The Gender Game

By: Bella Forrest

Narrated by: Rebecca Soler, Zachary Webber

Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

For fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent comes a story like no other....

A toxic river divides 19-year-old Violet Bates' world by gender.

Women rule the East. Men rule the West.

Welcome to the lands of Matrus and Patrus.

Ever since the disappearance of her beloved younger brother, Violet's life has been consumed by an anger she struggles to control. Already a prisoner to her own nation, now she has been sentenced to death for her crimes.

But one decision could save her life.

To enter the kingdom of Patrus, where men rule and women submit.

Everything about the patriarchy is dangerous for a rebellious girl like Violet. She cannot break the rules if she wishes to stay alive. But abiding by rules has never been her strong suit, and when she is thrust into more danger than she could have ever predicted, Violet is forced to sacrifice many things in the forbidden kingdom...including forbidden love.

In a world divided by gender, only the strongest survive....

Over 20,125 worldwide five-star reviews and one million copies sold of the series.

What early readers are saying:

"Bella takes this genre to a new level. Imagine the intrigue of Divergent, the suspense of The Maze Runner and the heart-pounding excitement of The Hunger Games. That is the magic Bella is working with her new novel The Gender Game."

"The next BIG THING. Unique and brilliant."

"The perfect mix of adventure, mystery, thrill, blossoming love and heartbreak. READ THIS ASAP! You will not regret it."

"Intrigue, danger and mystery at every corner."

"Once I started reading, I knew I wouldn't be able to stop. My heart raced along with Violet's.... The twists and turns so far in this book have left my mouth hanging agape."

If you enjoy Suzanne Collins or Veronica Roth, this will be a ride you won't want to miss. Buy now.

Book one of a completed seven-book series.

Beware of spoilers in the reviews below that are without spoiler alerts.

©2016 Bella Forrest (P)2016 Bella Forrest

cheesy narrator for a meh story

First of all, the narration was cheesy, unnecessarily dramatic and overdone. At first, I thought this book was okay, but it just kept getting worse. I struggled to finish and the fight scenes were narrated so hilariously that I almost laughed out loud a few times. I generally like ya fiction, and I liked hunger games. I just had trouble with the plot, it was rather boring. I knew I should be getting more excited toward the end, but I was very relieved when it was finished. it was pretty predictable, but I know I'm a good guesser. I wish the author would have stopped writing sooner, and it is rare for me to not be inclined to finish a series.

Plot line is asinine in so many places.

This story is so full of holes. I was continually rolling my eyes at the lack of character development and motivation. Truly disappointing after all the reviews I read.

Cliche City

I essentially had the entire story figured out in the first hour of the audio book. This author could have made something really good with this story and with the main character but it's the same old convict being given a secret mission to avoid death trope.

Of course she has to pretend she's married to some dude. Of course she falls for the absolute worst person you could fall for in this scenario. Of course her life is on the line but she consistently does dumb things because love and stuff.

I struggled to get through all 10 hours. This was one of the most poorly written books I've ever been exposed to.

Boooooring!

Moved so slow. Not at all like the other types of books in this genre. Read it bc Audible recommended and it was just 10 hours of waiting for something interesting to happen. Save your time and money.

Predictable

Predictable story line. Not much substance. Whiny narration. Save your money and find something else

“Idiot”

I must have said “idiot” 50+ times while listening to this book. How could any character consistently be so obtuse? The very end was intriguing, so I gave it an extra star, saving it from the two star review I had planned to submit. The main character bugged me - like Bella Swan bugged. The story should be called: idiot girl full of sexual tension makes bad choices. There were few redeeming qualities about the book, and more than a few plot holes. I’m torn between moving on to the next book of the series and cutting my losses. I’m mildly curious if the remaining books in the series will address the major plot holes created by book one. Still, unless Violet grows a brain in the next book it may be just as infuriating to read.

The dumbest dialogue

Cool story, liked the action, but the words coming out of the character’s mouths made my eyes roll. I want to know how it ends, but can’t read another one

Hard to believe

I liked the story but it was difficult to get behind. The background of the character and the back story of the world was too far fetched to be believable. More should have been done to prop up the story of the surroundings and the why of where the settlements were and what "the green" was. Why if seemed to thrive with animal and plant life but not be a place that could be used for crops. The severity of the gender based societies took things a little farther than what I thought would be able to develop naturally. It ended up being a frustrating story thin on development of the world history, structure, and drive.

Sorry to have wasted my time.

The concept has a lot of potential. The actual story, does not. Everything is shallow! the characters, plot, timing... Everything. If you enjoyed Hunger Games, reread them, don't read this.

3 basic characters, very little evolution. Many convenient situations that just happen to line up. I just don't like how this government "needs" this 19yr old girl to save the day when she has no realistic skill set. she agrees to a fake marriage, one in which neither partner ever try to pretend is a real cover story. Then they just happen to get a hunky high level official to babysit her? In a world where women are not even allowed to go outside she frollicks around with him on police cases and fighting matches.

This story is very slow, improbable and as shallow as a baby pool.

Predictable and poorly written

To compare this book to the likes of The Hunger Game trilogy is an affront to Collins. While the basic premise sounded creative, the details were not well formulated into a cohesive storyline. Too many things don’t add up, like why either country wouldn’t be trying to save their genders from the oppressive opposing country. And leaving your book on a cliffhanger to sell the sequel...lame. I bought a book. That’s one story. Finish the story in said book.

Brilliant! I am officially obsessed!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Now onto book 2! I can't wait to hear what happens next!

Average

I didn't know this was a series so was a bit annoyed to discover it was. The writing is ok. Standard for YA dystopian fiction. Characters are somewhat enjoyable. The heroine isn't completely useless but it's not going to knock your socks off. Not sure why this received such high ratings. If you're an existing fan of the author you'll probably enjoy this. I was not and found it to be a bit 'meh' and a wasted credit.

the story stsrted off strong but didnt go anywhere

i lost interest kinda fast . . . . . . . . . . m

Ok, but nothing special

It tries to be like the Hunger Games, Divergent and Mazerunner...but while it is an ok story it really was nothing special and the ending was really rather disappointing.

Great story

Got me intrigued from the start to the end. Bella Forrest did it again. Couldn’t wait to listen to the next one.

AMAZING STORY

The concept and story is amazing, the reader does an amazing job of characterising each chracter in a way in which you can easily understand who is talking

Typical YA novel

I'm not usually a fan of YA but I loved The Hunger Games and I love books that explore gender dynamics so I thought I'd give this one a try.

This book really does not examine gender in any meaningful way. I was hoping that the author would have a clever reason for using such on the nose names for the title of the book and the two main territories (Matrus and Patrus) but it turns out that the author just isn't very subtle. I was also hoping that Violet's "foribben love interest" referred to in the synopsis would either be a woman or a man with more traditionally feminine traits, but he is a typical macho, brooding, YA love interest who is described as dominating her and claiming her mouth when they kiss. It's your typical frothy YA novel that has apparently been inspired by a very vague definition of feminism but no real understanding of what it actually means.

Overall I found the book ok. I was quite intrigued by the beginning but after Violet arrives in Patrus I found the story only mildly interesting until it picked up considerably towards the end. I did find the ending entertaining enough that I am now considering reading the second book.

If you like YA I think you will really enjoy this book but it is not as fascinating or exhilarating as The Hunger Games. If you want a thoughtful and complex exploration of gender through speculative fiction, read The Power by Naomi Alderman.

loved this book!

loved this book and end up reading the whole series and now on to the spin off story. I love the world and characters created in this series.

loved this book

Was unsure about this book but thought I would give it a go. I am glad a I did. An excellent story with some real twists. I enjoyed it so much I have just downloaded the rest in the series.

Terrible

Just not worth listening to the narrator was fine but the plot was not good and boring from start to finish