GAMELAND #1: Deep Into The Game - S. W. Tanpepper

SERIES DESCRIPTION:
A group of young tech-savvy hackers breaks into Long Island's Gameland, a formerly militarized wasteland that was, for years, abandoned to the Infected Undead before being reclaimed by a government-sponsored company interested in merging virtual reality and survival gaming into a single seamless entertainment package. But while breaking into The Game turns out to be a lot easier than they could ever have imagined, breaking out is one hell of a killer. 

EPISODE 1: Deep Into The Game
Jessie and her gang of game jackers discover a way to break into Gameland, but it requires the assistance of outsider Jake Espinosa. His inclusion raises tensions within the group, particularly between Jessie and her boyfriend, Kelly. After a nearly-fatal accident during preparation, emotions run dangerously high, but it only makes them all the more determined to succeed. What they don't know is that one of them has a secret reason for going, and it doesn't involve any of them returning any time soon. 

My Opinion

I have only ever read one book about zombies before and sadly that book is still sitting on my book shelf half read as I have never found the energy to finish it. Therefore I wasn't sure what to expect from this book or this genre, even after reading the description. Anyway I decided to give the book a go and I'm glad I did.

Gameland falls outside the genres I usually like to read and zombies have never really interested me as all the books I've seen kind of sound the same. However Gameland seemed different from the usual post-apocalyptic-take-over-with-only-a-few-survivours-thing and this fact kept me hooked. I loved the idea of using hackers to try break into the game (although I'm still a bit unsure of the details of what it is and how it works) and the tough personalities and attitudes moved them away from the stereotypes which was a relief. The book was fast paced and had lots of action which I loved but in some parts I would have liked a little more description to help me visualise the surroundings better.

There are a few minor downsides to the book which come in the form of some editing errors/typos but these are few and do not detract from the story. Also Tanpepper uses quite a few abbreviations and I found it hard to remember what each one stood for (as the words where usually quite technical), therefore it interrupted the flow of reading as I either had to flick back a few pages to find the full length name or stop and try to remember, which was quite irritating at times. I know sci-fi books include technical and complex language, especially when referring to new gadgets, but for me I would rather have the full words than abbreviations. I can cope with ones like IU (infected undead) but when longer ones are used frequently I find it hard to follow.

Anyway overall I really enjoyed this book. The action was great and I loved how the story line differed from most zombie novels out there.