Review: Doomed by Tracy Deebs

Title: Doomed

Author: Tracy Deebs
Publisher:  Walker Childrens
Publishing Date: January 8th 2013

Pages: 480
Genre:  YA Sci-Fi Post Apocalyptic

Series: Stand Alone
Source: Kindle provided by publisher

  

Beat the game. Save the world.

Pandora’s just your average teen, glued to her cell phone and laptop, surfing Facebook and e-mailing with her friends, until the day her long-lost father sends her a link to a mysterious site featuring twelve photos of her as a child. Unable to contain her curiosity, Pandora enters the site, where she is prompted to play her favorite virtual-reality game, Zero Day. This unleashes a global computer virus that plunges the whole world into panic: suddenly, there is no Internet. No cell phones. No utilities, traffic lights, hospitals, law enforcement. Pandora teams up with handsome stepbrothers Eli and Theo to enter the virtual world of Zero Day. Simultaneously, she continues to follow the photographs from her childhood in an attempt to beat the game and track down her father, her one key to saving the world as we know it. Part The Matrix, part retelling of the Pandora myth, Doomed has something for gaming fans, dystopian fans, and romance fans alike.

I loved Tracy Deebs Tempest novel and I love Sci-Fi and video games... I figured this could be a great read. It was. I was hooked from the very beginning and loved every moment of the story. Unique, definite sci-fi feel, and very exciting. It lived up to all my expectations.

There is a game, there is a hacker, there is a worm, there is a cyber-terrorist, there is a teenage girl in the midst of it all... and that sums it up. On Pandora's birthday she receives a mysterious email from her estranged father. She opens the email, clicks the links, and then she goes to school. She comes home and logs onto her favorite game to play and gets something new. A strange message and a gift to open. The game isn't the only strange thing, her power is out, her phones are out, nothing electronic wants to work... and it's not just her house, its global. Now she has to play the game and win to save the world. Oh... and don't forget the two hotties that join in on the fun.

I really really liked the book. It was a great mixture between post-apocalyptic, a thriller suspense, and a science fiction ride. It was believable. A virus that takes down everything. Tracy Deebs really had the feel, the tone, and the setting down, the plot seemed very realistic. The writing was very fast paced and I was able to breeze through the story very quickly. The book didn't feel like 480 pages and it wasn't lacking either. It felt complete. I liked everything about the story including the characters.

Pandora was a very likable character for me. She would be whiny then tell herself not to be whiny. I think is is a little more realistic and likable for a teenage girl character. With everything she is going through, I think being a little why about it is understandable. Pandora is a very stubborn, solid, loyal character.
Theo and Eli are also very likable, very swoon worthy characters. They are step brothers and pretty much opposites of a coin. Where one lacks the other excels.  Pandora does have a hard time knowing which one to go after. Yes there is a love triangle but it really didn't feel to out of place for me. She basically just meets the both of them and when one is a jerk the other is sweet or funny or protective, then they switch roles. So she has never actually picked one and now they both have there redeemable moments. HMMM... yea I would have a hard time to. Although I prefer Theo. Lots of good banter moments between these characters, I love my banter.

The book was very character drive and story driven to me. I liked the balanced between the two and had a fun time watching them unravel the game to save the world. 

I loved it. Fast paced, thrilling, creative, and entertaining.