4.5 / 5

I'll admit: what pulled me in about this book was the fact that I got some real "Ready Player One" vibes from it- from the orange cover filled with pixelated characters and buildings, the plot that focuses on a young man sent to video game rehab, and the promise of a gaming-themed quest.
Heidicker's novel is chock full of game references and shenanigans, and will likely delight anyone who loves a good round of Mario Kart.
The characters are also a blast to read about: there's Jaxon, the teen who JUST made a date with a beautiful girl before being sent to video game rehab (dubbed V-Hab). He's a chubby, socially awkward, slightly emotionless teen who will do anything to finish V-Hab in four days and make it to his date.
There's Soup, a 12-year old in V-Hab who is obsessed with Jaxon and also wins my award for the most adorable character of 2016 (seriously, this kid is so funny, and I just wanted to give him a big hug). And then there's Meeki, a Vietnamese lesbian; Aurora, a free-spirited yet conflicted young girl; Zxzord, the (possibly) heroin addicted "wizard". There is SUCH a fun cast of characters, and I really loved seeing their development throughout the novel. Their voices were very distinct and the clashing viewpoints each of them had were interesting to see bump up against one another.

I do think there was a small missed chance at giving a more in-depth commentary on some social and gamer issues. For example, there's a reference made to GamerGate, but with no explanation. For somewho who was reading this and aware of those issues, that's fine, but there will definitively be those who are unaware of GamerGate and will be missing the chance to learn about this and how it pertains to gaming.
The same goes for the conflict between Jaxon and Meeki. At one point, Jaxon agrees with her that since he is a white, straight, middle-class male, it is as if he is playing life on "Easy Mode", while Meeki (again, a gay, female Asian) is like playing life on an extremely hard mode. This is a very profound discussion point, but it gets a little glossed over. Although Jaxon learns from his bunkmates at V-Hab, I just wanted to see a bit more expansion of these ideas!

Lastly, this book was FUNNY. I found myself laughing out loud so much, both from the humor and the antics of the characters. Here are a couple of my favorite lines:

"Meeki! You've been here more than a week. We haven't heard enough from you. What makes you lonely?"
"I don't get lonely. I have Nutella. And a vibrator."

"Ha-ha!" I patted the steering wheel. "Daddy's gonna buy you an oil cocktail. Anything you want, baby."

Meeki snorted. "You're a player."
"Very funny," I said. "You need girls to be a player."
"I didn't say you were a player who wins," she said.

"With an addiction, you can't stop, no matter how hard you want to. Like alcohol." I looked at Casey and yelled, "Or organic cottage cheese!"

"Yo, why do people get pissed at 'Grand Theft Auto' but never at LEGOs?" a voice said from the bunks. "You ever stepped on one of those things? Fuuuuuuck."

Soup danced his egg along my lunch tray. "Muffin could use some companyyyyyy."
I groaned but then took the Abomination out of my pocket and set it on the table.
"They're on an eggy playdate," Soup said.




( )

I give this a 3.5. This was a lot of fun. With the exception of them being able to drive, I felt the maturity level of this book was more middle grade. Though be warned that there is quite a bit of cursing in here as well. I enjoyed the video game references. The ending fell flat for me though. ( )