Review: Game Changer

Title: Game Changer

Author: Neal Shusterman

Publisher: Quill Tree Books

Publication date: February 9, 2021

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Summary

It just takes one hard hit on the football field for Ash’s world to look a little different. At first it’s small things, like changing stop sign colors. But then it happens again. And again. Each time, little things are changing. Ash realizes that he’s bouncing through alternate universes.

Eventually, he’s bounced into a world that’s totally different than his own. A world where certain historical events didn’t happen. Worlds that show him just how much privilege he has. And worlds that show how something small can change history. If Ash doesn’t learn how to control his world jumps, his world and everything he knows and loves might just disappear.

Review: Game Changer

Thanks to HarperCollins and Quill Tree Books for an advanced copy of this to review! As a Neal Shusterman fan, I was really excited to read this. Neal Shusterman and alternate universes? Sounds like a match made in heaven, honestly.

Unfortunately, I think this book has a bit of a bumpy start. It took me a few chapters to get used to the voice, and the beginning is a little slow moving. Ash is changing worlds and it’s a bit difficult at first to keep track of some of the events in his original world. For example, COVID was mentioned at one point, but I’m not sure how it factored in.

Nonetheless, despite the rocky start, my interest was peaked when the Edwards came in. When more and more changes start happening to Ash, the plot really starts to pick up. The last half of the book reads really quickly as the stakes become higher and higher. Though at times, the message seems a little heavy handed, the side characters make up for it. By the end of the book, I was rooting for Ash to make everything right.

By the end of the book, I’d say this felt a little like Every Day by David Levithan. Ash’s identity changes a few times throughout, and it’s unclear exactly where he ends up at the end. Given the pacing of the second half of this book, I think I would definitely read a second book set in this world.

Overall, despite the bumpy start, Shusterman leaves readers thinking by the end of this alternate universe adventure.

3.5/5 stars