By Jeanne Ryan

Are you a Watcher or Player?

Before I read this book, I would have said that I would be a player if NERVE existed. I would know the risks of being a Player-doing dares that you wouldn’t normally do, unless, of course, there were some eye-opening prizes for them. I would know the dares would become life-threatening, if I had actually played, but I thought I could’ve handled them if I really had to. Just like Vee, the main character did. And just like her, I would regret choosing to be a Player even though my life is not on the line.

NERVE is like truth or dare, except for the “truth” part. To me, that sounds a bit sketchy. Anyway, if you do the dares that the NERVE asks you to do, you get a prize. Of course, the dares become a lot risky and harder as Vee, a shy behind-the-scenes girl who decides to do something out of her profile, and Ian, a hot, charming guy who craves for freedom from his home, continues to play. They always thought they could back out whenever they wanted-until they couldn’t.

I had a high expectation for the book, because I’ve waited for the movie to come out for months. And I didn’t know it was originally a book until I grabbed the last one on the shelf at Target last Saturday. I was so thrilled to read the book because I wanted to know how a story like Nerve can fit into hundreds of pages? Will it be boring?

The book met my expectation. I finished the book in exactly four days and I couldn’t put it down once. Each page drew me farther into the world of NERVE. I felt like I was with Vee and Ian the entire time, cheering them on to make right decisions. However, even though Jeanne Ryan, the author of the book, did an awesome job of creating such a relatable story to teenagers into words, I thought her writing was difficult to understand or hard to make out. Compared to Paula Hawkins (the author of The Girl on the Train), Ryan didn’t provide me with enough tension. But I guess that’s why I went through the book like lightening, because now I am used to reading more advanced novels.

The ending of the book was quite predictable, however, the plot was not. I cannot explain in words how dangerous it is to be obsessed with such a thing as NERVE, or any kind of game or anything that pulls us away from reality. Nerve taught me a lesson that I will never forget as a teenager and a young adult. It taught me that losing control of myself and letting other people decide my life for me may lead to multiple deaths, and I wouldn’t realize that until it’s too late to turn back. On the cover, Nerve looks like just another mystery or fantasy book, but if you just wait until the very end of the book…it will shift your life forever because it will remind you what the real world feels like. How relationships can be broken by money and prizes. Most importantly, it will remind you that sometimes people will do anything, ANYTHING, to get what they want. Even if that means harming others.

And so does the game NERVE. In our reality, it goes by the name “Pokémon Go.” When I first heard about the game, I didn’t even bother to look up at the App Store. I was never into games that much, a huge thanks to my dad. And when I started to hear stories about car accidents and all these problems with Pokémon Go, I thought it was the stupidest thing ever. Crashing in the middle of a freeway just because the driver was trying to find Pikachu? No way. NOT ACCEPTABLE. Putting other people in danger just because of a game is a crime. Vee and Ian had to humiliate some people, including strangers and friends, to win what they wanted. They never hurt them physically, but the invisible marks that they left on those people would never go away.

Are all the prizes worthy of ruining other people’s lives and most of all, ruining their own? I don’t think so. Nothing is worth risking your own life for a desire. Yes, money is a powerful thing and it is what controls the real world, but it is not everything. There are some things that you cannot buy with money: Friends. Family. Love. Happiness. That’s why just because you are rich, that doesn’t mean you will be happy.