Seven Players by Adam Wodyk

Set in a horrific dystopia where mutant scum with telepathic weapons manipulate those few unlucky survivors of the Extinction, Seven Players by Adam Wodyk is a head-spinning dive into humanity’s dark future. Shifting traditional perspectives and twisting narrative rules, the book plunges readers into a wholly inventive, but daunting world – the “acting dreams” of the main character, Max, who is little more than a psychological puppet for the entertainment of the Emperial masses. While the exposition is occasionally clumsy, and some narration is overly explicit, this cerebral slice of dystopian fiction is boundlessly creative and entirely unique, which more than makes up for the rougher edges.