I just finished reading The Immortality Game by Ted Cross, and I felt compelled to share my thoughts. This sci-fi thriller dives into the world of brain-uploading technology, following a group of Russian gangsters hot on the trail of a young woman and the overweight American nerd who is hopelessly in love with her. It would almost be a dark comedy if they weren't busy murdering everyone she knows—which seems like a pretty counterproductive way to get someone to cooperate with you.I’m a huge fan ...

Actual rating: 4.5 starsIt's the year 2138 in Moscow. Zoya is working with a corpse when her brother, Georgy, suddenly appears at the morgue. He thrusts a package into her hands and begs for her help to get it back to him the next day. Zoya never imagined that day would change her life forever.The Immortality Game by Ted Cross is a cyberpunk, dystopian science fiction novel set in a future where everyone has some sort of network connection port and card slot implanted directly into their bodies....

You’re probably aware that my attempt to read and review a self-published sci-fi work last year went down the drain. I felt bad about it because I genuinely wanted to give an indie speculative fiction author a fair shot, regardless of the outcome. Most of the readers here at The Hotlist were against the idea, arguing that it would likely be a total waste of time, that self-published novels were bottom-tier, and so on. And yet, against my better judgment, I decided to do it anyway. Perhaps I shou...

The Immortality Game—admit it, we’d all love to win that one, but at what cost? Ted Cross takes us on a trip into the future to Moscow, the year is 2138, and the world has barely survived a total meltdown. The poor struggle to scrape by, serving the wealthy elite. Science has made massive strides, but is it heading in the right direction? Citizens are required to have data ports implanted. Yeah, think of it as a built-in USB port for simplicity’s sake—is it a scientific breakthrough or forced co...

A slow start that builds into a gripping, high-stakes thriller. Here is my full book review. On January 8th, I stumbled upon this post over at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: Calling on all self-published/indie speculative fiction writers: Final Update. One book mentioned in the post immediately caught my eye. I was genuinely impressed to learn that the author, Ted Cross, invested $2,000 of his own money into cover art by the renowned Stephan Martiniere. Between the enticing price, the stunning cover, a...

DNF. I don't know, maybe I'm just not in the right headspace for this book. I found The Immortality Game by Ted Cross to be a bit of a slog, and with every page I read, I ended up getting distracted by something else. The constant shifting between perspectives really chopped up the flow, and I found myself groaning within the first few pages. You know the feeling—just as the story hits a semi-interesting beat, BAM, it jumps to a completely different POV. I wasn't really in the mood for that kind...

The first line begins, "Zoya hummed along to a pre-dark times rock tune as she sketched a final line of purple lipstick onto the grossly fat man on the stainless steel slab." It pretty much sets the tone of this science-fiction thriller, and Ted Cross' ability to wield words reminds me of Martin Cruz Smith, author of Three Stations, who has an equally torrid ability to bring life to black and white letters on a page. I guess it's kind of eerie then that in my comparison, the first chapter begins...

I was drawn to this book for two main reasons. First, the author, Ted Cross, has spent significant time in Moscow, where the story is set, and currently lives in the beautiful city of Baku, Azerbaijan. Second, just look at that cover! It’s the work of Stephan Martiniere, one of the top science fiction illustrators in the business. Fortunately, The Immortality Game lives up to its stunning cover art. Set primarily in Moscow during the summer of 2138, the story follows Zoya and Marcus. Zoya is a ...

It is so rare and gratifying to find a story that hits the trifecta of essential elements, all perfectly developed: character, setting, and plot. In The Immortality Game by Ted Cross, Zoya and Marcus are 'everyman' figures in their own unique ways. Marcus is in recovery from a 'Mesh' addiction—an escape into a customized fantasy world where his body lies stabilized in a bed while his mind hooks into a digital void rather than reality. He is the son of an incredibly wealthy, albeit largely absent...

I’m not usually a fast reader, but I was completely hooked by The Immortality Game by Ted Cross from the very first chapter all the way to the end. The futuristic setting was introduced instantly and expertly, and the female lead, Zoya, had such a relatable, good-girl charm right from her opening banter with her roguish brother. The world in the aftermath of The Dark Times is fleshed out through the perspective of Marcus, the young son of a late billionaire who invented the program that served a...