Review Detail

Two things make this book perfect for me: a game of life and death and teams or groups with distinct characters, personalities, and skills in RPG style.

In Pia's world of islands, games are happening all the time and they may threaten the lives of people in many ways. Those who constantly lose are exiled to another island as pawns and stripped of rights. To save her grandfather from this fate, Pia must take a chance at the most dangerous and famous game with others who also have someone to protect or a goal. It's not only about winning, but about changing society, rewriting history, saving their people, and unmasking the corrupted villains.

I couldn't put the book down. This is an author new to me and now I want to read all of her works. The games are exciting, creative, fun, and appropriate for young middle-grade readers but also with enough action to please an older audience. When I finished the book I wanted more, not because it was insufficient but because I wanted to return to this world and see what the characters could do next. This is probably one I would reread for the thrill of the games.

An exciting "trials" read that will please those who are not only gamers because it has great lessons of honor, friendship, respect, team play, family values, wanting to protect others, a sense of community, honesty, trust, defeating corruption, giving people choices, freedom and returning happiness to something that history turned into a death sentence: joy for playing with another without stakes.