27 January 2014

[Review] Backwards Compatible; Sarah Daltry & Pete Clark

Backward Compatible: A Geek Love Story

Release Date: December 28 2013
Publisher: SDE Press
Format: eBook ARC via NetGalley

Summary from Goodreads:
Not too long ago, in a town that, depending on your current location, is either not super far or actually quite close... (insert Star Wars theme music here...)

It is a time of chaotic hormones.

Two nerdy gents home for winter break have discovered a female gamer at a midnight release.

During the break, the gamer trio manages to reveal the game's secret boss, a hidden enemy with enough power to destroy anything in its path.

Pursued by other gamers who want to be the first to beat this boss, George and Katie race to level up, and, in so doing, restore decency and sexual activity to their personal galaxy...

What I Thought: Liking this book was a surprise to me. I thought that the plot sounded cute, but predictable and that it would a be a quick, decent read, but nothing special. I ended up being quite surprised by this book, because there's more to it than the summary gives.

The characters were pretty realistic and believable- neither the male nor female main characters fell flat. Also, this book was told from dual perspectives which is definitely my favorite thing ever. Even the secondary characters were pretty developed and interesting. I really liked the pacing in this book. It moved just quickly enough to feel like winter break speeding by, but it didn't go too quickly either.

Finally, this book had some great pop culture references. Besides the expected video game references, there were also some fantastic allusions to tv and movies. If your book casually quotes Firefly, I'm so there.

I did however have one complaint, and that was some of the language used in the book. Granted, the authors were recreating the language you'd expect from teenagers on xbox, but still, I was uncomfortable with some of the casual uses of "rape," for example. However, in the context of the book, I do understand the choice to use it.

Read this if: you like video game book, really great pop culture references and can look past some problematic word choices.

Out of 5☆: 4/5

This book was 7/100 for 2014

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