Reaper

Overview: A really good standalone SF detective/mystery adventure that sucks you into a fascinating world with likeable and interesting characters and a good sprinkling of humour, then quietly gets you to ponder the meaning and purpose of life.After 1st Reading:[a:Janet Edwards 5415711 Janet Edwards https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1657263898p2/5415711.jpg] does it again. In this book she sets a great “whodunnit” in a future in which the purpose of life has become saving up enough money to upload your mind into the virtual worlds most of humanity lives in. As a result most of the drudgery in the real world is done by youngsters saving up for that golden ticket. About a third of the way in I was a bit annoyed with the blurb which doesn't do justice to the scope of the story - but now that I come to trying to explain this book, I realise that it's rather hard to explain why this book is as good as it is without spoilers. Let's just say that the story keeps getting bigger and better as it goes.Janet Edwards two greatest skills are character building and world building, and this book gave her free reign to do both.I would think it a crime if there wasn't a sequel. That was a good fun read!After 2nd ReadingI remembered this was good, but it was even better the second time around. That is the sign of a good author! This is a fast paced adventure story with characters you care for and a good seasoning of humour. At the same time it really does raise questions about society and our priorities as a people, and even about the value of human life and the nature of consciousness - all while managing to be a good fashioned detective-mystery. I'd love a sequel!After 3rd ReadingI can say that this is definitely a good book for two main reasons:1: I Read it for the 3rd time and it's gotten better each time.2: Even though I'd already read this twice before, I still found it difficult to put down, I was grabbing every moment I could get to pick it up again just to read a little bit more.After 4th ReadingIt's still awesome and a firm favorite. This world, like all the worlds of Janet Edwards, feels real and has so much potential. I really wish I could explore it further.On each reading I've said I'd love a sequel - I so would, not only do I love the characters, but the setting is so fascinating that I'd love to see how it develops after the events of this book.My only caveat is that EVERYTHING that Ms Edwards has written is so good that I don't want to take her away from writing in her other settings. I seriously recommend trying out the Hive Mind books ([b:Telepath 31300289 Telepath (Hive Mind, #1) Janet Edwards https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1469938072l/31300289.SY75.jpg 51967177]), The [b:Earth Girl 12962345 Earth Girl (Earth Girl, #1) Janet Edwards https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1330891351l/12962345.SY75.jpg 18120012] books or the Drago stories (starting with the novella [b:Hera 2781: A Drago Short Story 28259047 Hera 2781 (Drago Tell Dramis #0.5) Janet Edwards https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1450710941l/28259047.SY75.jpg 48298865]). Every one of them is combines excellent characters and a setting that just drags me in and gets me wanting to find out more.Perhaps we could upload Ms Edwards to Celestius, and then overclock the server?While I'd love to see more in the End Game series, I'm just grateful for every story she writes.