This book started off so whiny that I almost didn’t keep reading but I’m glad I did even if I kind of hated one of the main characters and went on a rollercoaster of love to frustration and back to indifference with the other. 

I don’t think Marx should’ve died, I think an extended coma and then coming back to work at limited capacity that forced the other two to step up would’ve been better for the story. The way he died was sad, but not sad enough for it to be worth it? And the Pioneer chapter was a huge tonal shift and while I get why it was there, I don’t think it worked that well. I really wish Sadie and Sam had come together to make Ichigo III at the end, in memory of Marx and to show how a friendship can be rekindled in an actually meaningful way. Definitely could’ve gone without the redemption of Dov too.

All in all, I haven’t read anything like it before, and I liked reading about the world of games in a taken-seriously way. My negative feelings are largely because the characters were not written to be likeable, so I didn’t like them.