I originally gave this 4 stars but the more I think about this book, the more questions I have. Looking back, it definitely comes off as an author self-insert fantasy, though it does have awesome concepts. The gaming universe and the thrill of the chase is very well done; it was hard for me to put the book down at points. But the second half of it became tedious and beyond my stretch of the imagination. There's a point where you can suspend disbelief, but it has its limits, and this book went beyond it. 
 Strong female character: eh? sure? he tried. (view spoiler)[Eventually the character she could have been dies and becomes a fawning fangirl carbon copy of the Dream Girl archetype. (hide spoiler)] 
 POC representation: sure; again, he tried. Japanese and Black American characters put in just for the sake of having them there really kills character development. (view spoiler)[The Japanese characters became stereotypes and essentially unimportant to the story when they could have benefited it so much more. (hide spoiler)] 
 It was a good book in the moment, but looking back on it just makes me disappointed.