Friday 4 January 2013

Blog Tour: Doomed: Excerpt

DoomedTitle: Doomed
Author: Tracy Deebs
Publisher: Walker Children's
Released: 8th January 2013

Beat the game. Save the world.

Pandora’s just your average teen, glued to her cell phone and laptop, surfing Facebook and e-mailing with her friends, until the day her long-lost father sends her a link to a mysterious site featuring twelve photos of her as a child. Unable to contain her curiosity, Pandora enters the site, where she is prompted to play her favorite virtual-reality game, Zero Day. This unleashes a global computer virus that plunges the whole world into panic: suddenly, there is no Internet. No cell phones. No utilities, traffic lights, hospitals, law enforcement. Pandora teams up with handsome stepbrothers Eli and Theo to enter the virtual world of Zero Day. Simultaneously, she continues to follow the photographs from her childhood in an attempt to beat the game and track down her father, her one key to saving the world as we know it. Part The Matrix, part retelling of the Pandora myth, Doomed has something for gaming fans, dystopian fans, and romance fans alike.


Excerpt
We've been walking maybe half an hour or so when Theo reaches into my bag, yanks out the two bags of M&M's.  "You need to eat," he tells me, opening one of the bags and shoving it into my hand.  "The sugar will give you something to burn, at least for a little while."
   He tosses the other pack to Eli, who catches it on the fly.  "So do you," I say, pouring out a handful of candy and then tossing the bag to him.
    "I'm fine."
    I snort.  "Who's being a martyr now?  Eat the stupid candy.  It's not much further to Colorado, right?"
    "Two miles.  Maybe a little less."
     "Cool.  Will we even be able to recognize when we pass?"
    "I've been thinking about that.  If we keep up this pace for another hour or so, we should guarantee that we're a couple miles in.  Then we can head back to the road.  We'll have missed the roadblock, and hopefully we'll be far enough away that no one will notice us."
    "What do we do when we get to the road?  We don't have a car.  We have money, but I'm not sure how much good it's going to do us."
    "We'll think of something."
    "Speak for yourself.  I am completely out of ideas."
    "That's 'cause your last one was so good."  Eli winks at me
    "Oh, yeah.  Right.  This is a fabulous idea."
    "Better than going to jail as cyberterrorists."
    I shrug.  "At least it would only be for six and a half days."
    Theo laughs.  "Wow, from despair to cynicism.  You've come a long way in eight hours."
    "What can I say?  Nothing lasts forever.  Obviously."
    "You're a real laugh riot today," Eli says.
    I look down my nose at him.  "Sarcasm is so unbecoming."
    "So's fatalism.  So get over it already, will you?"  He points at some nebulous area in front of us.  "Bet I can beat you to that cactus."
    "We're in the desert.  There are eight million cacti out here.  You're going to have to be more specific."
    "That huge forked one way up ahead.  You see it, over..."
    I'm off and running before he finishes the sentence.  Am I cheating?  Absolutely.  Do I feel bad about it?  Not at all.  But I figure if I'm going up against the two of them, it's only fair that I get some kind of advantage.
    I hear them pounding the sand behind me.  They're getting closer, so I put on an extra burst of speed and cross the finish line a split second before Theo.  Eli finishes about a second later.
    "You are such a cheater," Eli tells me breathlessly, then tugs on one of the locks of hair that have fallen across my eye.  "I'm going to remember to watch my back around you."
    "And why is that?"
    "Because you're dangerous," Theo says, opening a water bottle and handing it to me, along with yet another granola bar.  This one's apple-cinnamon flavour.  Lucky me. 

13 comments:

  1. I featured this book on my blog as well, and I must agree that it sounds amazing! I love how it's science fiction, post-apocalyptic terror and Greek mythology all rolled into one.

    Intriguing excerpt too, Aa'Ishah! Thanks for posting, love. :)

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  2. Ooh.... Sounds awesome!!! I love story and myth retellings!!

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  3. This book sounds amazing - just my type of thing! I love both dystopian and romance books so this is perfect for me! And this excerpt is really intriguing - I loved it! I already like the characters banter! xD

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  4. Awesome excerpt. Thanks for participating :)

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  5. I've never encountered a book about gaming. (Or maybe I have but forgotten about it? My memory is fogged at the moment.) As for the excerpt, I like the dynamics between the characters. It shows some promise! Although I think it's too loaded with dialogue. But it's an excerpt so I wouldn't know what the whole book is like if I haven't read it, right? Ha.

    Thanks for sharing, Aa'Ishah!

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  6. I loved the excerpt that you picked, Aa'Ishah! It's non-spoilerish but gives us a glimpse into the personality of each character :)

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  7. This sounds rather interesting. No cell phones?! What shall the world do?! haha.

    I enjoyed the excerpt. It was clearly entertaining and well written. I liked the banter between the characters.

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  8. I love the sound of this story. It sounds very original and I love end of the world-as-we-know-it-type stories. Thanks for sharing Aa'Ishah. :)

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  9. Dystopian and romance? Gimme!!! I love the sound of this book and will be looking out for it! The excerpt was really fun to read and I'm intrigued by Eli and Theo - I wonder which boy I'd pick? ;)

    Thanks for sharing, Aa'Ishah!

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  10. I can't wait to pick this one up! After reading the excerpt, I'm absolutely sure that I'm going to love this book. =) I especially love the banter between the characters.

    Thanks for sharing! <3

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  11. I wasn't too sure about this one but the more I hear about it, the more it's growing on me. Great excerpt. Thanks for sharing Aa'Ishah :)

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  12. This book sounds interesting :) I'm a gamer, so this is great :D

    Mel@thedailyprophecy.

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  13. This sounds great, A! Part The Matrix and part the Pandora myth? Count me in! Thank you for sharing the excerpt, A! :)

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