
Zero Sum Game
Cas Russell Series, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Lauren Fortgang
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By:
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S. L. Huang
About this listen
A blockbuster, near-future science fiction thriller, S.L. Huang's Zero Sum Game introduces a math-genius mercenary who finds herself being manipulated by someone possessing unimaginable power....
Cas Russell is good at math. Scary good. The vector calculus blazing through her head lets her smash through armed men twice her size and dodge every bullet in a gunfight, and she'll take any job for the right price.
As far as Cas knows, she’s the only person around with a superpower...until she discovers someone with a power even more dangerous than her own. Someone who can reach directly into people’s minds and twist their brains into Moebius strips. Someone intent on becoming the world’s puppet master.
Cas should run, like she usually does, but for once she's involved. There’s only one problem...
She doesn’t know which of her thoughts are her own anymore.
©2018 S. L. Huang (P)2018 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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If you like Thrillers and/or you like Magic - READ
- By BigJim on 10-31-14
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I was promised more math, but still a good story
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This book is spectacular! A true must-listen.
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Complex, Intelligent Heroine
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Good start, slow middle, ending is a letdown
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There's a title im lazy lol (this does not reflect the book)
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Absolutely fantastic
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Solid storytelling, quirky enough to stay fresh
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(On the other hand, some of Cas's self-discovery rumination seemed a bit too dramatic, drawn out and overdone. Here, less would have been more.)
I'm reading (not listening) to Null Set, the second installment, and have discovered some of the people, places and things of this series have come into a sharper focus. Lauren F did a very good job reading Zero Sum Game; it might just be that reading better integrates the multiple plot lines and distinctive characters that oppose, collide or align with Cas as she dishes out high-impact doses of Street Justice.
So Far, So Good
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This book is a technical disaster.
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But there is no story in this telling. Cas Russell is quick on-the-draw and lacking in self-reflection; if she shoots someone they must be bad and there must not have been any other way. The author, S.L. Huang, had the hand-crafted opportunity to bring a female perspective to what is essentially a male world-view story...but...the lack of female depth to this character adds no new dimension to this genre.
Great math skills can perhaps be utilized in creative ways but they do not cause well-aimed shots to miss, nor do they cancel out all the randomness that degrades the course of action she chooses. How would great math r-e-a-l-l-y be valuable?, we don't get it here.
And, most galling, the tradecraft that should be the stock-in-trade of any serious operator is totally missing. Announce a rendezvous in advance and not scout the scene before arriving? Exploit a young hacker's skills to track an adversary via hijacking video surveillance cameras and using facial recognition...but not guard against falling victim to the same tactic? Just two of many examples.
This book requires too much suspension-of-disbelief and does not provide enough genre improvement in return.
Unfortunately the narrator, Lauren Fortgang, is not up to the task of adding dimension to a one-size-fits-all character.
Great promise. Wasted opportunity!
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