Endgame- The Calling

By: James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton
Location: FIC FRE
Genre: Hmm controversial! Hunger Games revisited maybe- or maybe not!
Series: Endgame #1

Play.
Survive.
Solve.
People of Earth.Endgame has begun.

This book has caused a stir for all the wrong reasons! The author James Frey wrote A Million Little Pieces - a his life memoir except he was not totally truthful - he zupped it up a lot and he duped Oprah Winfrey about its legitimacy- bad move. He has been vilified!

Now the name James Frey is tainted, so what did he do? He launched a book packaging company specializing in young adult fiction.  Book-packaging (or book producing) is a publishing activity in which a publishing company outsources the myriad tasks involved in putting together a book—writing, researching, editing, illustrating, and even printing—to an outside company called a book-packaging company.

So Pitticus Lore and the I am Number Four series is from James Frey Company Full Fathom Five, so is the Dorothy series. Apparently Full Fathom Five does not treat the authors that contribute to the production of the book very well at all and many people boycott what they publish.

Now in this book he is being accused of copying the plot of the Hunger Games, many are unforgiving, but others rate it. One thing I noted as I looked over what Goodreads reviewers wrote is that  foreign language readers who perhaps don't know the controversy and read it as a book to enjoy rated it highly, those with a colored perspective due to what is around Frey- rated it badly.
So perhaps the book is good after all- 

Twelve teenagers around the world have been training for this day their entire life. On this day not only will there world shatter but the physical world will begin to crumble as well. They are called into action by twelve meteorite attacks that send them to China for their first clue. From these clues, they have to piece together where the first of three keys are located and obtain that key. Though they are teenagers, they are from lineage that has been in existence since the beginning of time. Solving the clue means encountering each other, but only one can win this Endgame. Hidden within the book are clues layered into the text; some of which will take you to the Internet, the real world, social media and into your own mind. If you, the reader, can solve the puzzle, you will be lead to a location with a hidden key that will unlock a case full of gold coins. 
Endgame is like The Hunger Games (Collins, Scholastic, 2008) on steroids. It is much more of a violent book since these teens are warriors that have been trained since birth to fight and kill. Fray tells the story from each of the teens point of view, which can make the story a little disjointed if you aren’t paying attention to who is speaking at that moment. As you get further into the book, the teens personalities come out and it’s easier to tell the points of view apart. Brandi

Endgame is the puzzle of life, the reason for death. It holds the origin of all things, and the solution to the end of all things.