Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Playing God
AUTHOR: Sara Alva
PUBLISHER: KSL Publishing Services
LENGTH: Approx 380 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 14, 2022
BLURB:
Cast out from his isolated community of telepaths, Dominic is left wandering the woods, defeated and alone. A chance rescue by a hiker is the only thing to stop his downward spiral—though not literally, as he winds up in the valley below his home, struggling to adapt to the
Outsiders’ strange way of life.
Dominic’s fall from grace is steeper than the mountain he’s descended. He’s lost his leadership to a rival, and the people he’s spent his life protecting are in danger. People he can no longer
consider inferior, now that he’s the clueless one in their midst. As an unprecedented crime wave ripples through the city, Dominic is forced to break a sacred rule and intervene by himself. He enlists his rescuer Avery for help navigating the unfamiliar world while he strengthens his
telepathic abilities, hoping to reclaim his birthright. But Avery has an agenda of his own, and the man is a mystery that calls on all of Dominic’s senses to solve… leading to a bond beyond his
understanding.
With his power growing every day, Dominic must eventually choose: will he remain where his heart lies, or return home and work to bring peace to the ailing world?
REVIEW:
Dominic was forced out of his ordered community via a leadership battle – then cast into a world, he didn’t understand. While on a hike, Avery finds Dominic, lost, cold, and hurting, and decides to help. Little did either know how one kind gesture would change both their lives.
The story is told in the third person, from Dominic’s viewpoint, and worldbuilding provided a good picture without going into minute detail. I felt only one aspect remained unexplained – not necessarily a plot hole, but close to it. Dom says he can’t access his father’s bank account without ID – when that ID is sorted, it’s as if the money is forgotten for the rest of the story. Maybe it’s an unnecessary loose end, but I like them tidy.
In some ways, Dominic is adorably naïve yet skilled in others. Leaving the Community opens his eyes to many experiences he wants to repeat, and he realizes there’s more to people than their initial thoughts. Pop culture confuses him, and he takes certain things that are said at face value without recognizing the undertones. Then again, these experiences helped him gain some self-realization and perspective.
Avery makes more sense at the end of the book than through it. His feelings flip-flop, which is confusing to Dom (and the reader), who forgoes his own heart in favor of those with more experience. In these situations, I lost a fair amount of my regard for Avery, which may have tainted my overall view of the book. Then again, there’s nowt as complex as folk.
I found Playing God a good, well-written story, with not everything being as it seems. I enjoyed it. I understood actions, reactions, reasoning, yadi-yadi-yada… but there was some factor that I couldn’t put my finger on that didn’t push my literary buttons in a way that made me go gaga over it. It’s a shame because, thinking logically, the story contained many things I like in a well-balanced story, but that emotional attachment wasn’t there. It’s like that lasagna that contains all the right ingredients, but for an unknown reason, didn’t make me sink into the seat drooling.
RATING: 
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