Blog Tour: Doomed by Tracy Deebs Review

Doomed by Tracy Deebs
Release Date: January 8, 2013
Publisher: Walker Childrens; 480 pages

Beat the game. Save the world.

Pandora’s just your average teen, glued to her cell phone and laptop, surfing Facebook and e-mailing with her friends, until the day her long-lost father sends her a link to a mysterious site featuring twelve photos of her as a child. Unable to contain her curiosity, Pandora enters the site, where she is prompted to play her favorite virtual-reality game, Zero Day. This unleashes a global computer virus that plunges the whole world into panic: suddenly, there is no Internet. No cell phones. No utilities, traffic lights, hospitals, law enforcement. Pandora teams up with handsome stepbrothers Eli and Theo to enter the virtual world of Zero Day.

Simultaneously, she continues to follow the photographs from her childhood in an attempt to beat the game and track down her father, her one key to saving the world as we know it.

Part The Matrix, part retelling of the Pandora myth, Doomed has something for gaming fans, dystopian fans, and romance fans alike.

First things first, not exactly a fan of the cover change. I do believe the first one was a bit more fitting for the story and the cover models were pretty spot on to our main three characters, Pandora, Eli and Theo. The new cover isn't bad, per say but it just isn't as fitting to the story as the first one is. I can understand the change because this new cover looks higher quality but I don't know, I'm kind of in favor of the old one. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, check out the old cover here.

Now that that is out of the way, the story was magnificent. I was frustrated many times with our heroine, Pandora, though. She cries, a lot, which I guess I kind of understand because she is thrust in to this mission that she never wanted and from a man whom is supposed to love you & take care of you unconditionally. It's entirely messed up but I also like to see our main character be a bit stronger than what she is. However, she has two incredibly strong guys to help her see she can succeed and they'll be there every step of the way. Who are these guys, you ask? Theo and Eli, who are new stepbrothers thanks to Theo's mom and Eli's dad marrying each other. Not only do they not like each other but both guys are huge. We're talking like 6'8 huge. Eli's got beautiful green eyes and blond hair while Theo has stunningly bright blue eyes and dark hair. Polar opposites and their personalities are about as different as their looks. One thing they have in common is Pandora.

If you ever thought you had a horrible birthday I can guarantee you it isn't nearly as bad as Pandora's especially when she opens Pandora's box on to the whole world. She wakes up to find her mom hasn't called her to wish her a happy birthday yet so she calls her. Her mother doesn't even acknowledge anything and is, in fact, annoyed that her daughter called her when she was preparing for a meeting. What a way to start off your day but then you see an email from your father, who you haven't seen or heard from in ten years. You read it and click the link to this blog where he says he will explain everything. There are photos of the two of you from years ago and you click & save them all. Your birthday just improved until you're late for school and your first class, which is working on Othello as small groups. You're not stuck with your normal group but a group of everyone else who was late, including Eli and Theo. Theo reenacts a scene and nearly choking you as you're completely freaked out. School proceeds like usual and all you want to do is get home to check out more of that blog. Problem is, it no longer exists. Frustrated, you decided to play the hottest computer game around, Pandora's Box and that's when it goes to hell. The worst worm is released to the world and it's your job to save the world in ten days or it's all over.

Sounds like a fantastic birthday, right? There's more but I'll let you read to find out what more could happen (trust me, none of it good). Then, there's the love triangle, which shouldn't be surprising since this is YA, right? But it was an OK love triangle. I like both guys, though I'm more interested in Theo than Eli but they're both good guys, both intelligent and both want to protect Pandora. What girl wouldn't like that? Though, sometimes they're a tad too overprotective and I'd hate that. Just because she's a girl doesn't mean she's helpless but don't worry, she let's them know this. Many times I was frustrated with Pandora for not seeing what was right in front of her and how her actions were causing a certain guy pain. Then it takes about 95% of the book until we finally get to see some lip locking action and boy oh boy was it worth the wait. Though it took as long as it did to get to that point at the same time, it wasn't really needed in the story. There were almost moments with each guy that had you begging for more but then you get thrust back in to the story of saving the world and forgot all about that almost kiss.

If you are big in to video games and/or computer games, then I definitely recommend this. If you're not that big of a gamer (like myself) but are interested in an action packed sci-fi with a little dystopia feel to it, then I think this might be the book for you. The plot is different and unique, you see a lot of what people might do to survive and makes you think a lot of what you might do if you were in this situation. It's definitely a great read and one I'm glad I got the chance to read. Thank you to Bloomsbury/Walker for allowing me to read this book & asking me to be a part of the blog tour.