Girl Gone Viral by Arvin Ahmadi

Synopsis (via Goodreads): For seventeen-year-old Opal Hopper, code is magic. She builds entire worlds from scratch: Mars craters, shimmering lakes, any virtual experience her heart desires.

But she can't code her dad back into her life. When he disappeared after her tenth birthday, leaving only a cryptic note, Opal tried desperately to find him. And when he never turned up, she enrolled at a boarding school for technical prodigies and tried to forget.

Until now. Because WAVE, the world's biggest virtual reality platform, has announced a contest where the winner gets to meet its billionaire founder. The same billionaire who worked closely with Opal's dad. The one she always believed might know where he went. The one who maybe even murdered him.

What begins as a small data hack to win the contest spirals out of control when Opal goes viral, digging her deeper into a hole of lies, hacks, and manipulation. How far will Opal go for the answers--or is it the attention--she's wanted for years?

"Fairness is a rubber band, and the longer you stretch it--the more you rely on its elasticity--the more it stings when it snaps."

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

I really dislike it when books end without actually ending. Girl Gone Viral would have received a higher rating from me, if something had been resolved at its conclusion. We spend the entire book with Opal, a girl that has struggled with the disappearance of her father, as she tries to fight for answers. However, once she learns the truth, the story just stops. I wanted to know what she did with that information, and how it impacted what the world thought to be true.

Opal set a lot of things in motion, and she was a catalyst for world's current political upheaval. She inadvertently made people acknowledge a truth they were afraid to admit to themselves. It has the world hurdling down a dangerous path, but the story stops before we see the consequences of her actions. Again.

I really liked the scientific aspect of the story, and it was never too hard to follow. Although, there were some jokes and references that went over my head. I understood that they were being funny, and that's all that really mattered. It was also interesting to see how the world could potentially function with advanced technology. What would a world look like if robots were our doctors, drivers, and police force? What if we took bias and emotion out of the equation? I'm sure that it would be beneficial in some scenarios, but it's also a little scary in others. Empathy is a large part of what makes us human, and it's not really possible for a robot to perceive the world in the same way.

I enjoyed Arvin Ahmadi's writing, and really liked reading this book, but I feel like he set me up for disappointment. I was really invested in the mystery surrounding Opal's father and his disappearance, and thought there would have been more resolution at the end. When she finally gets answers, the information doesn't fall perfectly into place. There were still jagged holes that never get addressed.

Also, I felt like the author made a really big deal about her college admissions essay, but then it stopped being important. She was having a lot of trouble with the prompt, and even missed getting her application in for early consideration. A few months later, Moyo brings up her application (because even he knows that she hasn't been able to finish it), and she tells him that it's already been completed and submitted. When did that happen? It felt like a really big deal, and then it wasn't.

Another issue I had was the author's use of real late night talk show hosts. I'm very familiar with most of them, and his versions didn't really match up with the personalities I've experienced for myself. It's also supposed to be set in the future, and it felt weird to have Jimmy Fallon and James Corden mentioned throughout the book. Seth Meyers played an even larger role, and it just felt wrong somehow. I wish the author had created his own late night talk show hosts, and feel like it would have made the story more believable.

Opal is a very self-absorbed and unapologetically selfish character, but I still enjoyed reading the book from her perspective. She's intelligent and driven, but easy to manipulate and quick to throw her friends under the bus. I dislike people that are willing to use their friends to further their personal goals, and would have liked a more considerate and thoughtful Opal. Moyo is their moral compass, but no one listens to him, and he easily succumbs to peer pressure. Shane is the wild card of their group, and it's clear that he's struggling with more than we're shown. I have no idea why they were friends, when it was clear Opal was self-serving, Moyo wanted to live without sacrificing his beliefs, and Shane had more issues than he was willing to share with everyone else.

Girl Gone Viral was a quick read that left me feeling mostly disappointed. There is very little resolution at the end, and the characters were unlikable and only show what's on the surface. I would have liked for the author to expand more on the characters, and the mystery surrounding Opal's father. Also, Opal has a nonexistent relationship with her mother that wasn't fully explained, especially since her mother wanted to be a part of her daughter's life. Opal's causal cruelty was unwarranted, and I wish she had been a more relatable character.

Other things worth mentioning: There's an unnecessary romance and something that resembles a love triangle. Opal should have stood up for herself and her friends. There were very few adults in this book (even though it takes place on a school campus), and the few that were mentioned were creepy as hell.