I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Numbers Game by Rebecca Rode Narrator: Stacey Glemboski
Series: Numbers Game #1
Published by Diamond Patch Press on March 16th 2015
Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult
Pages: 412
Format: Audiobook
Source: Provided for review through Audiobook Blast/Boom
Goodreads
Treena is nervous for Rating Day. A single number will brand her forever—a valuable citizen, or a pathetic waste of space. Her top-Rated boyfriend is confident their scores will coincide so they can attend the academy together. But when the big day arrives, her true number shocks everyone.
To get her life and boyfriend back, she must go undercover and expose a military spy. Doesn’t sound too hard, except that someone wants her dead. And then there’s Vance, the mysterious soldier with a haunted past and beautiful brown eyes. Together, they discover a dark numbers conspiracy, one that shatters the nation’s future. Treena must join up with Vance if she is to survive the dangerous game of numbers—and the terrible war that rages within her heart.
Julie’s Review:
Numbers Game is an exciting, fast-paced and action-packed dystopian. That right there is enough, right? Oh, you mean you want more? Ok.
The world in Numbers Game is very controlling. Each citizen is rated based on their “worth” to society. They are given a number and a color – green, yellow, and red (where green means a valuable citizen while red means the person is practically useless). Also, no one in society eats. WHAT? They take nutrition tablets instead, and those who are found to be eating actual food are considered smugglers. Which then got me thinking, how skinny would I be if we didn’t have food but only ate nutrition pills to sustain us? What would life be like if food wasn’t such a huge part of it?
The main conflict in this book is Treena gets a horrible rating and knows there is something really wrong. She is willing to do everything she can in order to get her old life back. She is given a very dangerous assignment, and at every turn of the way it seems like someone is trying to kill her. Well, someone is, and she uncovers some seriously messed up secrets about her world and her family.
The book spans only a couple of weeks, but in that time-frame, Treena’s character goes from a perfect good-girl student type to a strong-willed kick-ass-take-names girl who fights for what she believes in, and for what is right. I loved that she wasn’t all wishy-washy, but took action where action was needed.
I enjoyed the dual narration between Treena and Vance. Both characters have parallel story lines, both doing what they must for their own cause until their causes intersect. I really liked Vance, the brooding solider with baggage of his own, who would do anything to protect his family, and later, Treena. This book does have a love triangle, in that Treena’s old boyfriend represents her superficial life before the rating day, and Vance represents the world where Treena’s eyes are opened and her character growth begins.
The audio narration was excellent. I enjoyed the pacing and the narrator’s voice, including the different voices she gives to each of the characters.
I definitely found Numbers Game to be a great read and am looking forward to getting my ears on the rest of the Saga.
I read this description and would have sworn I’d read this book before, but then I read the rest of your review and realized I hadn’t. I guess that means the idea isn’t that unique. Still, it sounds like an exciting read (or listen, I guess) – I’ll have to check it out!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…Sword and Verse by Kathy MacMillan – Review
Yea I agree the blurb sounds like a generic dystopian world.