Hi there!
Welcome to our July Finale for James Frey's Endgame: The Calling.
Trigger Warning: Violence, Explosives, Mental Illness, Self-Harm, Nudity, Gore, Firearms, Weapons, Murder, Suicide, Death
Overall
Whew, this particular post was a doozie. Brieanna's opinion is that this book was great in terms of the action and the intrigue, as well as a bigger conspiracy that is plaguing the players of Endgame (the Sky Beings are being BAD). Ceraya loved the book and definitely believes, though this first one is great, it is not a stand alone. This book succeeds as a first part in a series and the other books contain secrets you would never expect.
Sky Beings
Brieanna thinks that the Sky Beings are aliens that created the humans for entertainment purposes and that they are the big baddie. By making these 12 players fight for something obscure, and letting them think that they will somehow allow their "bloodline" to live by winning the game, the Sky Beings are in an awful lot of control of what happens here in the game for a distant planet or Sky Being. By sending the 12 explosive meteors to earth, and then appearing to the players in China, Kepler 22B is quite all-powerful when it comes to earth. Killing millions of people? For...a game? That will only allow the survival of one bloodline? It sounds a lot like Gladiator Matches for the entertainment of millions.
Sarah, Jago, & Christopher
Both of us thought that Christopher was a waste of space in this book. He thought he was a savior for Sarah, but instead ended up dying because he got more involved than he should have been. BUT he was useful when he knew how to fly a plane. Amazing. And then during the plane crash he was being annoying too. Because he basically made the plane crash after Aisling shot at them. Come on, Christopher!
Regarding the always-present love triangle, we know that teenage love can be silly, but Sarah's love for Christopher runs deep, and they've only been broken up for two weeks, so who can blame them for getting back together? Jago was being too possessive over Sarah, in Brieanna's opinion, but he was just in his feelings, we guess.
Brieanna thought it was silly that Sarah ended up killing Christopher, mostly because it was so obvious that it was going to happen the entire time, but Ceraya made a point that he was her chosen family, so her having to kill him was the ultimate choice. She is playing Endgame for real now, and not letting anything get in her way.
Chiyoko & An
Both of us do not understandthis relationship; An is straight up crazy and scary, and Chiyoko is much more rational than An. An barely has rational thought. He wants to kill everyone and watch the world burn. We don't understand why Chiyoko is into An, maybe she wants to fix or save him.
It's obvious that An likes Chiyoko because she gets rid of his tics, which is peaceful, and that she is a comfort to him, but we don't really understand why Chiyoko loves him back - maybe because he needs her and she likes that?
The Other Players
Brieanna is so sick of Baitsakhan and fucking Maccabee. They hate each other, but they are with each other in order to protect each other. Baitsakhan cannot hold the orb anymore and Maccabee took it from him. So we are just waiting for Maccabee to backstab Baitsakhan.
More people are dead - Chiyoko mercy killed Kala, because she was set on fire. RIP. Brieanna liked Kala, but she would have been to powerful a competitor in the finale, so it makes sense why the author took her out.
Earth Key & Stonehenge & Last Chapter
We thought the finale of the book was wild, honestly - the cave paintings that Aisling and Hilal saw led them to the conclusion that Endgame is cyclical (Brieanna believes this too), but then Sarah and Jago see the cave paintings that show how to achieve Earth Key at Stonehenge, so they still believe they are meant to play and win.
Once everyone meets at Stonehenge, we thought that it was sad that Christopher had to die, but really saw it coming. We thought it was an unceremonious end for Chiyoko, we think she deserved more. An had it coming and it did not surprise us that he died the way he did- trying to take control.
Brieanna thought that Sarah finding Earth Key and solving the first part of the game made sense and was wicked cool.
The last chapter involves Shari and her family - she claims to have Sky Key "right here," which makes Brieanna think that her Baby is Sky Key, and that all of her family will be involved much more heavily in the second book.
Conclusion
Brieanna believes she will put this book down because it left a bad taste in her mouth, but if you're interested in a Hunger-Games-esque series with multiple books that lead to a mega-finale, then this one is for you! Highly recommended by Ceraya.
With love, see you soon!
Ceraya & Brieanna
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