5 March 2015

Mind Games by Teri Terry

Series: N/A, Standalone
Publication date: March 5, 2015
Publisher: Orchard Books
Genres: YA, Science Fiction
Format: eArc
Source: Provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Pages: 325

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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...

I have no idea why I thought this was a new series, it's not, but I somehow went into this thinking 'This is the first book of a new series' so near the ending I had no idea how she could write more books about Luna since it felt like a series in a single book. It's actionpacked and there really isn't a dull moment. I almost read the entire thing in a single sitting because every time I was about to put it down a new thing happened.

It was quite hard to understand everything in the beginning but it's not before you get it. There's the realworld and then there's a virtual world. Luna is a Refuser which means she doesn't have an Implant  (you can access the virtual world whenever you want) and can therefore only access the virtual world by PIP (Plug In Point - a special chair, sofa or something similar) - but she doesn't because she's a Refuser, she simply refuse to access the virtual world by any means.

I loved Luna! I'm actually quite surprised. Luna is bright, quirky and she is not selfcentered at all! She keeps trying to help people and instead of being a damsel in distress she's the one who rescues everyone. I loved how she always thought about consequences and whether or not she should do this or that - She was very thorough and I loved that about her. I also loved how she weighed things up against each other - which guy, which way, should I do this or should I do that. It made her deeper and it definitely gave me more reasons to love her.
There is of course a bit of romance in here, but it's not too much and definitely not cheesy! I loved Gecko! I definitely also enjoyed her friendship with Melrose and Hex.

I absolutely loved the storyline! I expected I would enjoyed but not as much as I did - and I definitely did not expect all the plottwist. I can't remember the last time a book surprised me this way - I had no idea what was going to happen half of the time and I loved it! It was nice just to read a book and let it surprise you because you really can't figure out where the story is heading.
One thing I absolutely loved was one of the Virtual Words - a VeeDub, Teri has created a Slated world! Even though it's quite a short visit I had so much fun reading about it. (It is not necessary to have read the Slated trilogy to understand this part at all!)

The ending is definitely bitter-sweet on multiple levels but I, weirdly enough, loved it! It was a perfect ending to Mind Games and it satisfied me because it couldn't be any other way.

I enjoyed the Slated trilogy by Teri but I have to say that I enjoyed Mind Games a lot more and I almost wish it was a series - that says a lot since I'm not a series-reader! I loved the world, the plot and the characters and I just think this was much better. After giving it 4 stars - like I gave all the books in the Slated trilogy - I've thought about it some more and realized that I have to give it 5 stars. I can't name a single thing I didn't like about it, so it must be a work of perfection which definitely deserves 5 stars.



Last remark: I'm not that happy about the cover.. At first I though it was one of those 'cover is not final'-covers but it apparently is and I have to say 'meh'. I understand why the cover looks like it does after having read the book - but the Slated covers were pretty.. This is not. Sorry.

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