Synopsis:
When is a game not a game?
Tyler MacCandless can’t focus, even when he takes his medication. He can’t focus on school, on his future, on a book, on much of anything other than taking care of his older brother, Brandon, who’s in rehab for heroin abuse… again.
Tyler’s dad is dead and his mom has mentally checked out. The only person he can really count on is his Civilian Air Patrol Mentor, Rick. The one thing in life it seems he doesn’t suck at is playing video games and, well, that's probably not going to get him into college.
Just when it seems like his future is on a collision course with a life sentence at McDonald’s, Rick asks him to test a video game. If his score’s high enough, it could earn him a place in flight school and win him the future he was certain that he could never have. And when he falls in love with the game’s designer, the legendary gamer Ani, Tyler thinks his life might finally be turning around.
That is, until Brandon goes MIA from rehab and Tyler and Ani discover that the game is more than it seems. Now Tyler will have to figure out what’s really going on in time to save his brother… and prevent his own future from going down in flames.
Tyler MacCandless can’t focus, even when he takes his medication. He can’t focus on school, on his future, on a book, on much of anything other than taking care of his older brother, Brandon, who’s in rehab for heroin abuse… again.
Tyler’s dad is dead and his mom has mentally checked out. The only person he can really count on is his Civilian Air Patrol Mentor, Rick. The one thing in life it seems he doesn’t suck at is playing video games and, well, that's probably not going to get him into college.
Just when it seems like his future is on a collision course with a life sentence at McDonald’s, Rick asks him to test a video game. If his score’s high enough, it could earn him a place in flight school and win him the future he was certain that he could never have. And when he falls in love with the game’s designer, the legendary gamer Ani, Tyler thinks his life might finally be turning around.
That is, until Brandon goes MIA from rehab and Tyler and Ani discover that the game is more than it seems. Now Tyler will have to figure out what’s really going on in time to save his brother… and prevent his own future from going down in flames.
My Thoughts:
Tyler is MacCandless is seventeen and dealing with far more than seems fair. His father has died, his brother is a drug addict and his mother has pretty much lost any spark of life left in her. Not to mention the fact that he suffers from ADHD and dyslexia. The only person who seems to ever be there for him is Rick, his mentor. Determined to become a pilot, Tyler learns all he can through Rick and is hoping to start flight school once he graduates. In the mean time, Tyler agrees to test out a new gaming system for Rick.
Ani Bagdorian is a gifted sixteen year old and a freshman at Yale. Having taken a job for Rick's company, Ani is able to attend college at barely any cost to her. The job is to create a gaming system far more advanced than ever released before. She is also a very good video game player, having held the championship scores for several of the most popular games. Until Tyler beat them, that is.
Now Tyler and Ani meet in person when she goes to his house to install the new system. They immediately click, and even though they are forbidden to have any further contact, they can't stop themselves. Before they know it, their lives and the game have taken a much deeper path and they are forced to make life changing decisions.
To be honest, I still have mixed feelings about this book. I wanted to love it, but unfortunately, I didn't. While some parts of the story I loved, there were others that I just couldn't get into. The main thing that I did enjoy about this story was that it was told in alternating view points between Tyler and Ani. Both teens have very different lives, yet they are somewhat the same. I felt like I got to know both of them personally through their own words and this helped me connect with both characters far better than I would have if I had only heard from one. They were both realistic characters, likable and refreshing.
Both Tyler and Ani have strained relationships with their families, and while I did enjoy this part of the story, it still angered me deeply. Both of their parents were incredibly selfish and took little notice of their children. In fact, Tyler's mother doesn't even seem to care when he says he wants to drop out of school in his senior year. I was desperate for Tyler to just let all of his feelings out and make her understand how badly she was hurting him. I wanted to crawl into these pages and just smack some sense into the woman.
Now for the part that I wasn't so much a fan of. Tyler's job is to test the gaming system that Ani created. I love video games and I like to think that I know a lot about them. But I was completely lost every time Tyler started talking about the system. I knew what most of the terms meant, but I still had a hard time following along. There is just so much going on with it that I ended up having to skip over a few parts because I just couldn't stand to read any more about it. Maybe if I were more into Tyler's type of gaming, I would have been able to follow it easier. In fact, I think anyone who plays more intense, first person games would have no problem following it. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.
Sadly, this was not the only thing that kept me from being swept away in the story. Tyler suffers from ADHD so his thought process is pretty erratic. His sentences were jumpy and this made it hard to find a good flow to read by. I understood why his chapters were written this way, but I just couldn't get into it.
Overall, I was a little disappointed with Playing Tyler. The story was slow to start and didn't really pick up until a little more than half way through. Even though there were a few surprises thrown in at the end, I had already predicted most of the outcome from the very beginning which left me with little to guess.
But like I said before, I think this book will find better results with younger readers who are more into gaming or who don't mind a lot of technical talk. The story itself is quite interesting and the characters enjoyable, so I am hoping for only good things for this book.
For more about T.L. Costa and Playing Tyler, visit her website here.
Purchase:
*I received this book for free in exchange of my honest review. This did not influence my opinion in any way and all views and opinions expressed are 100% my own.
Hmmm, I would try to read this book. It sounds ok for me and I don't mind if there is a lot of technical talk, I like this kind of books. Sooo, let's give it a try in the near future :).
ReplyDeleteVery honest review! I never heard of the book. The plot seems complicated with the family problems and all. I would like to check this out but I'm not into gaming so most probably I won't understand that part of the book. Thanks for sharing anyway. :)
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