Endgame: The Fugitive Archives Volume 1: Project Berlin

By James Frey

This seventh prequel novella begins an all-new digital original arc in the Endgame world and follows a forbidden love that threatens Endgame in post-World War II Germany.

Humanity rests on the shoulders of twelve Players. But when the lives of a Cahokian Player and a Minoan Player intertwine over the search for an ancient weapon in post-World War II Berlin, the last thing they expect is to let their guard down, and fall in love. Now the success of their lines—and the fate of the world—is threatened.

But this is Endgame. And only one can win.

This heart-stopping novella arc takes place prior to the events in the New York Times bestseller Endgame: The Calling.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Dec 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9780062332738

James Frey

James Frey is originally from Cleveland. All four of his books, A Million Little Pieces, My Friend Leonard, Bright Shiny Morning, and The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, were international bestsellers.

Book preview

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Excerpt from Endgame: The Complete Training Diaries

Minoan: Marcus

Excerpt from Endgame: The Calling

Marcus Loxias Megalos

Chiyoko Takeda

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About the Author

Books in the Endgame Series

Copyright

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

Boone

December 24, 1948

How you doing, Peterson? Driscoll asks as we descend through the thick fog. You look a little green. Do me a favor and try not to lose your lunch all over my plane, okay?

The C-54, buffeted by a crosswind, shakes fiercely, rattling us like peas in a can. It’s been like this the whole flight. Driscoll grins at me.

My name isn’t Peterson, but he doesn’t know that. He also doesn’t know that I’ve been in far more nerve-racking situations than a rough approach. I may look like any other 19-year-old GI, but I’m far more than that.

"Last time I flew over Berlin, I was dropping eggs on their heads, Driscoll continues, shouting to be heard above the roar of the engines. Now I’m bringing them eggs for their breakfast." His joke about the bombing raids that destroyed huge parts of the city during the last days of the war isn’t funny. I smile anyway. I need him to think I’m just one of the guys, at least for a little longer.

The truth is, I am a little bit nervous. I’ve been training for war since I was a kid. I’ve been through more than Driscoll and all the other soldiers on the plane ever saw in boot camp. But this is my biggest mission yet. A lot is riding on it. And yet I don’t even know exactly what it’s about.

I know the basics. I’ve got to find a man and get him out of Berlin. I know his name and his suspected location. And I know that if he won’t come with me, or if someone else gets to him first, I have to kill him.

A simple plan. That’s why I know there’s more to it than the council has told me. For some reason they don’t want me to know the details of why this man is so important, which means they don’t want anyone else to have that information either. If I get captured, my enemies can try as hard as they want to get me to talk, but I can’t tell them what I don’t know. Not that I would talk anyway. I’d never do anything to jeopardize the safety of my line. The council knows that, so it bothers me a little bit that they’re taking this precaution. More than a little bit, if I’m honest. This is the first time since I became the Cahokian Player that they’ve kept me in the dark about something. I don’t like the feeling.

I push that irritation from my mind as the Tempelhof airstrip appears—seemingly out of nowhere—and meets the wheels of the plane. The rumbling intensifies, shaking my bones, and I hang on as Driscoll applies the brakes. Through the cockpit windows I see groups of children standing on top of piles of debris that line the runway. They wave at us, grinning and clapping their hands.

Look at that, Driscoll says. It’s like we’re Santa Claus.

In a way, we are. After all, it’s Christmas Eve. And along with the ten tons of eggs, milk, meat, flour, and other basic supplies in our hold, we’re bringing bags of wrapped gifts to hand out to the people of the city. Chocolate bars for the kids. Cigarettes for the men. Perfume for the women. The war ended in 1945, but more than three years later, Berlin is still trying to recover. And since the Soviets cut off all sea and land access to the city’s western zone earlier in the year, life has gotten even harder.

Thankfully, the airlift organized by the American, French, and British militaries has been successful in bringing supplies to the city. It’s also provided me with a handy way inside. Posing as an American soldier has been easy enough. There are so many young men being assigned to the dozens of daily airlift flights coming out of Rhein-Main Air Base that no one notices one more. All I had to do was put on a uniform and start helping load the plane.

When the Skymaster comes to a stop, we reverse the process begun three hours earlier, transferring everything in our cargo area onto the trucks that pull up one after the other.

Nobody disappear! Driscoll shouts as we launch into action.

General Tunner’s orders! We get this stuff off, turn around, and land back in Frankfurt in time for eggnog and cookies!

The airlift is a well-oiled machine. Planes land at two-minute intervals, and the total time from unloading to takeoff is 25 minutes. Everything moves like clockwork, and everyone has a job to do. I can’t make a break for the main terminal or someone is bound to notice the missing pair of hands. But when we’re almost finished, one of the mobile coffee trucks arrives filled with pretty German girls who hand out drinks and smiles, and I take the opportunity to slip away while the others are distracted. I don’t look back, and nobody calls Peterson’s name. Even when they finally notice he’s gone, it won’t matter, as the United States Army has no record of him anyway.

Once I’m away from the airport, I make my way into Berlin. In an attempt to maintain a balance of power, the city has been divided into four sectors, each one controlled by one of the Allied superpowers: Great Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union. In reality, though, it’s become the Soviets on one side and everyone else on the other. Fortunately, Tempelhof is in the American sector, and a GI walking through the streets is a common sight. I’d prefer to be dressed like a civilian, but at least wearing a uniform means that nobody questions me. And in case they do, all my identity papers carry the name of Alan Peterson.

It’s early evening, a little past seven, and already dark. A light snow is falling. And even though the streets are dotted with rubble—some of the buildings I pass have shattered windows and walls that have crumbled, so you can see into living rooms and kitchens still filled with furniture—it somehow manages to feel like Christmas. There are wreaths on some of the doors, and trees decorated with ornaments are visible in the parlors of some of the houses. The shops I pass don’t have much displayed in their windows, but signs reading FRÖHLICHE WEIHNACHTEN are taped to the glass.

Bells chime, and when I turn a corner, I see people walking into a church. The inside is lit by candles, and the sound of a carol being played on an organ floats from the open doorway. This makes me think of my own family back in Illinois. It’s just after noon there, and I know my mother is getting ready for the Christmas Eve gathering. She’s been cooking all day. The Tom and Jerry bowl and glasses that only come out once a year are set out on the sideboard. She’s probably already hung the stockings from the mantel over the fireplace, one for each kid, arranged in order from youngest to oldest: Marnie, Evan, Lily, Ella, Peter, me, and Jackson. In the morning, the stockings will all be filled to overflowing. Even mine, although I won’t be there to open it. And even Jackson’s, although it’s been three years since he died. The people of Berlin aren’t the only ones who’ve lost something to the war.

I hurry by the church, clearing my mind by focusing on the address the council gave me. I memorized it, as well as the best route to reach it. Writing things down is risky. As my father told me repeatedly when I started my Player training, the brain is the only notebook nobody can steal.

It takes me another 20 minutes to find the house. It’s in a section of the city that was hit hard by the Allied bombing, one of a row of connected brick town homes. Most of the buildings are empty, uninhabitable because of the damage. This one looks empty too. Most of the windows are boarded up, and the front door has an official notice on it warning people not to enter due to unsafe conditions. But looks can be deceiving. Just because you can’t see somebody, it doesn’t mean nobody is there. Sometimes, you just have to look harder.

I don’t announce myself by knocking on the front door. This isn’t a social call. Instead, I go into the bombed-out house next door, climb the stairs to the third floor, and step through a shattered window onto a narrow ledge that runs along the front of the whole row of houses. I press myself against what’s left of the wall and slowly move one foot at a time toward the house next door. If anyone notices me, maybe they’ll just think I’m Saint Nicholas coming to deliver presents.

When I reach the closest window of the target house, I pause beside it and look inside. The bedroom behind the cracked, dirty glass is empty. When I push on the window frame, the window slides up. I slip inside, turn on the small flashlight I carry in my pocket, and look around. It’s just as cold in here as it is outside, and I can see my breath. There’s no heat. But coal is in short supply, and no one is supposed to be living here anyway, so this might not mean anything. More telling is that everything in the room is covered with a thick layer of dust. No one has been here in a long time.

Then I notice the footprints. They start just outside the door, run along a hallway, and disappear down a flight of stairs. A faint glow emanates from the second floor. Someone is here after all. I creep to the end of the hall and pause. I can hear voices. There are two speakers, a man and what sounds like a younger woman.

This is a problem. There’s supposed to be only one person here. A man. I haven’t seen him yet, but even if the man I hear talking is the one I’m after, who is the girl? Is she a wife? A daughter? Something else? I need to get a look at them.

I draw my M1911 standard-issue military pistol and walk down the stairs. It’s not my weapon of choice, but it’s what Private Peterson would carry, and nobody would think twice about me having it, so it’s what I’ve got. The voices grow louder as I descend. When I reach the landing, I pause. The speakers are in a room just to my left.

I wish Oskar and Rutger were here with us, the man says.

You know how Oskar is, the young woman says. He didn’t want to risk anyone following us to you.

I think everyone must have forgotten about me by now, says the man. Still, he’s right to be cautious. I worry about you making visits here.

Perhaps it’s time for you to leave, the girl says. You’ve shut yourself up in here long enough. Pass the duty on to someone else. Oskar and I—

Lottie, please, the man interrupts. How many times have we talked about this? I cannot leave.

You mean you will not, says Lottie. Do you want to spend the rest of your life here?

I’m already a dead man. Remember?

The man’s words chill me. What does he mean? And who is this girl? Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe I’m better off if I don’t know who Lottie is. I know from experience that it’s easier to kill someone when you know nothing about her.

Let’s not discuss it further, the man says. It’s Christmas Eve. Play something for me. You know I always love to hear you play.

A moment later, I hear the sound of a piano. It’s badly out of tune, but the melody is familiar. Silent Night. The girl begins to sing, and the man joins in.

I risk moving closer and looking through the doorway. Inside the room, a scraggly pine tree stands in front of a boarded-up window, its branches hung with silver tinsel and a handful of colorful glass balls. The piano is against a wall, with the young woman seated at it. The man stands beside her. Both of them are wearing long, thick coats.

I recognize the man from the photo the council showed me. It’s Evrard Sauer. I’m in the right place. But the council said nothing about the girl. Now I have to decide what to do about her. My orders were to

Reviews for Endgame

[jessika.c · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book tries too hard.With the gore and action of Battle Royale and the grooming of 12 bloodlines for the fight of their lives *coughPanemdistrictscough* like The Hunger Games we are told that 12 fighters come to defend their bloodline to the death. Some may not even make it out of the first place they're gathered together for the first place. I hated a lot of the tributes...sorry CHAMPIONS. Sarah Alopay was just the worst and Jago just went downhill when he started beating up her poor normal clueless devoted lab puppy boyfriend Christopher. I loved Chiyoko Takeda and all her parts with An Liu and anyone in general really were so intense and amazing I think this would have been a really good book if it had just focused on her story rather than the 15 POVs. Aisling Kopp was also a very fascinating character hopefully she does get more time in the next book since she's one of the survivors of the first book and I do think An was a good villain but other than that, with the focus so much on Sarah and Jago it made for a horrible time for me...like I said I hated Sarah.

[filialibri-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Diese und weitere Rezensionen findet ihr auf meinem Blog Anima Libri - Buchseele

Um James Freys „Endgame: Die Auserwählten“ wurde ja ein riesiger Hype gemacht. 500.000 US-Dollar gab es in einem multimedialen Kryptographie-Rätsel-Dings zu gewinnen (hat die eigentlich irgendwer gewonnen? Ach, keine Ahnung, ist ja auch egal) und – wie bei solchen Werbemaßnahmen nicht anders zu erwarten – der Wirbel um die Story war groß.

Und so konnte ich natürlich auch nicht widerstehen, musste aber schnell feststellen, dass „Endgame: Die Auserwählten“ im Grunde genommen nicht viel mehr als heiße Luft ist. Die ganze, riesige Werbeaktion ist letztendlich, in meinen Augen, nur viel Lärm um nichts gewesen, denn das Buch war wirklich denkbar langweilig.

Bei James Frey gibt es nicht nur einen langweilig perfekten Protagonisten, nein, es gibt direkt zwölf dieser Alleskönner. Sie entstammen uralten Geschlechtern der Menschheit, ihre Familien sind reich und sie sind von Geburt an nur für eins trainiert: Das Endspiel, denn nur wer dort gewinnt, kann das Überleben seines Stammbaums sichern. Der Rest der Menschheit wird von den Aliens ausgelöst – die brauchen ja auch mal ein bisschen Unterhaltung.

Ähm ja… Noch besser wird es aber, wenn man sich die Rollenverteilung dieser Auserwählten ansieht: Wer sind die Guten, wer sind die Bösen und wer die völlig uninteressanten, überflüssigen Nebencharaktere? Yay, genau! Die Amis sind die hübschen, guten, intelligenten, mitfühlenden Herrschaften, die Asiaten die skrupellosen, hinterhältigen und unansehnlichen Mistkerle. Europäer und Co. sind im Grunde völlig wurscht und nur schmückendes Beiwerk.

Hätte man hier nicht wenigstens ein bissen mischen können?! Es ist so langweilig! So absolut langweilig und uninteressant. Die Charaktere sind nichts weiter als nichtssagende, blasse Stereotypen, die mir alle völlig egal waren, meinetwegen hätten die Aliens sie auch direkt alle umbringen können.

Zu den schrecklich langweilig perfekten und stereotypischen Charakteren kommen total überzogene und in meinen Augen reichlich geschmacklose Gewaltszenen und – und das ist richtig nervtötend – völlig absurde Logikfehler in den Beschreibungen des Autors, der einerseits ständig die Perfektion seiner Figuren betont, andererseits passieren denen ständig Dinge, die ihnen bei ihren Fähigkeiten eigentlich nicht passieren dürften.

Alles in allem ist „Endgame: Die Auserwählten“ von James Frey ein total überflüssiges Buch, 500.000 US-Dollar Gewinn hin oder her – der ist für die meisten eh völlig unerreichbar. In meinen Augen ist die Geschichte denkbar simpel, Neues wird hier nicht geboten, dafür eine gute Portion nicht ganz so sinniger Handlungen. Ich kann von der Geschichte nur abraten.

[greatbookescapes · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Many thanks to the Publisher via NetGalley for a Sampler of this book in return for my honest review

(I have reviewed this book as I have read it - I have not read The Hunger Games which some are saying this is similar to)

Interesting concept, I but had no idea how this was supposed to be worked out. I am guessing a full copy of the book would include instructions. I can see some people wanting to try it out, but I have always had difficulty cracking ‘codes’ and such, so not for me.

I found the style a bit difficult to read with such a lot of very short sentences, although it did get better.

It would be interesting to see if any of the characters grow enough to feel connected to them. I like the fact that what I read so far did not have complicated names or places as often used in fantasy books, this makes it easier for a younger audience.

Sadly though it left me underwhelmed, and so I will not be reading the full book.

[cherylk_44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have not read the Hunger Game books but I have seen the movies. So, of course, there is going to be a lot of pressure and comparison to any author or book that comes out that has similarities to the Hunger Game books. Which it is hard not to compare this book to Hunger Games. Ok, so first off I would have liked a little more back story in regards to what the End Games were and how they were chosen. I don't know if the author did this on purpose or because he thought that readers were just automatically figure be fine with not knowing. Again this goes back to the Hunger Games. Also, there were so many people coming at me all at the same time that it was hard to keep them all straight. It was not until all of them assembled to the location to learn about the End Game and the goal of it that I was able to then start getting all of the characters straight in my head. Once I was able to figure out the goal of End Game and who was who, I was able to then start enjoying the story. Although, it did feel a little on even like the story was focused mainly on Sarah and Jago. The chapters involving them were longer then most of the other characters. However there was a lot of action and traveling all over the world. Having the ability to travel all over without any rules leaves a lot of bodies in every one's wake. The ending does leave a good lead into the next book. Even at 477 pages, this book is a quick read.

[claireh18 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

*NOTE* Endgame: The Calling is at its core a puzzle, and any review of it must take that into account. However the review copy of the book I was provided contained a placeholder puzzle, so as not to release the actual puzzle early. Thus I won't be reviewing the puzzle portion at all, only the book itself. This is not entirely fair, so judge this review accordingly.The first thing that strikes me about this book is that the author uses really short sentences. Seriously. It's annoying. Very annoying. Unfortunately, it got on my nerves so much that I was unable to finish the book. I think the concept is good, and, no doubt, the hype surrounding the prize will help it to sell. It just wasn't for me.

[naturalbri-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The StoryWe follow as twelve characters, chosen over 9,000 years ago, from their bloodline. Some have been eagerly awaiting this moment, some dreading the possibility. After having waited so long, surely they will not be chosen. They only have until their 20th birthday to take part. After that, they must hand-off the burden/privilege to the next in line, and so it has gone for over 9K years. Then it happens. The first sign comes, a meteor striking the earth, to signal the beginning. In the end, each player has their own invitation, brought by meteor, a meteor which has wreaked havoc on the world, destroying people, animals and nature alike. This is only the beginning.With blood and screams all around them, the players are brought to two realisations: 1) Endgame has begun2) They must not lose, or they will destroy everything they love. Who will be first to solve the puzzle and win? At what cost?What I Think about the Story and Game:I found the story to be quite a good read. It does have a few 'flaws,' as mentioned by other reviewers. Namely being that the characters are meant to be chosen, but not anything more than human. However, they take on feats that are well beyond human ability. I took this in stride though, as one has to remember we are not in a world that is exactly like ours, so 'normal' people may be able to do slightly more. Also, when one is terrified and striving to save those they love, whilst avoiding death, it is not uncommon for humans to do things believed impossible. I like the extreme, addicting pace of this book. It really is a read that is hard to put down. The action starts from page one and doesn't cease, leaving you aching for the second book. I also liked the characters. They have enough depth to be very interesting. Plus, the characters are spread in traits, beliefs and wants. They all have different backgrounds, act differently and care about very different things. This means that some of the characters do not want to be a part of the game, but know they must, whilst others have yearned for this day, trained for it. These differences are held in the characters and ultimately decide how they act in certain situations. The overall story is brilliant! As far as a dark fantasy/sci-fi blend it is epic and really does pull in all types of readers, making them a part of so much more. The real Endgame is one of the most brilliant ideas I have seen in ages. Linking together a great read with a true puzzle is brilliant. It does mean that you have to switch your mind back and forth between the book and the world, but this is not the full aim. It is meant to really get you to absorb yourself into the world of Endgame, to be a part of it, striving to be like the players in the book...to be the first to solve the puzzle. They have even made Endgame more real, with a link between the world puzzle and the book by have events that take place all over the world.

[mtlkch-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book!

[lilya05 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

"Endgame" ist die größte Enttäuschung seit Jahren und eines der schlechtesten Bücher, die ich jemals gelesen habe. Gekauft habe ich es, weil das Grundkonzept, das dem der "Hunger Games" ähnelt, mich interessierte, aber auch die Idee im Buch Rätsel zu knacken, die dann auf einen bestimmten Punkt in unserer realen Welt weisen fand ich spannend (wenngelich mir klar war, dass ich - 2 Jahre nach Erscheinen des Buches - keine Chance haben würde, die $500.000 zu gewinnen, da das Rätsel sicherlich bereits gelöst sei - was auch tatsächlich wahr ist).Tatsächlich haben die im Buch enthaltenen Rätsel aber eigenen so eigenen Charakter, dass ich nicht einmal weiß, worin diese Rätsel bestehen sollen. Die tausend Links habe ich dabei nicht geöffnet, da ich schon nach kurzer Zeit so von dem Buch abgeschreckt war, dass ich es nur noch möglichst schnell weglegen und meine Gedanken nicht auch noch an etwaige Rätsel, die mit dem Buch in Verbindung stehen, verschwenden wollte. Der Schreibstil ist unterirdisch - eine Aneinanderreihung von tausenden kurzer Hauptsätze, häufig sogar nur von Teilsätzen. Dazu die Versessenheit, jede Zahl mit häufig bis zu 5 Nachkommastellen anzugeben - es stört den (zugegeben ohnehin nicht aufkommenden) Lesefluss enorm, wenn dort Sachen stehen wie "der Flug sollte 216,3794 Minuten dauern" oder "Er war 14,59826 Jahre alt". Die Geschichte bietet keine spannenden Wendungen, da es Frey nicht gelingt, die Charaktere anders zusammenzuführen um seinen völlig überzogenen Gewaltdarstellungen einen Boden zu bieten, wählt er einfach telepatisch von den Aliens übertragene Hinweise als Mittel, die Spieler zusammenzuführen. Diese 12 Spieler unterscheiden sich zwar in ihrer Lebensweise voneinander, sind aber jeder für sich extrem flach und stereotyp, auch die Hauptcharaktere gewinnen auf den knapp 600 Seiten nicht an Tiefe. Das "große Finale" des Buches ließ mich absolut kalt, worüber ich sehr froh bin - so kann ich dieser Buchreihe getrost den Rücken kehren, ohne auf einen Cliffhanger zu verharren oder mich auch nur dafür zu interessieren, welcher der 12 Charaktere schließlich das Endgame gewinnen wird.

[hellen0-4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sigue hacia abajo para encontrar la reseña en español.

I got this review copy from NetGalley.

This is not a bad book and I liked it much more than I thought while I was reading it after I finished it, but it’s a bit weird and slow at first, because a lot of the things that the characters know are not explained. This is the first book of a trilogy, so I hope that the other two will move faster, as everything that the characters know is revealed by the end of this book. I suppose that the secrets of Endgame, the "game" that the characters are playing, will be revealed in the next two books. The Calling is just the search for the first key and there are three keys in the game, so there’s still room for many surprises.

It’s not that the first half of the book is boring, but nothing happens and there are many characters, who are more or less main characters. Each chapter is the point of view of one (or more than one) of them, so some of the chapters are sometimes things that happen at the same time, but in different places, which can make this first part a bit tiresome.

Endgame gets much better at the end, when we finally know what’s going on, or rather almost everything, because there are clues that suggest that everything is not as all those who trained for Endgame think. Before I started this book I had read a few reviews that compared it to The Hunger Games. Even though I can see why, I don’t think that they’re that similar. It’s true that there are twelve people and that they’re taking part in a deadly game where there can only be one winner, but everything else is very different. Even the circumstances that lead to this game (and the game itself) have nothing to do with The Hunger Games. If I had to compare this series with another, it would be 39 Clues, as it’s a race to find something (in the case of Endgame this something are three keys), but much more brutal and with bigger consequences for humanity.

Something that I found interesting is that there isn’t a clear main character until after half the book is over. You can guess who they’re going to be, because of the number of chapters about them, but it’s something that can change at any moment until you reach the end of the book.

The only thing that disappointed me a bit is that I had worked out where the first key was going to be a while before the characters did. Seeing as there had been so many clues that lead to other clues, I had been hoping for a sudden plot twist, but this didn’t happen. There is one at the very end of the book that left me looking forward to reading the next book of this series though.

3,5 stars

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Este libro no está mal y al final me gustó más de lo que esperaba según iba leyendo, pero es un poco raro y lento al principio, porque no se explican muchas cosas que los protagonistas sí conocen. Es el primer libro de una trilogía, así que espero que los otros dos avancen un poco más rápido, ya que al final del primer libro se ha revelado lo que saben los personajes. Supongo que en los dos siguientes se irán revelando todos los demás secretos de Endgame, el "juego" en el que participan los personajes de esta novela. La Llamada es sólo la búsqueda de la primera llave y hay tres llaves en el juego, así que todavía queda espacio para muchas sorpresas.

La primera mitad del libro no es que sea aburrida, pero no pasa mucho y hay muchos personajes más o menos principales. Cada capítulo es el punto de vista de uno (o más de uno) de ellos, así que a veces varios capítulos son cosas que suceden al mismo tiempo, pero en sitios distintos, lo que puede llegar a hacer esta primera parte un poco pesada.

Endgame mejora mucho al final, cuando por fin se sabe de qué va todo o más bien casi todo, porque hay pistas que sugieren que las cosas no son como han creído todos los que se han entrenado para Endgame. Antes de empezar a leer el libro había leído algunas reseñas que lo comparaban con Los Juegos del Hambre. Aunque veo el porqué de la comparación, no creo que se parezca tanto. Es cierto que hay doce chicos y que están metidos en un juego mortal del que sólo uno puede resultar vencedor, pero todo lo demás es muy distinto. Incluso las circunstancias que llevan a ese juego (y el juego en sí) no tienen nada que ver con Los Juegos del Hambre. Si tuviera que compararlo con otra saga sería con 39 Clues, ya que se trata de una carrera por encontrar algo (en el caso de Endgame ese algo son tres llaves), pero mucho más bestia y con consecuencias mucho mayores para la humanidad.

Algo que me pareció interesante es que hasta pasada la mitad no hay un claro personaje principal. Se puede sospechar quiénes van a ser por el número de capítulos dedicados a ellos, pero hasta que no se llega al final del libro, es algo que puede cambiar en cualquier momento.

Lo único que realmente me decepcionó un poco es que había deducido dónde iba a estar la primera llave mucho antes de que lo hicieran los personajes. Teniendo en cuenta que había habido tantas pistas que llevaron a otras pistas, había estado esperando que hubiera algún giro súbito, pero no fue así. Sin embargo, sí que hay uno justo al final del libro que me ha dejado deseando leer el siguiente libro de esta serie.

3,5 estrellas

[stressedrach · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received an Advanced Copy of The Calling and therefore can only base my review on the story and not the puzzle.

When I first started reading this there were similarities to other books I have read that I won’t mention. 12 original lines, 12 players and 1 winner, there are no rules, and only one of these Players will survive which means the other 11 will die.

These players are all within a certain age, they are trained since birth.

12 meteors crash down on Earth, right where the said Players are which is their Calling, they all travel to the same destination where they will start the Endgame.

In this book all of the players are searching for the first key and they will be lead to it with a clue, each player has a different clue which is embedded in their head via kepler 22 an alien or god, whatever it was, it wasn’t human. They each have to decipher their clue to lead them to the key.

I am not going to tell you anymore as it is a great adventure and I did really enjoy the story even without the puzzle. The suspense was fantastic and obviously there was killings and maiming that were quite gory but all worked well within the story.

I felt I got to know most of the characters really well, their traits, their nature and what made them tick. I am hoping to get to know more about the others in the next book.

I do have a feeling that the player who activated the first key may not actually win though.

I am looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

[erika.d · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this story! Action and humor along with mystery, clue hunting, puzzle solving and tiny tiny bit of romance. Can't wait for the next book! The characters are extremely interesting and different.