Rabbits by Terry MilesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
What a wild ride!
I was so addicted reading this that I smashed through most of it in two days, and yet the ending has me feeling unsatisfied. I have no idea what just happened. And I was following along so well!
The premise revolves around a secret, worldwide game known as Rabbits. Not much is known about it, except that it involves recognising patterns and connections in seemingly random things, and that it's so secret that people talking about it usually end up dead.
I was expecting this to move into sci-fi territory but it was relatively easy to follow. There's a lot, definitely, but it's mercifully 'dumbed down' a tad so that you can understand the message under all the science. I also really enjoyed following all the clues, even though a lot of the time there was, 'so this clue led me to find another random clue which led me to this random clue ...' without much explanation of the how. Who cares. I was happy to suspend all disbelief and just follow along on the journey.
I'm sure there are plenty of sciency plot holes here but I'm smart enough to know I'm not smart enough to find them. So once I was happy to settle in for whatever was thrown my way I really enjoyed it. It rockets ahead at an intense pace and there are plenty of dramatic scenes to keep things real. The science starts off light and mysterious and gradually seeps in so you never feel overwhelmed.
The characters are all quite interesting, and typical hacker types. K was a fascinating lead, though I always wanted to know more. There are also a lot of pop culture references which I immensely enjoyed.
I was hoping that, following things as I was, the ending would blow me away. There were some twists I enjoyed but the ending was a little too confusing for me to fully appreciate what had happened. I still have a lot of questions, and I'll be hoping for a sequel that might clear some of these things up, though I think that's blind wishful thinking on my part.
Overall, this was a fast-paced thriller with a lot of love for games in all forms. Highly recommend for those looking for an addictive mystery with a little sci-fi in the mix.
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