Review: Doomed by Tracy Deebs

Title: Doomed

Author: Tracy Deebs

Genre: YA, sci-fi

Publication date: January 8th 2013

Published by: Bloomsbury Children's Books; Walker Books for Young Readers

Source: the publishers via Netgalley (thanks!)

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Synopsis:

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.

My rating: ★★★★★
This book was amazing! I absolutely loved it! What initially caught my attention was the name of the main character: Pandora. Pretty understandable for a girl in love with mythology. So, yeah, she has a Greek name, but honestly, I wasn't expecting any Greek mythology. However, I was pleasantly surprised!

You could say this is a modern take on the classic tale of Pandora's Box. Except in this story, what Pandora releases is a deadly computer virus that could potentially bring about an apocalypse. And there is only one way to save the world: Pandora, along with the help of two hotties (Eli and Theo) must play and beat the video game that started this whole mess.

The twist: Pandora's estranged father could be the one behind all this. Will Pandora and her hotties be able to defeat the game? Will she ever find out why her father did such a crazy thing? And most importantly (not really, but still pretty important), who will Pandora fall for? The dark and mysterious Theo, or the happy, charismatic Eli?

So I obviously loved that Greek mythology was intertwined in the story...but it was more like references to Greek mythology, than the mythology itself in the story, if you get what I'm saying.

The characters: I loved the diversity (and the swoon-worthiness) of the stepbrothers! Pandora was really lucky to have their help! I personally was leaning toward Eli, though *swoons* He was just so nice, and sweet, and yummy! But really, they were both hot-mazing.

Pandora wasn't the bravest heroine out there, but if I were in her place, I would definitely have a few panic attacks myself. In the end, though, she was strong enough and brave enough to do what needed to be done. Overall, she was a great character!

The story was very action-y with a lot of craziness, and I loved that!

I've never read a book where there is an ongoing apocalypse. Dystopian? Sure, but not anything like this. So I thought that new (to me) concept was very refreshing for me.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable read. I kinda wish there was more (that's the thing about standalones *sad face*), but I'll settle for a re-read (that's how great it was!)

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a comment! :)