhood obesity, UCLA Medical Center to help U.S. military families develop emotional resiliency skills, and the American Red Cross to teach emergency preparation to children.
Jay’s team at Dreamkind consists of experienced programmers, animators, producers, designers, marketers, illustrators, and educators. Dreamkind develops apps, video games, digital stories, animations, and educational content. Dreamkind has also developed a wide array of content under its own brand, including interactive science fiction narratives, arcade-style games, animated political and social satires, and educational games designed to foster literacy.
In addition to Dreamkind, Jay recently launched Humble Crew, an ecommerce startup with a strong social mission of helping families in need. Humble Crew leverages innovative design, market research, and technology to offer families well-designed furniture and storage at affordable prices. Humble Crew’s mission is to help families create loving homes. In doing so, Humble Crew partners with groups that help families living in poverty, as well as organizations that focus on environmental issues, the international refugee crisis, and institutional flaws in our political process.
Writer
Jay is also a writer. His first novel, Game of the Gods, will be published in July o
Jay went to the University of Michigan where he studied English and Political Science. After that, Jay received a law degree and Ph.D. in Political Science from New York University. He wrote his dissertation on competing theories of tolerance in American law and politics. He taught at NYU, published academic papers, and was a Bradley Fellow in American Government. Jay found the academic life a little too academic and so he committed himself to practicing law.
As an attorney, Jay worked on a wide variety of issues. He started as a Law Clerk to a United States Judge before joining his first firm. As a practicing attorney, Jay worked on civil rights, children’s issues, commercial litigation, constitutional law, criminal law, and federal death penalty cases. Towards the end of his legal career, he spent a lot of time visiting prisoners in detention centers. Jay worked many hours with individuals accused of murder and awaiting death penalty trials. In the confined spaces of these detention centers, he learned two important things—there’s a lot of humanity in people who do inhumane things and never take for granted the fact that you get to leave.
When his first daughter was born, Jay decided to leave law and start his first business, an educational learning company for children. A few years later, he sold that company to a large private equity firm. Jay had caught the entrepreneurial bug. Since founding his first company, Jay has been involved in a number of successful businesses in the digital, educational, technology, and consumer goods spaces.
Work
Jay currently runs two companies. His company Dreamkind is an award-winning entertainment studio dedicated to developing digital content for public interest organizations, educational institutions, and governmental bodies focused on social initiatives. Jay is the creative lead for all Dreamkind projects and is an award-winning writer and creator of games, animations, apps, and web experiences. Among other awards, Jay is the winner of the Cooney Center Prize for Innovation in Literacy Learning.
Jay’s clients include Disney, the NFL, American Heart Association, U.S. Defense Department’s Centers of Excellence, American Red Cross, Nickelodeon, UCLA Medical Center, Sesame Workshop, Carolinas HealthCare System, PBS, and many others. Jay has worked with: the NFL and American Heart Association to fight childhood obesity, UCLA Medical Center to help U.S. military families develop emotional resiliency skills, and the American Red Cross to teach emergency preparation to children.
Jay’s team at Dreamkind consists of experienced programmers, animators, producers, designers, marketers, illustrators, and educators. Dreamkind develops apps, video games, digital stories, animations, and educational content. Dreamkind has also developed a wide array of content under its own brand, including interactive science fiction narratives, arcade-style games, animated political and social satires, and educational games designed to foster literacy.
In addition to Dreamkind, Jay recently launched Humble Crew, an ecommerce startup with a strong social mission of helping families in need. Humble Crew leverages innovative design, market research, and technology to offer families well-designed furniture and storage at affordable prices. Humble Crew’s mission is to help families create loving homes. In doing so, Humble Crew partners with groups that help families living in poverty, as well as organizations that focus on environmental issues, the international refugee crisis, and institutional flaws in our political process.
Writer
Jay is also a writer. His first novel, Game of the Gods, will be published in July o
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
July 20, 2018
1.5 stars. Full review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Hundreds of years in our world’s future, dystopia prevails, at least in the nation called the Federacy. Judge Max Cone, with a stellar career as a military commander behind him, has spent the last fourteen years as a high judge. One of his duties is to interview young people who want to become formal citizens of the Federacy, guaranteeing them freedom. Most are rejected, sent to border settlements where life is perilous. Now Max is biding his time, taking care of his beloved wife and three young children and quietly planning his personal revenge on the governmental officials who ordered the procedure that essentially lobotomized his wife, a gifted scientist whose research findings threatened the Federacy.
Tensions with other nations and powerful rebel groups are high. While at the trial of a thirteen year old girl named Pique, a citizenship candidate who decided to prove her nearly inhuman talent as a fighter by tying Max up, Max gets kidnapped by a representative of the Federacy’s supposed ally, the Nation of Yerusalom. He finds himself pulled in different directions by various factions who want to use him and his skills and famous name for their own political and military purposes. Max sometimes cooperates, but often pushes back. Despite his jaded view of politics, he has a deep determination to do what he thinks is best. When a shocking tragedy occurs, Max becomes more deeply involved with these powerful forces who want to change the world to fit their vision … in ways that might be disastrous.
Game of the Gods, a debut novel by Jay Schiffman, started out fairly interesting for me, with a combination of action/adventure and conspiracies. Max is a reluctant hero who finds himself deeply enmeshed in a complex web of political and religious scheming, and he’s surrounded by some intriguing secondary characters. The first person/present tense narration was a drawback, though; it never ceased to feel clunky.
Around the one-third mark I really started to disengage. It began with a team-building exercise for a planned rescue mission that is, rather suspiciously, comprised entirely of young woman ― except for Max. He resists the multiple sexual come-ons heroically, but hey, what’s a guy to do when the women pin him down and force hallucinogenic drugs into his mouth? My eyes were rolling SO hard. Max never seems too exercised about it (partly because the girls give him another drug to cloud his memories of what happened) but it’s a highly dubious combination of ritualized sexual fantasy and guy rape.
Game of the Gods never recovered from that point. The plot gets more fragmented and unwieldy, and Schiffman’s writing style is rather choppy and frequently heavy-handed. At one point there’s a truly startling leap in time: a chapter ends with a tension-filled scene ― cherished characters dying! traitors being executed! ― and at the very start of the next chapter Max suddenly awakes from a medically-induced coma to find that six months have passed. It felt like Schiffman wanted to shift the action forward in time and thought this was a convenient way to achieve that goal, but it came across as inept.
Game of the Gods ends without any real resolution. Though it’s not being marketed as the first book in a series, I can only surmise that a sequel is intended; otherwise the ending is incredibly dissatisfying. If there is a sequel, though, I won’t be reading it.
I received a free copy of this book from Tor for review. Thanks, and sorry this one wasn't a winner for me!
Hundreds of years in our world’s future, dystopia prevails, at least in the nation called the Federacy. Judge Max Cone, with a stellar career as a military commander behind him, has spent the last fourteen years as a high judge. One of his duties is to interview young people who want to become formal citizens of the Federacy, guaranteeing them freedom. Most are rejected, sent to border settlements where life is perilous. Now Max is biding his time, taking care of his beloved wife and three young children and quietly planning his personal revenge on the governmental officials who ordered the procedure that essentially lobotomized his wife, a gifted scientist whose research findings threatened the Federacy.
Tensions with other nations and powerful rebel groups are high. While at the trial of a thirteen year old girl named Pique, a citizenship candidate who decided to prove her nearly inhuman talent as a fighter by tying Max up, Max gets kidnapped by a representative of the Federacy’s supposed ally, the Nation of Yerusalom. He finds himself pulled in different directions by various factions who want to use him and his skills and famous name for their own political and military purposes. Max sometimes cooperates, but often pushes back. Despite his jaded view of politics, he has a deep determination to do what he thinks is best. When a shocking tragedy occurs, Max becomes more deeply involved with these powerful forces who want to change the world to fit their vision … in ways that might be disastrous.
Game of the Gods, a debut novel by Jay Schiffman, started out fairly interesting for me, with a combination of action/adventure and conspiracies. Max is a reluctant hero who finds himself deeply enmeshed in a complex web of political and religious scheming, and he’s surrounded by some intriguing secondary characters. The first person/present tense narration was a drawback, though; it never ceased to feel clunky.
Around the one-third mark I really started to disengage. It began with a team-building exercise for a planned rescue mission that is, rather suspiciously, comprised entirely of young woman ― except for Max. He resists the multiple sexual come-ons heroically, but hey, what’s a guy to do when the women pin him down and force hallucinogenic drugs into his mouth? My eyes were rolling SO hard. Max never seems too exercised about it (partly because the girls give him another drug to cloud his memories of what happened) but it’s a highly dubious combination of ritualized sexual fantasy and guy rape.
Game of the Gods never recovered from that point. The plot gets more fragmented and unwieldy, and Schiffman’s writing style is rather choppy and frequently heavy-handed. At one point there’s a truly startling leap in time: a chapter ends with a tension-filled scene ― cherished characters dying! traitors being executed! ― and at the very start of the next chapter Max suddenly awakes from a medically-induced coma to find that six months have passed. It felt like Schiffman wanted to shift the action forward in time and thought this was a convenient way to achieve that goal, but it came across as inept.
Game of the Gods ends without any real resolution. Though it’s not being marketed as the first book in a series, I can only surmise that a sequel is intended; otherwise the ending is incredibly dissatisfying. If there is a sequel, though, I won’t be reading it.
I received a free copy of this book from Tor for review. Thanks, and sorry this one wasn't a winner for me!
July 9, 2018
Game of the Gods, an adult science fiction novel by Jay Schiffman, is about a future dystopian world in which several political factions are constantly fighting. Max Cone, a judge for the Federacy, finds himself in the middle of this global war. He realizes his life with his family was never what he thought it was, and Max has to do what he can to get his family back and stop this war.
This is Jay Schiffman’s first novel, and it’s hard to explain how much I really hated it. If I hadn’t been reading this book to review it, I would have given up 100 pages in. The characters are not well-written, and the plot is incomprehensible. I didn’t ever know what was going on (there is actually a line in the narrative about how Max never knows what is going on, which I found hilarious). Schiffman chose to use initialisms for several of the political groups, so I couldn’t remember the full names or how any of the groups differed from one another, and Max jumps from group to group with no consequences, so they can’t be that different.
Schiffman also chose to just give modern words new spellings (Ameriquan, Yerusalom, Erabian), rather than attempt to create a brand-new world, which I found very annoying. Maybe because we know the basics of our modern world Schiffman felt he didn’t really need to explain this world, but that really didn’t work for me. He never fully explained what was happening and what war was even going on, so the plot makes no sense.
Max is just running around doing pretty much nothing. He goes along with whatever the leader of one of the groups tells him to do. For example, there is a scene in which all the characters have sex with Max because it is a bonding tradition for teams before they go on missions. How does wasting hours “bonding” help with a time-sensitive rescue mission? Also, gross. The scene only exists to make one character pregnant. Also, it causes another character to cry because Max had sex with someone else, even though there is no reason for this character to be jealous or emotional about it. Schiffman is clearly trying to create strong female characters at other points in the book, but so much goes wrong throughout that I really think he failed.
Also, at one point in the novel, time fast forwards six months while Max is in a coma. When he wakes up, literally everything is different in only this short amount of time. Because the novel is less than 350 pages, I suppose Schiffman had to find a way to move things forward quickly, but I found this very lazy and disappointing. It didn’t make for a very exciting plot, considering our point of view character has missed all the action and is now being told through dialogue.
I had absolutely no interest in finding out how this novel ends and you shouldn’t either. The ending is not surprising and not interesting. Schiffman took what could have been an interesting concept and destroyed it with boring narration, dull characters, and no plot. Finally, the title of the book has absolutely nothing to do with the novel. The title was Schiffman’s best idea and the book completely fails to meet it.
*A copy was provided to me for my review on MuggleNet.com
This is Jay Schiffman’s first novel, and it’s hard to explain how much I really hated it. If I hadn’t been reading this book to review it, I would have given up 100 pages in. The characters are not well-written, and the plot is incomprehensible. I didn’t ever know what was going on (there is actually a line in the narrative about how Max never knows what is going on, which I found hilarious). Schiffman chose to use initialisms for several of the political groups, so I couldn’t remember the full names or how any of the groups differed from one another, and Max jumps from group to group with no consequences, so they can’t be that different.
Schiffman also chose to just give modern words new spellings (Ameriquan, Yerusalom, Erabian), rather than attempt to create a brand-new world, which I found very annoying. Maybe because we know the basics of our modern world Schiffman felt he didn’t really need to explain this world, but that really didn’t work for me. He never fully explained what was happening and what war was even going on, so the plot makes no sense.
Max is just running around doing pretty much nothing. He goes along with whatever the leader of one of the groups tells him to do. For example, there is a scene in which all the characters have sex with Max because it is a bonding tradition for teams before they go on missions. How does wasting hours “bonding” help with a time-sensitive rescue mission? Also, gross. The scene only exists to make one character pregnant. Also, it causes another character to cry because Max had sex with someone else, even though there is no reason for this character to be jealous or emotional about it. Schiffman is clearly trying to create strong female characters at other points in the book, but so much goes wrong throughout that I really think he failed.
Also, at one point in the novel, time fast forwards six months while Max is in a coma. When he wakes up, literally everything is different in only this short amount of time. Because the novel is less than 350 pages, I suppose Schiffman had to find a way to move things forward quickly, but I found this very lazy and disappointing. It didn’t make for a very exciting plot, considering our point of view character has missed all the action and is now being told through dialogue.
I had absolutely no interest in finding out how this novel ends and you shouldn’t either. The ending is not surprising and not interesting. Schiffman took what could have been an interesting concept and destroyed it with boring narration, dull characters, and no plot. Finally, the title of the book has absolutely nothing to do with the novel. The title was Schiffman’s best idea and the book completely fails to meet it.
*A copy was provided to me for my review on MuggleNet.com
July 10, 2018
Maybe it’s the jam-packed narrative, maybe it’s the trap of the first novel; whatever it is, Schiffman’s high-flying ideas and intriguing premise fall utterly flat in the novel’s actual writing.
Full review available at www.toschestation.net.
Full review available at www.toschestation.net.
July 7, 2018
I read this book in two main sittings. Coffee with one. Wine with the other. It was fast-paced and very hard to put down. There are a lot of big issues to consider in the book, but in the end, I enjoyed the story most. There are some serious plot twists that I didn’t see coming. I strongly recommend this book.
July 7, 2018
Engrossing. I don’t want to say it’s like The Hunger Games because … definitely not. But same kind of feeling. In Game of the Gods, it’s about a group of odd characters working together to take down some powerful forces and that reminds me of a lot of great dystopian books. Some of the rescue and chase scenes are really fantastic, and would love to see this made into a movie.
May 18, 2018
I really enjoyed Game of the Gods because of the fast-paced action scenes and interesting characters. It's a very quick read and had me hooked from the very beginning. I'm not a heavy science fiction reader but I really enjoyed this book because it felt like an action movie kind of like X-Men. I'd recommend it to both science fiction readers and non scifi readers.
August 18, 2018
I read “Game of the Gods” on a whim. I am a lover of scifi/fantasy reads, and this action-packed, page turner did not disappoint me. This novel definitely reminded me of Atwood’s, Oryx and Crake” due to the post-apocalyptic/dystopian setting and Dashner’s “The Maze Runner” in the way that we followed a motley crew in its battle against a seemingly all-powerful and omnipresent ruler. The story deals with how politics, religion, ethics, and emotions interact.
In the beginning, Max Cone, the novel’s protagonist, struggles with how his own morality plays into the objectivity of his role as a judge. He is forced to put aside his preconceived notions of what is right and what is wrong and subject himself to his society’s reinvented ideals. However, when world war breaks out, his life is quickly overturned and everything he knows must be reevaluated. Max does not know who to trust or what to fight for and then, the adventure unfolds…
At times, there seemed to be unnecessary detail that added confusion, however, for Jay’s first novel, I am impressed and hoping for a sequel! Highly recommended read!
In the beginning, Max Cone, the novel’s protagonist, struggles with how his own morality plays into the objectivity of his role as a judge. He is forced to put aside his preconceived notions of what is right and what is wrong and subject himself to his society’s reinvented ideals. However, when world war breaks out, his life is quickly overturned and everything he knows must be reevaluated. Max does not know who to trust or what to fight for and then, the adventure unfolds…
At times, there seemed to be unnecessary detail that added confusion, however, for Jay’s first novel, I am impressed and hoping for a sequel! Highly recommended read!
July 9, 2018
I thought Game of the Gods was pretty great overall. Without giving anything away, the story takes place in a dystopian future. The plot seemed familiar in a good way- a motley crew trying to save the world. But the story felt completely new and refreshing.
The characters, especially the protagonist and narrator Max Cone and a gifted teenage girl named Pique Rollins, were the kind of characters that are very easy to identify with. I found the novel to be extremely captivating and I got lost in all the different lands and characters. If anything, I wanted more, like a better explanation of how the characters came together, but all in all, it served as a very enjoyable read. Definitely one of the more exciting books i've read in the past few months. Five stars.
The characters, especially the protagonist and narrator Max Cone and a gifted teenage girl named Pique Rollins, were the kind of characters that are very easy to identify with. I found the novel to be extremely captivating and I got lost in all the different lands and characters. If anything, I wanted more, like a better explanation of how the characters came together, but all in all, it served as a very enjoyable read. Definitely one of the more exciting books i've read in the past few months. Five stars.
July 9, 2018
It's a smart book that makes you think. Sometimes all the different characters and plotlines were a bit hard to follow, but overall great fun. Anyone know if there's a sequel? I hope so, I would buy it.
August 2, 2018
My book club selected Game of the Gods as our book last month. All four of us absolutely loved it!! Fell in love with Max Cone. Can’t wait for the sequel!!!
August 2, 2018
Best dystopian novel I’ve read since Hunger Games!!
August 2, 2018
Fantastic sci-fi page turner set in the distant future. With compelling characters, fast action and timely political and religious themes, it is as gripping as it is provocative.
July 18, 2018
Such a good book so far. I like the characters in particular. Does anyone else love Max?
December 10, 2018
Congratulations, Jay, on getting your debut novel published. And I did finish it, which is something. But honestly, this was kind of a mess. A mixup of unrealistic action, metaphysics, superhero fiction and dystopia whose reach far exceeded it's grasp.
Sometimes a novel is twisty - you never know whom to trust - and ends with a satisfying conclusion that shows how all of the parts worked together. In this novel, there are twists, and you never know who to trust, and then it ends. Also, the characters take mass murder in a very blase fashion throughout the book.
Not worth your time.
Sometimes a novel is twisty - you never know whom to trust - and ends with a satisfying conclusion that shows how all of the parts worked together. In this novel, there are twists, and you never know who to trust, and then it ends. Also, the characters take mass murder in a very blase fashion throughout the book.
Not worth your time.
August 2, 2018
Not much I can say about this one. Painfully amateur prose, melodramatic characters, and a disjointed plot. I gave up about halfway through.
July 23, 2020
Game of the Gods is a futurist/sci-fi novel about a man named Max Cone - Judge for The Federacy. The world as we know it is no longer the world as we know it. It's broken down into the barest of bones where absolutely no one seems to agree on anything! You have The Federacy, a place where Max Cone judges who is worthy to live within it. Think super power without the super part. We also have the National Freedom Force who hates The Federacy and wastes little time in destroying it. We have the Rogues who have a distaste for both Federacy and NFF, but is willing to try and keep peace with the latter. There is also Yerusalom. Think holy land. Kolexico - where we don't spend too much time in the story, but there is an interesting backstory on how the nation came to be founded! And then there is a whole area of abstainers, those that haven't taken any sides on the 'right way to live'. We follow Max Cone (along with Pique, Mavy, Trace, Nayla, etc.) as he tries to figure out who killed his wife and kids, but will the world and its fate be in his hands when push comes to shove?
This novel was only okay for me. I'm not a big fan of Sci-fi on a normal day so I think this could have been better in many ways. First of all, I hate first person narrative in fiction. It's my own personal preference. I mean, I can read it and I'm sure there are great stories out there told in first person that I haven't encountered yet, but I tend to steer clear of first person unless it's non-fiction, opinion pieces, etc. Second, this could have been a lot more detailed than it was. Again, that's my personal preference.
Otherwise, it wasn't a bad read! I would recommend it for those that enjoy their Sci-fi quick and relatively painless!
This novel was only okay for me. I'm not a big fan of Sci-fi on a normal day so I think this could have been better in many ways. First of all, I hate first person narrative in fiction. It's my own personal preference. I mean, I can read it and I'm sure there are great stories out there told in first person that I haven't encountered yet, but I tend to steer clear of first person unless it's non-fiction, opinion pieces, etc. Second, this could have been a lot more detailed than it was. Again, that's my personal preference.
Otherwise, it wasn't a bad read! I would recommend it for those that enjoy their Sci-fi quick and relatively painless!
June 28, 2021
Published in 2018, "Game of the Gods"...is weird. And in the beginning of the book there's a lot of crude references to women. Part of the story? My thought is it could've been edited out. It starts with some guy who's a "Minister of Truth" who decides who under 18 gets to become a "citizen".
So I thought this was the Hunger Games.
Then he goes home to find his wife and children murdered. He is now kidnapped by a rag tag group of rejectees from his initial decisions on who becomes a "citizen" and now he's seeking vengeance.
Then I thought it was a military-style "Game of Thrones".
And then at some point it becomes a sci-fi adventure about AI or something like that? It's kind of a blur because I just couldn't get over the whole tone of the book which is very negative. High body counts, lots of "throwing caution to the wind", lots of "this is it" type of last chapters.
I didn't think it was something that would get published as is with what is written now. Schiffman has another book releasing this year and I don't know, would I be interested in reading it?
So I thought this was the Hunger Games.
Then he goes home to find his wife and children murdered. He is now kidnapped by a rag tag group of rejectees from his initial decisions on who becomes a "citizen" and now he's seeking vengeance.
Then I thought it was a military-style "Game of Thrones".
And then at some point it becomes a sci-fi adventure about AI or something like that? It's kind of a blur because I just couldn't get over the whole tone of the book which is very negative. High body counts, lots of "throwing caution to the wind", lots of "this is it" type of last chapters.
I didn't think it was something that would get published as is with what is written now. Schiffman has another book releasing this year and I don't know, would I be interested in reading it?
November 29, 2018
It's only been a few days but I found myself trying to think back on if I finished this or not. I read the decriptor here and scoffed because it really painted this book and something it's not. It suggests deep meaningful characters with drives and motivation yet they might as well be stick figures or stand ins. The world itself with its warring groups and weird zealots wasn't very well fleshed out. The intro was strong though, the judge making decisions, being logical, meeting a strange individual. The meeting of one of the factions and the special powers, then it goes downhill. We are dumped in a new area with new weird people then sent to another of the groups at war to be told more weirdness and there's a little military rescue mission stuff thrown in and a bit of weird sex. There are no redeeming qualities after the first third of the book, and I may have finished, I may have given up, and that I don't remember speaks even more to how unimpressed I was.
December 9, 2023
This is the most middle of the road scifi book I have ever read. On one hand you have a fast paced romp through a future of humanity, crazed religious zealots, super powered humans, science clashing with philosophy and moral dilemmas. On the other hand, none of the themes are fully realized, there is a rape scene and I think the author was working through something in his personal life while writing; making it painfully erratic.
It is an easy read, probably plugged into hemmingwayapp.com. I am glad I got this at a second hand store and didn't pay full price. The 6 bucks I paid is still too much though. If it was a dollar or online for free I would feel like I got what I paid for.
If you have made it this far I bet you are wondering why I gave it 3 stars. If I could give it 2.5 I would have. It had a lot of promise but bit off more than it could chew.
It is an easy read, probably plugged into hemmingwayapp.com. I am glad I got this at a second hand store and didn't pay full price. The 6 bucks I paid is still too much though. If it was a dollar or online for free I would feel like I got what I paid for.
If you have made it this far I bet you are wondering why I gave it 3 stars. If I could give it 2.5 I would have. It had a lot of promise but bit off more than it could chew.
January 20, 2021
A mess that tries to play with a bunch of ideas (bad religion, egomaniacal tyranny, the danger of trusting future-predicting engines) and ends up markedly less than the sum of its parts. The protagonist has an extraordinarily elevated view of his wise, moral self that he persists in despite very few of his actions living up to it. There's a creepy sexual vibe throughout, as though the book is male wish-fulfillment (particularly in sexualizing teenage girls). The warring factions are never satisfactorily explained and differentiated, despite several infodumps.
August 2, 2018
A great debut novel for the author! Fast moving and extremely enjoyable. I didn't want to put it down. It was a great combination of politics and science fiction, with a number of different plot twists along the way! You definitely didn't know who to trust. Extremely good character development, especially of the protagonist, Max Cone. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys action! I look forward to the movie version of "Game of the Gods", as well as future efforts from the author!
February 6, 2019
I kept almost "dnf"-ing this one; it never takes off plot-wise and the characters are either caricatures or never developed. Seems like the author is multi-talented in real life, but I wouldn't include fiction writing as one. Boring near-future with an inter-continental rivalry, a former judge and former general, some magical gene lines, a search for divinity and a purpose for mankind, and uncompelling rivalries just don't add up to much.
December 24, 2018
I don't understand how this book was published, where the blurbs came from or even exactly how this disappointed me. I was fascinated by the opening chapters but by around a hundred pages in, I couldn't remember why. This is a laundry list of writing mistakes, one after another, with a listless protagonist, incomprehensible plot, absurd characters, poor prose and questionable content.
May 20, 2019
Absolutely atrocious writing - although the subject matter is adult, the stilted, repetitive dialogue feels more like juvenile fiction. The setting and story might have been a bit original, but I could never get back the childish narrative and dialogue. Jay might be a talented and creative person, but this book just screams of a complete lack of effort.
July 26, 2018
The characters are very two dimensional; although there a lot of deaths none of it really resonates with the characters or the reader. Its reads like a pretty average post-apocalyptic genre book. Weak ending, too.
August 28, 2018
Read this on a whim, and was thoroughly impressed. It is like The Hunger Games or Maze Runner. We see how morals, politics, and action weave into a dystopian society with redefined values. I read it in two sittings- I hope there is a sequel!
April 3, 2019
I read this book as if it were a 1980s action movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger cast as the lead role. It's a guilty pleasure read.
The intense action scenes are only interrupted by scenes with officials who've taken his family--even if there's 6 months between scenes.
The intense action scenes are only interrupted by scenes with officials who've taken his family--even if there's 6 months between scenes.
April 9, 2022
Almost got to the end, but ultimately I didn't care about the characters or their world enough to continue.
April 27, 2023
DNF
wow, really bad
who thought that this would be a good idea
i knew there was a problem when i noticed that he thanked people twice, what did you forget someone
wow, really bad
who thought that this would be a good idea
i knew there was a problem when i noticed that he thanked people twice, what did you forget someone
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