I ended up liking this book a lot more than I thought it was. I was also surprised by how literary it was, there’s a lot of themes that could be examined especially the constant presence of death throughout. There was also the constant presence of pain and struggling and a heavy emphasis on that as well as their successes. I was surprised how long this book felt; it felt long in a good way but it’s crazy how much the author fit in and how many years passed throughout.

I liked the idea of a “game death” and it’s metaphor to death in real life as well as gaming as an escape from the real world. I loved all characters but I loved Marx especially and how caring he always was. I think his death having such an impact was significant too as Sam always called him boring or an NPC and it felt like he didn’t realize how important he was. I loved what Sam did for Sadie by making her a game while she was depressed it was perfect. So many aspects of this book are amazing! I am also glad that Sam and Sadie never got together I think it was fitting but I do wish they communicated more.