The Game

I discovered this book this morning and finished it in 4 hours after barely stopping to take a breathe. It's simply a really good read and right down my alley in terms of personal interests. I stumbled upon this through Book Barbarian and their daily email that alerts me to a couple of free or cheap books going on Amazon. The idea of The Game immediately appealed to me in the same way Ready Player One by Ernie Cline did. It involves sending children into a virtual reality world to essentially lead practice lives so that they may be productive and wise human beings by the time they become adults. It has replaced school as the primary source of education and rewards players with credits for achievements that they can spend to play again or purchase upgrades like luck. The twist on this is that right now, you and I are playing through one of our practice lives and could at any time wake up in the real world. The mainframe that controls the simulation has come to be known by it’s players as God and the name of the simulation is Educational Avatar Reality Training Habitat or E.A.R.T.H. for short. Our story revolves around a boy called Zack who is weeks away from his 18th birthday and has time for one more game. He is a fantastic player who has just finished a game at the age of 76 virtual years, is ranked 2nd and has decided to invest every credit he has on making sure his last game is the best ever and will let him retire as number one. I'm still getting my thoughts together but fuck me for a free book it was a real treat.