This book was so hard for me to put down. I literally shirked all responsibilities to finish it! I'm a huge fan of Tracy Deebs' Tempest Series, so I had to see what Doomed was about.

Pandora is a great main character. She hasn't seen her father in years, and her mom is constantly on business trips. She's so lonely. There is so much pain and anger deep inside her, but she manages to keep on truckin'. She also has faults, she mentions again and again how she wouldn't have made it as far as she had without Theo and Eli. She also wanted to give up many times. But again, she kept on truckin'. She knows the difference between right & wrong, and always tries to step in to help others that for whatever reason can't help themselves. My only complaint is that she is a little whiny sometimes. Even with all of her insecurities and pain, she has plenty of bad-ass moments.

Now on to our boys...... I absolutely LOVE Theo!!!!! He's a strong male, and he's very intelligent. He's constantly thinking ahead to ensure they get to their destination. He can have a bit of a temper, but he has his reasons. He's great looking, but that's not what makes him a great character. He has empathy, and will do whatever it takes to help Pandora on her quest. Eli on the other hand is kind of arrogant, and thinks he's God's gift to women, basically. He's kind of shallow. He's been hurt too, but instead of using that to become a better person, he hides the anger, and makes everything a joke. He's also pretty immature. He does stand up for a certain someone though, and that made me have a little bit more of respect for him.

Although these kids have to play a video game to advance, there is still a lot of action that goes on in the real world. Pandora, Theo and Eli are thrown into terrifying situations. After the worm was released, things got scary. Many of the people showed how truly evil they could be. Those folks made me question how we would be as a society, and honestly kills a little of my hope. There were those few good people, that still helped when they had nothing that melted my heart.

The action is pretty continual. The way they had to move around constantly reminded me a lot of Lara Croft. I don't know why, it just did. I can totally picture Pandora with gun holsters on her legs. I'm odd I know. You'll never be left bored, that's for sure.

This is a top read for 2013 for me. The plot was unique, and you could connect with the characters. Who knew curiosity could cause so much trouble. ( )

This is a modern day take on the Pandora myth. Pandora’s father left when she was very young. Her mother is gone all the time, so when she receives an email from her father on her 17th birthday how can she resist opening it? It contains several photos, which Pandora uploads and prints out. Within hours the internet and every major technological system in the world has crashed except for one massive online game called Pandora’s Box. It now has a 10 day countdown until total annihilation. Every government agency, descends on her house accusing her of being the biggest cyber terrorist ever. Pandora manages to escape with the help of her gorgeous next door neighbors Theo and Eli. Pandora realizes that the pictures her father sent are clues to help her beat the online game and hopefully keep the world from ending, all while avoiding capture and well, death, from the resulting anarchy in world.

This story was terrifyingly believable, at least in how society would probably breakdown. I don’t know if everything is quite so dependent on technology to work, but I can believe it. The story has it’s brutal moments as the majority of people become completely uncivilized. I did have some difficulty with how Pandora manages to find the clues. Often it’s happenstance that she gets all the pieces and it was a little too convenient that between Theo and Eli they have almost every skill they need to survive. At times conversations are summarized rather than shown but the story is moving along so quickly, I almost didn’t notice it. Theo has several freak out moments, which was totally understandable, but they seemed to happen when convenient to the plot. The love triangle was at times abrupt. They are in the middle of life threatening circumstances and Pandora takes a few moments to try and decide which boy she likes better. I’m not very familiar with the smaller details of the Pandora myth, was there a love triangle? If so that would make sense, otherwise it just seemed a little forced into the story. ( I guess all Young Adult titles must have a love triangle right now.) Lastly there was some dangling hints about the characters background that were never explained. However, all these little nit picky things are not really noticeable while reading the story, because you’re moving along so fast. It’s only with later reflection that I realized this. So if you are willing to overlook some minor issues this is an action packed, heart pounding story that feels scarily possible.

The legal jargon: I received this advanced reader copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. ( )

Tracy Deebs is already established and popular young adult author - that is obvious when you start reading Doomed. Her writing style is easy to read and perfect for young adults, with heroes that are not too old for their age.

Pandora, heroine of Doomed, may seem like a rebel with her haircut and multiple piercings but she is just an ordinary girl. In fact, she is usual young adult novel heroine. Neglected by her successful mother. Long ago abandoned by her father. In school Pandora is a loner, except for one best friend. If you love usual tropes of ya novels, you have a lot of things to look forward to while reading this novel.
Although Doomed by Tracy Deebs is advertised as dystopian, I would more label it as post-apocalyptic novel. Pandora opens a website link that her father sent her and, unintentionally uploads a worm/virus to an internet. The next thing she knows - all infrastructures are collapsing: telephone, electricity, internet. The only thing that works is an online game that Pandora sometimes plays. And in this game a new notification is flashing "Total annihilation in 10 days". Pandora has to look for clues everywhere while she is chased by creatures from Greek mythology (in game) and government agents & rebel gangs (real life).
Fortunately for Pandora, she will have help of two handsome boys - Theo and Eli. One dark the other one blond - to satisfy every taste. Yes, love triangle lovers rejoice, there will be a lot of tension and drama and of course Pandora will not pick one of them until the last moment. Because, first they have to beat the game and save the world...

Summary for Doomed by Tracy Deebs reminded me of combination of Little Brother by Cory Doctorow & Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Both are my favorite young adult books, so my expectations for Doomed were set very high. I expected treats for gaming fans and some great fight-against-the-government & save-the-world moments.
Unfortunately, whole story felt rather shallow with a lot of illogical things that kept bugging me: Why Pandora leaves her best friend that she knew whole life (who has a father computer expert) and instead runs away with two boys who she met that morning? Why does she immediately assumes that government agents are against her and does not try to cooperate with them? How come all characters keep miraculously going although they sustain so much injuries trough this book? If I could ignore this questions, my enjoyment of this book would be far greater because it's a quick action-packed read, but sadly most of the times Pandora's actions were not logical to me and I could not understand her.

My rating: 2.5 stars

I recommend this book to fans of: ya dystopian or post-apocalyptic novels with a lot of action and love triangle romance.

Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. This text is also posted on Amazon and my blog. ( )

My first impression of this book was, wow this would be a good movie. I really love this kind of adrenaline pumping suspense that comes with a reading something like this. Tracey Deebs made me think…. a lot. Sometimes I will read too many dystopia novels and find myself telling my husband that we would be totally unprepared for a zombie apocalypse. This was one of those kinds of books. I read so many Dystopia novels that are about the aftermath of the world going haywire and you really don’t have a clear explanation about how things got to be that way. It was a plague or something along those lines. This book has us experience the world falling apart in a completely plausible way. Which is what became so unnerving about it to me. I grew up with only land lines and no internet; I had to use a phone book and pay phone to make calls. Yet if the internet went out today, I don’t know if I would know what to do. It’s become such a habit and something we’ve come to rely on heavily without even realizing it. Doomed really focuses on that I think. The funny thing about this book is that I work in IT and I can tell you when the technology stops working, people honestly go crazy and claim they can’t work without it, even though they had done their jobs fine before technology.


The main character doesn’t fit into the normal role of having long hair and being so pretty she doesn’t know kind of thing. Pandora has a nose piercing and purple streaks in her red short hair. It makes it so that people judge her on her looks for a completely different reason. Like they think she might steal their wallet. She’s strong but also has a lot of weak moments where she has to slap herself out of it. She does slap herself out of it though, which makes me respect her.


Pandora ends up getting help from her neighbors, two stepbrothers name Eli and Theo. I was okay with Theo but Eli had a tendency to annoy me. I think the two brothers really balanced each other though as far as their personalities. I’m glad that Tracy explains why Theo is so skilled at so many things that a normal teenager wouldn’t be. I also really like Pandora’s best friend. I wish there was more with her character but I also think it wouldn’t have made sense.


There are some side characters that I wasn’t sure I got enough from. I would have like to have known more about Pandora’s mother and their strained relationship. Also why she told Pandora her father was evil. I also thought the FBI part of it was a little strange but I’ve never tangled with the FBI so I’m not sure how things work.


The romance was natural. No real insta-love here, we find the characters thrown into an impossible situation and they have their up and downs with each other. I thought the progression was perfect, and even though there was sort of a love triangle it wasn’t the kind where you felt like a character was getting lead on. It was like how normal high school would be if you started to like one of your friends.


I would have liked a little more in the ending. I did like how some things were left to the imagination and there are many possible things that could happen to the characters in the future. I just felt like it was slightly anti-climactic on how they end up dealing with the worm and Pandora’s father.


The plot had me hooked and I found myself speeding through this book wondering what would happen next. I like the mix of thriller and mystery that was involved in it too. We have to search for clues to solve the game and of course, save the world.


On a final note, it was great to see the 1981 version of Clash of the Titans referenced. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the movie a million times myself, you can’t beat those special effects.

My first impression of this book was, wow this would be a good movie. I really love this kind of adrenaline pumping suspense that comes with a reading something like this. Tracey Deebs made me think…. a lot. Sometimes I will read too many dystopia novels and find myself telling my husband that we would be totally unprepared for a zombie apocalypse. This was one of those kinds of books. I read so many Dystopia novels that are about the aftermath of the world going haywire and you really don’t have a clear explanation about how things got to be that way. It was a plague or something along those lines. This book has us experience the world falling apart in a completely plausible way. Which is what became so unnerving about it to me. I grew up with only land lines and no internet; I had to use a phone book and pay phone to make calls. Yet if the internet went out today, I don’t know if I would know what to do. It’s become such a habit and something we’ve come to rely on heavily without even realizing it. Doomed really focuses on that I think. The funny thing about this book is that I work in IT and I can tell you when the technology stops working, people honestly go crazy and claim they can’t work without it, even though they had done their jobs fine before technology.


The main character doesn’t fit into the normal role of having long hair and being so pretty she doesn’t know kind of thing. Pandora has a nose piercing and purple streaks in her red short hair. It makes it so that people judge her on her looks for a completely different reason. Like they think she might steal their wallet. She’s strong but also has a lot of weak moments where she has to slap herself out of it. She does slap herself out of it though, which makes me respect her.


Pandora ends up getting help from her neighbors, two stepbrothers name Eli and Theo. I was okay with Theo but Eli had a tendency to annoy me. I think the two brothers really balanced each other though as far as their personalities. I’m glad that Tracy explains why Theo is so skilled at so many things that a normal teenager wouldn’t be. I also really like Pandora’s best friend. I wish there was more with her character but I also think it wouldn’t have made sense.


There are some side characters that I wasn’t sure I got enough from. I would have like to have known more about Pandora’s mother and their strained relationship. Also why she told Pandora her father was evil. I also thought the FBI part of it was a little strange but I’ve never tangled with the FBI so I’m not sure how things work.


The romance was natural. No real insta-love here, we find the characters thrown into an impossible situation and they have their up and downs with each other. I thought the progression was perfect, and even though there was sort of a love triangle it wasn’t the kind where you felt like a character was getting lead on. It was like how normal high school would be if you started to like one of your friends.


I would have liked a little more in the ending. I did like how some things were left to the imagination and there are many possible things that could happen to the characters in the future. I just felt like it was slightly anti-climactic on how they end up dealing with the worm and Pandora’s father.


The plot had me hooked and I found myself speeding through this book wondering what would happen next. I like the mix of thriller and mystery that was involved in it too. We have to search for clues to solve the game and of course, save the world.


On a final note, it was great to see the 1981 version of Clash of the Titans referenced. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the movie a million times myself, you can’t beat those special effects.