May 21, 2021
Rabbits is a game so secret that even most of its players aren't 100 percent sure they're playing. Because Rabbits is a game of connections that may or may not exist, in a game that just might be playing them. Or might kill them. Or might wipe out the entire multiverse. Or might not exist at all. Rabbits is a game for people who can't resist finding patterns that might lead to conspiracy theories or might just be killing time. For K and Chloe, it will either drive them insane or make them rich beyond their dreams--if it doesn't make them forget each other on its way to their doom. VERDICT Rabbits is a story for readers who don't think the stakes in Ernest Cline's Ready Player One were nearly high enough. And for those who think The Matrix didn't have nearly enough conspiracy theories or coincidences. It's recommended for readers who like their SF on the techno-thriller side, and their endings somewhat equivocal. And for anyone who believed that the TV series Lost was a bit too straightforward after all.--Marlene Harris, Reading Reality, LLC, Duluth, GA
Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
June 1, 2021
This spin-off of the popular podcast follows K, who since childhood has been fascinated with a nameless game that is sometimes referred to as "Rabbits." This alternate reality game (ARG) can involve any object, person, or place in the world. The only uniting themes of the various iterations of "the game" are that winners of the game join "the Circle," and that the signs of the game are often anachronistic or counterfactual. K is drawn deeper into their obsession when one of the previous winners, billionaire Alan Scarpio, tells them something is wrong with the upcoming eleventh iteration, only to disappear days later. The journey of K and their friends as they try to figure out what (if anything) could be wrong with Rabbits quickly dives into a variety of theories and conspiracies from the mundane to the metaphysical. Miles' narrative clearly demonstrates its podcast roots with the search for signs of the game lying halfway between the investigations of true crime and the uncanny frisson of creepypastas, and should satisfy fans of either internet genre.
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Starred review from April 15, 2021
The creator of the absorbing podcast Rabbits expands its mythology about an ancient and potentially deadly game. Debut novelist Miles is known for creating hit podcasts, and while this peculiar augmentation doesn't quite stick the landing, its premise is spellbinding. Its namesake podcast is a missing persons mystery, but this sidequel digs far deeper into the mysteries surrounding the clandestine alternative-reality game at its heart. The narrator identifies himself only as K, and he's fascinated by any threads of information about the unnamed game, known to players colloquially as "Rabbits." Egged on by a video-arcade owner named the Magician, K, his girlfriend, Chloe, and pal Baron search out more information about the game as things get more dangerous for all of them. There's not much to go on: The first recorded modern instance of the game emerged in 1959; a fractured recording lays out a few more clues, and readers learn more from interstitial notes by Hazel, the winner of the eighth iteration. Things start getting serious when K is approached in the arcade by the alleged winner of the sixth game, Alan Scarpio, "a gazillionaire playboy who hangs out with Johnny Depp," who nonchalantly says, "Something is wrong with Rabbits, and I need you to help me fix it." It's believed that the game's 10th iteration has ended, and a new round seems to be beginning when players solve a series of obscure riddles, followed by a cryptic pronunciation: "The door is open." While not as pop-culture inundated as Ready Player One, the book nods to eccentric influences like the urban legend Polybius, about a mind-altering arcade game; the novels Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino and House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski; and, most tellingly, the cult movie Donnie Darko: "The Venn diagram of people interested in Rabbits and in Richard Kelly's sci-fi thriller from 2001 is essentially just a circle." A twisty, timey-wimey roller coaster that morphs seamlessly from treasure hunt to conspiracy thriller to escape room.
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