Mind Games by Teri Terry: Book review

Book title/Author: Mind Games by Teri Terry

Publisher/Year: March 5th 2015 Orchard Books

Genre: YA Dystopian

Series: No

Pages: 448

Source/Format: e-arc | NetGalley

(Thanks NetGalley/Orchard Books!)

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affects my opinion.

*This review may contain spoilers!*

Synopsis

Luna is a no-hoper with a secret: in a world of illusion, she can see what is real. But can she see the truth before it is too late?

Luna has always been able to exist in virtual and real worlds at the same time, a secret she is warned to keep. She hides her ability by being a Refuser: excluded by choice from the virtual spheres others inhabit. But when she is singled out for testing, she can't hide any longer.

The safest thing to do would be to fail, to go back to a dead-end life, no future. But Luna is starting to hope for something better, and hope is a dangerous thing.

My review

I went into this book completely blind, not knowing anything about this book apart from the fact that it is written by the author of the Slated series, which is one that I haven't read but I've heard good things about.

This book was an interesting one for me, as I completely fell in love with it whilst reading the first 25% I'd say, but from then after I found it so hard to read. The change was so sudden that it felt like a switch had been pulled inside my brain, changing me from loving it to really not liking it. However, I was determined to see it through to the end after becoming so invested in it at the start, and I did manage to finish it, but it was quite hard. Because of this, it was hard for me to rate this book, and I'm finding it quite hard to review it as I had a lot of conflicted feelings. Part of me wanted to rate this purely based on how hard I found the last 75% to read, but then I convinced myself to include the love I had for it at the beginning, which is why it is 3 stars.

The whole virtual-worlds premise of this intrigued me as I haven't really read anything of that sort before. I also enjoyed how Luna was unique herself in this very unique world, and the whole outsider feel to her. She intentionally hides her powerful secret, and the whole book is about her finding out who she really is, while also taking down a very influential company.

The virtual world was presented as such a massive thing that although I do understand parts of it, I am still not clear on how everything works, and this led to my focus not always being there when reading.

This book started off as great for me, but sadly didn't end that way. I hope it's different for you if you decide to give it a go!

Izzy