Simulation Game

By: E. M. G. Wixley

Narrated by: Clive Johnson

Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

Felicity Devon enters a remote suicide wood. Her avalanche of despair is due to her own personal demons and the secrets and lies surrounding her sister Elley’s disappearance. By chance in this place where the end game is played out she meets Jonah, a young man also struggling under the weight of a terrifying secret, his beloved father’s recent death, and the loss of his own sister. United in sorrow they decide to join forces and discover the truth behind the mysteries of their turbulent pasts. In the process, they step into a frightening and uncertain future.

Dante Felicity’s father is obsessed with his creations the worlds first quantum supercomputer and his unique virtual reality games. His son Irvin shares his passion for technology and rapidly becomes fully immersed in his father’s latest game. Soon, Irvin discovers this is not the only game being played.

Young and old struggle to survive in a world where reality and truth are no longer inevitable and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

©2019 E. M. G. Wixley (P)2019 E. M. G. Wixley

Not LitRpg

This is not a litrpg like i thought from books cover. possibly there's a saying that should have helped me from making this mistake but here we are. i didn't really enjoy the narrator. and the story wasn't interesting enough, in my opinion, to rectify the narration.

I enjoyed it!

This book was like diving into the "matrix conspiracy" but in a whole different perspective. I loved the whole book from start to finish and couldnt get over the complexity of the characters and storyline. definately would reccomend especially to tech lovers!

OMG, Omg, Omg!!!!

I was blown away by this book. I have no words that would match the greatness of the world E has created. It is Sims in extra strong steroids. This author is brilliant!gOMG!!!

Dust jacket is misleading

I received a free review copy of this book, at my request, and am voluntarily leaving this unbiased review.

The dust cover for this book promises intriguie, deep connections, and an compelling mystery.

Unfortunately, what we get is a bland, emotionless experience with a mystery that is revealed to the reader fairly early. It is NOT a mystery story, if you are interested in a mystery this is not a story for you.

The story is written more like a play, with narration to set up a scene and then almost non stop dialog. There is little to no inner thoughts of the characters and we are left to infer their emotions from their described facial expressions. Of course as most of the characters are broken in some way, this does not lead to any significant insight.

The world is also not fleshed out well, for example the "suicide woods" are not explained properly in the book, and the concept really only exists on the dust cover. Relationships are forged, but with sparse emotional context and any real description of feelings or motivations, they feel hollow and un compelling.

The mystery hinted at, on the dust cover, takes the main character some time to fully understand. However, as the audience, we learn about it very quickly. I know there is a market for this, as it is the formula of "Columbo", but it is not something I enjoy. The rest of the characters' "journey" involves bumbling towards the answer and then the result of the answer. However, the is not the stress of human emotions, but a sci-fi "twist" (for the character not the audience).

The worst part of this audio book was the narrator, Clive Johnson. He did the entire book in the voice of Saruman (Christopher Lee) from the Lord of the Rings movies. Everything was monotone, emotionless, without inflection. The men all sounded the same, like Saruman, and the women all sounded as through
Saruman was pretending to be a husky woman. This was easily the worst narration I think I've heard. I wonder how the book would have changed with a better narrator.

Ultimately I gave this book 2 stars because I enjoyed the concept. The potential mystery and the sci-fi elements of this book were interesting, a little unoriginal but interesting. However the execution, in my opinion, failed at every stage. Ruined mystery, lack of emotional connection to characters, lack of world building, terrible narration.

I will not be continuing this series.

Mind-bending!

Solid story and great narration.

When reality and the virtual world blur together the shadows rise up!

This one was interesting. It was a mind bending psychological thriller with a well done story and solid narration. While it wasn't quite my flavor, I recognize that a lot of people will really enjoy it.

Unique sci-fi thriller!

Enter the world of virtual reality making it difficult to negotiate between reality and the virtual world created by Felicity's father. This story had me guessing at each step. It's fast paced and packed full of suspicions and suspense. The world building is phenomenal as the author builds this alternate believable reality. From character building to effective yet not over whelming descriptions this is a fantastic story.

Wixley is a talented author that surprises me with each new book. Her talents extend into fantasy, horror and now sci-fi. She creates worlds my mind couldn't dream of.

I think anyone who enjoys a good thriller would enjoy this story even if sci-fi isn't your cup of tea.

Futuristic

This is a very deep psychological sci-fi thriller can be confusing at times. I did enjoy the characters Felicity Devon; her father Dante computer genius develops a supercomputer that takes control of their lives in virtual reality. Felicity enters into woods and befriends Jonah (his sister is taken by trafficker) both search for her sister Elley as well as many family secrets when the computer takes over. Recommend if you enjoy different sci-fi. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you

A sci-fi wrapped thriller

A very good and deep psychological thriller of a book that will have you questioning reality. It is not a light listen, and the story makes frequent twists and turns. Whilst the narrator is good, it wasn't always easy for me to follow transitions between characters.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Simulation Game

The plot has a very new idea for me and there is a possibility that this story has the potential to attract all kinds of readers from listener/ readers that enjoy thriller and suspense.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Fun!

This was my first dilation book I have listened to. I really enjoyed it, hearing about something new for once. A new story, fun characters and a very interesting situation.

☺

I have 4 audio books by e.m.g. Wixley all very good 5 out of 5