Doomed

by Tracy Deebs

Pandora's an average teen, glued to her cell phone and laptop, until the day her long-lost father sends her a link to a mysterious site featuring photos of her as a child. Curious, Pandora enters the site, unwittingly unleashing a global computer virus that plunges the whole world into panic: suddenly, there's no Internet. No cell phones. No traffic lights, hospitals or law enforcement. Only Pandora's Box, a virtual-reality game created by Pandora's father, remains up and running. Together with her neighbors, gorgeous stepbrothers Eli and Theo, Pandora must follow the photographs from her childhood in an attempt to beat the game and track down her father-and rescue the world. Part The Matrix, part retelling of the Pandora myth, Doomed has something for gaming fans, dystopian fans, and romance fans alike.

• ISBN10: 0802735444
• ISBN13: 9780802735447
• Publish Date: 10 December 2013 (first published 8 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 4 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Walker & Co
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 480
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/03/doomed-by-tracey-deebs.html
Doomed is explosive! I was immersed and completely enthralled from cover to cover, forcing me to read into the early hours of the morning just to find out what happened next. Rarely does a book infatuate me completely, but Doomed did exactly that. Pandora's Box is a hugely popular online game, that seemingly has unleashed a killer virus on the world. Everything that is controlled by an online system, utilities, broadcasts, nuclear power plants, all at the mercy of the hacker. It's a sick game of cat and mouse, Pandora is forced to play the game against her will and only has ten days until annihilation, according to the game master. It's action packed and exhilarating, a rarity in young adult today.

Step brothers Theo and Eli are new in town, they all attend the same high school, with Pandora having issues with Theo previously. But when Pandora knocks on their door, they have no qualms about playing the game alongside her, protecting her with their lives. It's a strained relationship at times, with both boys seemingly interested in her. Although Pandora is effected by the extra attention, her main focus is the game. But it isn't the characters that are the main draw card in Doomed, it's the storyline. Tracy Deebs has woven an incredible storyline that mixes cyber terrorism, a warped environmental message and the world on verge of an apocalyptic meltdown.

I loved it. I more than loved it, I inhaled it. It was everything I want in a book, explosive, tense, action packed and absolutely phenomenal.

Tracy Deebs, you are incredible!

[bookishzelda]

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.

[Ashley]

booknook — Young Adult book reviews

I was nervous about starting Doomed. I'm a computer nerd, gaming nerd, web design nerd, and all kinds of internet geeky. I wanted Doomed to rock my universe. I wanted it to knock my pants off. I was afraid that perhaps I had overhyped it for myself and that it would disappoint me...

Who was I kidding?!!

Doomed RIPPED my pants off and left me buck naked, hair blowing in the wind, happy tears streaming down my face. Cards on the freaking table... DOOMED ROCKED MY NERDY GAMER WORLD!! Holy mother of computer hacking sex gods. I was totally unprepared for the epic awesomesauceness of this book. I'm still completely wide-eyed and in shock. We have computer viruses that take over the world, a strong likeable main character named PANDORA (hello, awesome), a sweet smiley guy, a strong sexy silent kickass hacker guy, and one insane Greek mythology apocalypse game to beat. Can you imagine a more amazing book? I cannot.



Every single character in this book is absolutely AWESOME! They're all so unique and I love them for different reasons. Pandora.. Okay I adore her name. But also, she's kind of quirky, spunky, but still has her HOLY SHIT meltdown moments. Don't we all? But she remains super strong and kickass throughout the entire book (..most of the time!). Her best friend Emily is the classic, awesome, sweet, upbeat best friend character. Those are my FAVOURITE! Emily is only in the very beginning of the book, but still—she plays that role perfectly. Then... there are the guys...

*Fans self*

I absolutely LOOOVE THEO!!! He's the insanely smart tech/computer genius. I love tech nerds. I love love LOVE THEM! My boyfriend is an amazing elite programmer/web developer, so in some ways, I felt like I was reading about my boyfriend. Theo is some sort of accepted-early-into-Harvard computer genius. He's the strong, sexy silent type who hides secrets of a dark, sketchy past behind his conflicting eyes. That, my friends, is sexy.

"This is what I do," he answers.
"Play video games?"
He lifts an eyebrow. "Hack systems."
I look at him, standing there in his button-down shirt and khaki pants and can't imagine him as anything but a rule follower of the highest order. I mean, even his shoes are perfectly polished. But then I make the mistake of meeting his eyes, and they're not cold anymore. Instead, they're totally bad ass. Filled with confidence and the thrill of the chase.

In some ways, the story of Doomed reminded me of Ashfall, and I totally wasn't expecting that. But it makes sense. In Doomed we have a complete technological blackout. This causes complete mayhem, chaos, looting, pillaging, murder, and more. Pandora, Theo, and Eli are on the run from the FBI/Homeland Security/etc. but also have to watch out for people stealing their survival supplies, crazy biker gangs, and look five times at every intersection because the traffic lights don't work. There's a complete breakdown of humanity. Survival instincts really kick in, to the point where people will so easily leave someone else to die in order to save themselves.

The lines between black and white are blurring more with every second we're on the road, on the run, until distinguishing the varying shades of grey has become next to impossible for me. Fleeing the authorities, breaking and entering, stealing. And even worse is the knowledge that there's nowhere to go but down.

And IN ADDITION to all that other craziness, Pandora has to solve a puzzle. She's driving from state to state, trying to piece together clues that her father left behind for her. It's an AWESOME combination of a real life adventure and gaming. The two go completely hand in hand and she has to put them together in order to BEAT THE GAME!

My one criticism is with the game itself. It's written exactly like real life: with characters talking, touching each other, and just acting as they would in the real world. I felt like it wasn't a very realistic representation of a game, which is limited to keyboard and mouse movements. I mean, surely there isn't a keyboard command for "Put hand on other character's lower back and lean in to speak," but that's exactly the kind of thing that went on all the time. Even though it wasn't very realistic at all, it didn't bother me. I got so immersed in the game that I mostly just pretended that it wasn't a game and that it was actually happening. Then it stopped bothering me.

This book is just so unique on so many different levels. I was screaming and squealing with complete and utter joy and awe as I was reading it!

The gaming—AWESOME.
The main character—HILARIOUS.
The circumstances —DEVASTATING.
The sexual tension—HOT.
The action scenes—INTENSE.

Doomed called to the total nerd inside of me and did not disappoint me in the slightest... until it ended. I wanted more. I NEEDED more. I am fully prepared to start stalking Tracy Deebs on her Doomed book tour in January. It's just THAT good!!