Article contributed by Erin Fagan
What would you do if your entire world has changed, and you are the only one to remember how it should be? From the bestselling author of the Scythe series, Neal Shusterman, comes Game Changer, a new novel about being the center of the universe and how our limited points of view and biases influence the worlds around us. Blending sci-fi elements of universe hopping, philosophical conversations, and dystopian yet uncomfortably similar worlds, Game Changer tackles a lot of difficult themes head-on.
Ash is a white teenage boy that would like to think that he is a good person. He has a diverse group of friends that “checks off his box of social responsibility”, he is a football star, and he thinks that he understands his privilege enough to go to protests but not enough to call out other guys on his team that make racist jokes. With one hit on the football field though, life begins to look a little different. At first, stop signs are blue, and he is the only one who can remember that they should be red. But the next time Ash is hit on the field, he enters a world where his father is suddenly rich and he is a drug dealer. And then in the next universe, segregation is legal. The people in his life begin to act differently, influenced by the changes, and even Ash begins to battle with his new identities. As he continues to fall into different dimensions that distort his world more and more, he must figure out how to get back to his original world before he loses himself and everyone he cares about.
The novel is fast-paced and I was very engaged throughout the entire story, wondering how each universe could change what we already know. With only a few pages to set up the world, Ash starts falling into dimensions right away, pulling us in with him right away because the book has a lot to cover. Shusterman’s use of jumping through dimensions was well thought out, and the sci-fi details and reimagining of the parallel universe trope and concepts of history being connected in surprising ways were captivating. Ash is guided by multidimensional beings, which Ash calls the Edwards, that multiply after each universe jump. They are delightfully chaotic as they attempt to guide Ash through this massive experience, and they not only provide rich background and context, but each of their motivations is complex and engaging.
The entire premise is very innovative and timely, even touching on events of 2020. It was fascinating to see how one event changing in history can create massive ripple effects, both in the social structure of the world and personally in Ash’s life. It could be uncomfortable at times, and opens up a lot of conversations worth having on subjects like racism, sexism, homophobia, and abuse. Ash pauses his narration once and awhile with philosophical monologues and questions for us readers to think about. This choice opens up the conversation further and builds up tension for what was to come but also comes across as a bit preachy. However, even though the messages were a bit heavy-handed and given right to us, I find myself still reflecting on everything the book tackles, and can safely say that it left a strong impression. It was a very ambitious feat that was clearly written with care over a long period of time, which Shusterman himself explains in a letter to the reader on the first page of the novel. He mentions that he hopes that the book can aid with healing and empathy and in many ways, he succeeded in putting Ash in some incredibly difficult and uncomfortable positions.
Ash’s point of view is extremely limiting, but this narration style just emphasises how much he could never understand. He tries to make it clear that he is not a hero and is just trying to fix the worlds because he feels responsible for breaking them. He is apologetic as he recounts his tale and emphasises how the situation is much bigger than his own actions, even as he literally becomes the center of the universe. It often feels like he is still trying to process his experience by explaining it to us the reader to encourage us to make the world better, to learn from his mistakes.
The other characters, especially his friends Leo and Katie were very likeable and had so much potential but sometimes became reduced down to their position in the world, as either a Black best friend or a white woman that can’t get out of a toxic relationship. Although the narration hints at a lot more happening in their lives that we wouldn’t see through Ash’s eyes, sometimes they just felt like tools to show how Ash doesn’t understand racism, sexism, abuse, and homophobia. Ash experiences the majority of moments of liberation and development but it would have been more powerful to see his friends have a bit more agency and moments of power.
Overall, I think that it is a well-intentioned and thought-provoking book that left me wanting more. I do wish though that it had focused on developing the consequences of one or two of the worlds because each topic Ash was getting a crash course in was so huge. I loved the concept and appreciated the message that the book was sharing, but it could have been executed differently. It tried to fit too much in which started to water down the severity of the very real problems. Game Changer is still worth reading and discussing, especially for readers interested in exploring the “what ifs” of distorted realities or tackling difficult conversations through a different lens.
Game Changer is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up Game Changer? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
All it takes is one hit on the football field, and suddenly Ash’s life doesn’t look quite the way he remembers it.
Impossible though it seems, he’s been hit into another dimension—and keeps on bouncing through worlds that are almost-but-not-really his own.
The changes start small, but they quickly spiral out of control as Ash slides into universes where he has everything he’s ever wanted, universes where society is stuck in the past…universes where he finds himself looking at life through entirely different eyes.
And if he isn’t careful, the world he’s learning to see more clearly could blink out of existence…
