2 STARS
Well, this wasn't bad per se, but I didn't enjoy it.
The first half, full 55% of the book is epistolary, which I like in theory or as an exercise, but reads more like a screenplay than an immersive story. People who dig that will find some happy time here. Second thing that didn't work for me is that while playing video games can be fun--by myself, watching other people play video games is boring. Watching people watching other people play video games is like some fresh form of hell devised to torture me. So, I was really disconnected from a significant portion of the story.
Good news. Second half of the story takes place in meatspace. Not being a fan of the performative nature of virtual interactions, when Kai and Garrett actually physically interact was appealing, and not just because of the sex, though it was quite nice. The loss of layering, and exposed character that can't be hidden behind a screen is more intense and fulfilling to me. Of course, with it comes the serious truths that can't be ignored by blocking. The exploration of Kai's anxiety was interesting, the physical manifestations really provided depth to the all encompassing nature of it.
This brings me to the third aspect of the book that didn't work for me. The answer to Kai and Garrett's conflict was blindingly obvious and not really a hurdle. It made all the emotional fluctuations seem more like a drama llama than if they'd just thought about how easy it would be to fix their problem. I might have enjoyed the exploration of whether or not the solution was going to be addressed, the relationship strain of dealing with a problem or ignoring rather than pretending there wasn't one.
So, gotta say that there are many readers who are going to enjoy this more than I did strictly because of the structure of the story and the gamer cultured explored. I thought the conflict was a straw man, but the writing itself was good. There were a few issues: minor editing misses and continuity, but nothing that screamed enough to be distracting or negate the storyline.
Overall, first impressions can be misleading.
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