“A timely, speculative thought experiment in perspective, privilege, and identity.” —Kirkus
“The conceit behind Shusterman’s latest is truly unique. While it exhibits the author’s usual storytelling aplomb, it also manages to delve into more serious and timely subject matter, such as racism, sexism, and homophobia. Despite these heavy topics, the story still moves at a lively pace and, thanks to … still moves at a lively pace and, thanks to a zany sci-fi twist, manages to pack in a few laughs as well.” —Booklist
All it takes is one hit on the football field, and suddenly Ash’s life doesn’t look quite the way he remembers it.
Impossible though it seems, he’s been hit into another dimension—and keeps on bouncing through worlds that are almost-but-not-really his own.
The changes start small, but they quickly spiral out of control as Ash slides into universes where he has everything he’s ever wanted, universes where society is stuck in the past…universes where he finds himself looking at life through entirely different eyes.
And if he isn’t careful, the world he’s learning to see more clearly could blink out of existence…
This high-concept novel from the National Book Award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author of the Arc of a Scythe series tackles the most urgent themes of our time, making this a must-buy for readers who are starting to ask big questions about their own role in the universe.
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I didn’t quite know what to expect – and neither did the central character so we were both along for the ride.
This was a fascinating look into the role of bystanders and how ignorance really is the cockroach that just won’t die in our world. At times it wasn’t perfect, sometimes the discussion of misogyny, racism, and homophobia felt a little forced and cheap. But in the end it hit home, because Ash is pretty normal in our world. They’re not bad or good. They’re just a bystander in the beginning and the book really shows how that is often just as bad. The best thing about this book, I think, was that the ending was not a happily ever after. This was a story of a bystander who learns his lesson, but if he’d remade the world it would have been some serious white straight male savior complex and would have failed to give the right lesson.
This is the story of Ash. A high school football player to one Friday night game takes a very hard hit on the football field. The next thing he knows, the world he knew looks completely different. Stops Signs are now Blue. He lives in better neighborhood. His friendships have changed. Small changes roll into bigger changes the more hits he takes at his games leaving him trying to figure out how he will get back to the world he knew. However – along the way, he has a chance to look at life through difference lenses that will leave him forever changed.
I want to say first – I am a huge Shusterman fan. Dystopian Future/Alternate worlds: this is my favorite genre. And “The Toll” and “Unwind” series that Shusterman wrote are among my favorite books in that genre. This Shusterman novel was a disappointment to me. I was so looking forward to it because “The Toll” was amazing. The underlying story that the author was trying to tell was a clever concept. Jumping around in different dimensions, developing memories of the person you are in that world, yet holding onto the memories from previous worlds is intriguing. But that wasn’t the central theme of this book. Instead Shusterman uses this as a soap box platform to talk about every issues that plagues us in 2021. And while I whole heartedly agree that it needs to be discussed and be brought to the front of our minds daily – he over did it. The story of the different worlds fell second to the point of almost non-existent.
Look – I am loving that most books I read these days bring forward issues of racism, and LGBTQ characters are becoming a norm. I applaud it whole heartedly. This book just missed the mark. When you lose the story because you think your 17 year old character would be this aware, then you lose me. I see what he was trying to do – he just tried too hard and lost his way.
Once again, a book from Shusterman that really makes you think about humanity. We will never be able to fully understand what others go through but it doesn’t mean we don’t put forth our best effort to try.
Book 36 towards my goal of 240! 4/5 stars for this YA SciFi read. I went into this book totally blind, and maybe shouldn’t have lol There is a good amount of football, but you don’t have to be familiar with the sport to enjoy it. I did enjoy the story, didn’t enjoy all the characters and that was okay! I can say if you enjoy deeper books, give this one a go! If you’re wanting something light, this isn’t it.
Shusterman took on privilege, racism, homophobia, and sexism in one book and whoa. I don’t normally read football stories, but here the tackles are the catalyst for the change, knocking our linebacker protagonist Ash Bowman into alternate realities where stop signs are blue, desegregation never happened, relationships reveal themselves, or time gets moved by .73 of a second and he wakes up female. Ash is a nice guy, but fairly oblivious in his privilege, and as he’s forced to challenge his preconceived notions on society, it leads the reader to think more deeply about their own perception of society around them. There were definite moments when I had to just sit back and mull over things, which I think is exactly what Shusterman intended with Game Changer.