Zero Sum Game (Sid Rubin Silicon Alley Adventures, #2) (2024)

'ARC provided by Bywater Books in exchanged for a honest review'

**'There's a sureness to average writing even when what's being written about doesn't make all that much sense..'

2.5stars!
Maybe some avid readers who are into sci-fi 'geek talk' will appreciate the effort push forth by Ms.Deoul, in weaving a variety of ultra-skilled but definitely eccentric characters into this still-raw battle of electronic gaming competition. Yet 'ZERO SUM GAME' might just be an average read in its own right because of this author's insightful writing,which pulls no punches when it came to any game fighting while other readers may have far more patience with its science and tech stuff than I did. I was completely overwhelmed by the storyline -- way to detailed about robots,computer game playing and the dialogue was all sci-fi ism that I could not get swept up in; it doled out vast quantity of data and had an overloading with narrative clutter.
I also ached for some of the central and secondary characters even the robots. There were times when I did feel that Ms.Deoul became both lost in her vision and storytelling, and then I myself even lost track of the plotline due to the many alternating details about robots and gaming. Though I thought some moments were not quite as clear as others as to what this series was really about but the author still tried nailing down its tone in wherever the actions were taking place.
Who can find time for Love in the midst of all this crazy competition? If the game console and fighting robots needs all Sidonie (Sid) one of the main character's attention and Love, then what is there left over for the regular world that's abound? Though the author do find some humor and inner strength in Sid that kept us the readers maybe a little interested in her journey through her everyday living. Even between a few bright and entertaining moments of comic travails, Sid did find that maintaining a balance, technologically or scholarly or friendliness, and an impassioned one-sided search for any upmanship to defeating others.

3.75 Stars. This is book two in A Sid Rubin Silicon Alley Adventure YA series. I’m happy to say that I did think that this was a step-up from the first book. I’m still not in love with this series but it is growing on me especially the geektacular Sid. Sid is so honestly written with a genuine teenage voice that it makes her a very compelling character. You absolutely feel like you are in the mind of a teenager.

While this book does have a mystery, it is much smaller to the storyline than the mystery in book one was. This book centers around high school life and a big robotics competition Sid and her friends enter. There was a bit of tech talk that I didn’t always understand but nothing that messed with my enjoyment.

I’m still not in love with the writing style. This is first person where the main character is the narrator talking directly to us the readers. It can feel choppy and extra at times. For instance, in the beginning of the book Sid is telling us a story and instead of finishing the story she goes on a side tangent that lasts almost 3 chapters before she finally finishes the story. I’m not sure if I’m getting more used to it or if Deoul smoothed things out a bit because the second half of the book was noticeably more comfortable to read the first half. Maybe by the next book I’ll be immune to this style.

There is still no YA romance for Sid in this series yet. Sid is still getting crushes but no dates yet. However, the ending of the book opened up for a possibility for someone new of interest for Sid. It’s still very early but I like the potential there and am interested in seeing what happens in book 3.

I still have some mixed feeling about this series but I can tell I’m getting more hooked as each page goes by. I’m looking forward to book three and will be reading it soon. I would recommend this series to YA fans, especially if you are looking for a YA writing voice that feels authentic.

Stefani Deoul has an amazing knack for creating an absolutely brilliant, light-hearted, witty and fun adventures based on the geekiness of a bunch of high school seniors. That may not be a shocking concept but what is shocking is how totally enthralling the stories are when those seniors are literally light years away from our own personal experience. I knew nothing about LARP’s – until I read “LARP”, and very little about MMPRPG’s until I read “Zero Sum Game”, but despite that watching a bunch of geeky teens solve crimes using techno-savvy and comradery turns out to be simply beguiling.

“Zero Sum Game” finds our racially, culturally and sexually diverse team close to grounded after the escapades in “On a LARP”. While an inter-school robotic project is the officially sanctioned character building exercise that releases them from parental disapprobation it is the theft of one of the posse’s online game inventory which creates a new cyber adventure and ultimately puts them back on hero status.

Half of what I’m saying sounds like gobbledegook even though I now know what it means… and hence the awe given that we, the readers are unlikely to have any knowledge of this teen cyber world unless we have teens of our own, yet Deoul teaches us, leads us and manages to entertain us in this brave new world.

The characters are charming, the plot convincing and the crime all too easy to believe. The inter-relationships between the gang, school colleagues and family members adds depth and grounds the personalities into reality. And most of all we can feel the love shine through from author to page and from Sid and her friends, bathing us all in the light.

Brilliant series; intelligent, authentic and genuine. If you haven’t read “On a LARP” go get reading. “Zero Sum Game” is an excellent follow-up and I can’t wait to see Sid take on ASL and find her green-eyed beauty.

Deoul does a fabulous job of bringing a lot of elements together—robotics, online gaming, working as a team to find the thief, and even what it feels like to be a teenager (remember those fits of laughter that went on and on until you were lightheaded because you and your friend kept bringing each other back into the laughter loop? There’s some of that as well.). Even better, she’s made Sid a thoughtful storyteller, because we’re never left out of the loop.

Full review: https://www.lambdaliterary.org/review...

Sid Rubin and her band of geeky, funny, brilliant, and caring young adults are beautifully described (created) by Stefani Deoul. They get themselves into and out of trouble on a regular basis and remind us again that adolescents don’t understand that there are some things that are impossible to achieve. Their optimism in the face of odds that would defeat most of us is refreshing. You don’t have to read the first book in this series,”On a LARP,” but I would recommend that you do so, just for the pure enjoyment. So, Ms. Deoul, please hurry and finish the third book in this series. I patiently await the further adventures of Sid and friends.

When I finished reading On a LARP, I saw that there was a second book about Sid Rubin and her mates. I though On a LARP was hilarious, getting to know Sid and co was a treat. Now in Zero Sum Game, whilst still funny... it was more intensely personal. The bond between Sid and her friends strengthening through their experiences. It was truly great!

Oh, and on top of that they kicked arse and saved lives, so yeah... that was pretty amazing. ☺️

A terrific read. If you have any teens in your life who are “different” in any way, you should definitely pick it up. Sid is a fantastically drawn character, who just happens to be gay, but more importantly — she’s smart and resourceful. Her intellect and sense of humor are far more important, and her merry band of outsiders are just as multifaceted, funny, and smart. On second thought, buy it for kids who are popular and “normal,” too. It might be more important that they read it.

This is the second book in Deoul’s Sid Rubin Silicon Alley Adventure Series.

Consequences are the worst! Sid and her close-knit group of friends are suffering some major fallout from their last adventure (On a LARP). Grounded for engaging in some pretty amazing sleuthing (albeit a little too risky in the opinion of their parents), the friends are now confined to school grounds until Vikram discovers a way to escape their torment by entering a prestigious Robotics competition. But the celebration of their regained freedom is short-lived when Vik discovers he’s been hacked. A leader in the online game Contagion, Vik had amassed an impressive arsenal of trophies, tools and bonuses and he is crushed after years of his hard work is gone in an instant.
Nobody messes with Sid’s friends so she is going to get to the bottom of this crime. But when the friends uncover the motive behind cyber theft, they discover the stakes are much higher than just Vik’s gamer status.

The characters are amazing and the pace is fast. The story is written from the perspective of Sid, a witty and loyal teenager. The banter, hilarious observations and comedic interjections had me in stitches while the more serious moments of introspection and struggling with feelings were touching. It is an incredibly fun and heartwarming book.

I love the premise of this story, how it revolves around online gaming, as well as the inclusion of the robotics competition. I also love how Deoul's writing style completely draws you into Sid’s character. It's a high speed, clever book that is a whole lot of fun to read so if you enjoy a heaping plate of sarcasm mixed with a touching side of feels, then this book is for you.

Full Review can be found here: https://www.thelesbianreview.com/?s=z...

‘Who needs sleep? I mean, really, way overrated.’

Bicoastal television producer and writer Stefani Deoul goes where her talent is needed – the East Coast where she lives near New York, the West Coast and Canada writing and producing for television. Her first novel was THE CAROUSEL, then ON A LARP, the first Sid Rubin Silicon Alley Adventure, and now she offers us the second installment in that very popular series -ZERO SUM GAME - while also continuing writing short stories for numerous publications. She has produced The Dead Zone, Brave New Girl along with being the executive in charge of production for the series Dresden Files and Missing. Stefani is currently in Nova Scotia producing the new series Haven for the SyFy network.

After reading ON A LARP and being introduced to Stefani lesbian teen coder Sid Rubin and noting that that was the opener for a series, we hear more about this fascinating heroine. The book embraces gender inequality, the world of high tech, and on line gaming.

The decades long major gender diversity gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (hopefully everyone has seen HIDDEN FIGURES on film!) shows that by 2020 there will be 1.4 million computer related jobs in the US and women are on track to fill only 3 % of them (this from the well written PR for the book). It is the aim of Sid Rubin a mouthy brilliant high school kid with a strong conscience and a knack for solving problems to alter that prediction. Or as the synopsis poses, the story deals with our high-flying lesbionic brainiac Sid Rubin and her unlikely posse of friends, grounded, with wings clipped from their live-action-role playing misadventures. To break out of parental jail, Sid, Jimmy, Imani, Ari and Vikram enter a school robotics competition. But just as things get interesting, Vik learns that his super-star status and hard-won trophies from the frantic online game Contagion have been stolen. "Tu n'as pas envie avec mes amis. You do not mess with my friends." Watching Vik fall apart, Sid is determined to track down the trophy thief, no matter how much late-night gaming and sleuthing it takes. Sid and the gang join newcomer Ze to chase ghosts and trawl dungeons in a frantic race against time to save not just Vik's bevy of stolen gaming goods, but also the life of a hostage teenage gamer.’

Mix that level of erudite writing with the mystery at hand and Stefani Deoul proves she has started something very important! A fine, bright, entertaining author has arrived and is here to stay

In this second installment, Sid Rubin and friends are grounded by their parents after their adventure in book 1 (On a LARP) capturing a group of criminals at a LARP at the NY Public Library. This book has two plot lines--Sid's determination to help her friend Vikram recover the weapons and treasures he'd amassed playing an online game called Contagion, and Sid and friends' participation in the school's robotics contest.

As with On A LARP, this book is narrated by Sid in first person, present tense with a kind of stream of consciousness style that takes Sid through many related and unrelated thoughts at dizzying speed. The strengths of the book are its characters, good plotting, and the details of a slice of teen life. This is definitely a book for geeky, queer kids or geeky queer adults.

The book is actually a 4.5 for me, but I'm rounding up. Here are my two quibbles: First, as a sequel that seems like it is also supposed to be a standalone, there are a number of references to the LARP without really much explanation. Related to that, as someone who read book 1, I don't really understand why the parents would have reacted so angrily to what the kids' did instead of reacting with concern for their wellbeing. And second, the characterization of the Twincesses (two Chinese twin sisters) felt a bit on the offensive side. Plus, I didn't get the sense that Sid's friend, Ari, was playing matchmaker by explaining the twins' backstory.

Having read the first book I was super excited about getting to read this one. I LOVED it! Pulling you in from the first word. Sid is an amazing protagonist and I feel like I get her on so many levels. The fearsome five are off on another adventure when someone loots Vik's online game. Sid has to correct this faux pas, no one messes with her friends. I feel for Sid, I weep for Sid, I adore Sid and her wit, her forays in love and her ability to try and turn everything around for everyone. It's an amazing story and one I recommend to so many people. Young or old, Deoul's writing is spot on and for everyone to enjoy! Highly recommended!

I consider myself a gamer and a geek but I couldn't really get into the plot with this one as much as I did with the first book. I guess part of it being that in any online game you can get back stolen items pretty easily by contacting support so that part of the plot seemed silly. I found the reading to be a bit cumbersome and tedious with all the technical jargon and info drops about stuff I couldn't really get myself to care about. Sid still is quirky as ever and her group of friends are fun to read about and the way it ended made it seem like there might be a little romance, or at least dating in the next book, so I look forward to that.

Great for young and old! Fast pasced
mystery about friends who are funny and diverse and smart. Loved this book.

Loved all of it... engrossing, fun, smart ~ my kind of book!

A great book!!!! Loved it as much as On A Larp . . . couldn't put it down!

Once again, the proofreading is holding this back from being five stars.