Play or Die

Pros: intelligent protagonist, interesting premise, several plot threads that merge, learn about the future people watching the game, plausible future

Cons: ending gets preachy, one stilted conversation, one info dump conversation

What Play or Die does differently from other books with the premise of a gameshow where one human is hunting another (like The Hunger Games and the short story “The Prize of Peril” by Robert Sheckley) is add two new elements. First, in addition to being hunted, Jo learns that her father's recent death was murder, giving her something to investigate even as she's running from the hunter. She uses Fitani to gain information about the murder, which is pretty gutsy given her position. The second addition is information about those watching the game. Normally these stories focus on the game itself with little, if any, information about how such shows became popular and what sorts of people enjoy watching them. Jo asks about the people of the future, giving the reader a decent amount of information about how they live and why they're out for her blood. Later in the book there are more chapters that take place in the future fleshing out their world even more.

And the future Cole creates is quite plausible, given human nature.

Jo is a fantastic protagonist. She's a highly intelligent 18 year old, who comes up with some very clever means of staying ahead of the hunter. She does make several mistakes, which is only natural given her situation and the number of people who end up looking for her. She feels real - trying to stay ahead, but aware that it's only a matter of time before she slips up and is caught.

I loved that the different plot threads eventually merged at the end, creating a cohesive whole.

Since the book is self-published and it's usually my first question I'll mention that I did notice a few typos and 2 or 3 minor grammatical errors. On the whole the editing in this book was very well done.

My main complaints with the book were that there's one chapter towards the end of the book where two characters in the future are talking that's really an info dump for the reader. While Cole avoids the telltale ‘as you know', the characters do a weird ‘tell me what you remember about X' conversation that feels off. It's surprising because Cole otherwise was quite clever in how she gave information about the past, making this scene feel very out of place.

Also I got the feeling towards the end that the author didn't believe readers would get her message that it's bad how giant corporations are taking over small businesses because she has a conversation in which she gets downright preachy about it. It's only one conversation but it's a stilted conversation as again, the characters are forced into an unnatural conversation style. It's also unfortunate because the hammering home of the message is completely unnecessary.

All in all, it was a highly enjoyable read. If you like dystopian fiction with some great chills and a few surprises, a touch of romance and social issues, then you'll like this book.