Hello everyone, thanks for tuning in!
Today I am reviewing Rules of the Game by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton. This book is the third and final in the Endgame Series so there may be some spoilers from The Calling and Sky Key ahead for the sake of an "Endgame" primer, but probably not.
The basic premise of Endgame is that there are twelve lines, and everyone on Earth is genetically connected to one of the twelve lines. At some indeterminate time, the Players will be called to win Endgame for their line, with every other Player failing (or most likely being killed throughout the duration of the game), and their entire lines being destroyed. All of this has been orchestrated by a seven-fingered alien named kepler22b. I am not exaggerating when I say that most are killed. I won't give you a specific number but there are a very small number of Players left by the end of the series. Try not to get attached, it'll only end in tears. It is a relatively violent series, especially The Calling (Baitsakhan, you sadistic little b%$#@*d) but for some reason it is always found in the Young Adult section. A few scenes in The Calling actually made me need to skim. Call me squeamish, whatever.
I finished The Calling and Sky Key in a matter of days and Rules of the Game was no different. I'm sleep deprived and it was totally worth it. It was a mostly satisfying end to the trilogy (though the Player I was rooting for didn't actually make it - ask me who in the comments and I will share if you want), and I was very glad for the 2 years afterwards epilogue because I was exceptionally curious to know what happened to the planet in the aftermath of the global disasters triggered by the start of Endgame.
I am always fascinated with writers who can truly get you into the heads of your characters. Each Player had an extremely different personality, accent, history, and motive and as soon as the chapter flipped to a different Player, a perfect profile was available in my mind to understand the Player on a very individual level. I think a lot of this has to do with the series being written in the present tense, which took some getting used to ("Sarah's eyes are hidden behind her goggles, so Curly can't tell that she isn't bothering to look at him while he talks." p.155). It really puts you in the moment.
The story moved at a quick pace, though I did have a moment of thinking There is so much left, why isn't it wrapping up.... which eventually turned to I'm so glad that didn't wrap up and there's so much left!
I loved it. I've been anticipating the book for a long time, having burned through the first two and Frey and Johnson-Shelton did not disappoint. I was trying to figure out what line I would be most likely connected to (Nabataean, if you're wondering), and... well... I can't tell you if I would make it out or not.
One of the things I found most interesting about the series as a whole was the incredible attention to detail. For instance, Christopher is standing 63.24 feet away from Sarah, and it isn't enough time for her to disarm An, who is standing 53.68 feet away from her. Or The altar is 4.73 feet long by 3.96 feet wide. These are not direct quotes, but rather examples of the details I am referring to. It just makes everything seem so much more... real, I guess? I was half expecting the world to come to an end as I was reading it. The only thing that is consistently bothering me is the character of Stella Vyctory and Wayland Vyctory. I feel that their importance could have been fleshed out a bit more (their characters arc between Sky Key and Rules of the Game). Basically Wayland Vyctory was against Endgame, and Stella was his daughter and knows all of this important information but we never actually find out what that information is, due to all the death and the killing. I feel like it was a crutch written in to get the Players in one place in such a way that they weren't trying to kill each other. Every other time Players had met, it had been in the middle of an action-heavy scene with lots of fighting and shooting and killing. It bugs me enough to drop a half-star rating.
Now, there is also the matter of the contest. The Endgame books have all had a contest. I know at least one prize ($500,000 gold coins - no that is not a typo) have been won. The contest for Rules of the Game started in January and to my knowledge, has not been won. The grand prize for the Rules puzzle is U.S. $250,000. I definitely do not have the patience or strategic thinking skills for puzzles like this but... maybe you do.
For a full list of rules, eligibility, and prizes, see http://endgamerules.com/rotg/us/rules-us.pdf
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