Review Detail

ESCAPE ROOM: GAME ZERO is a thrilling continuation to a high-stakes middle grade sci-fi series! This book follows Eden who enters The Escape, an immerse escape room. She found and decoded clues from Ami, who was the main character in the first book. Once in the game, it has video game vibes, and when Eden meets Ted, he is sure she must be a nonplayable character, which adds it own challenges. The puzzles in this one are necessary to save the world, and as they play and the stakes get higher, the puzzles become more challenging too.

What I loved: This is another twisty installment in a thrilling puzzle-based series. The book contains a lot of puzzles and mind-bending games that must be solved, and the reader can enjoy doing this along with the characters. The story has some extra intensity with Eden being thrust into the middle of it, able to be injured with high stakes for herself, especially as she begins losing her grip on what is real or not.

Eden is a compelling character that readers will relate to, as they can imagine how they would feel in these circumstances. With the story being told from her perspective, it makes the stakes and intensity feel higher for the reader. That being said, it never gets too intense and works well for the middle grade audience.

My 8yo loved this one and could not put it down! It works well for younger middle grade readers with the quick plot, compelling characters, and solid puzzles - as well as the slightly larger print and short chapters. While this could be read on its own, I think it does help to have read the first one and understand the lore of The Escape, as well as Ami and Oscar, who appear in this one.

What left me wanting more: As a small thing, Ted could sometimes be a bit obnoxious and make things too easy with his headset, so it did not feel like the puzzles were as challenging as they should be. This did add extra challenges for Eden and made for some additional complexity though. As another small thing, for fans of the first book, this almost felt like a spinoff instead of a continuation, which some readers may appreciate more than others.

Final verdict: ESCAPE ROOM: GAME ZERO is a fun sci-fi middle grade read, great for readers who love challenging puzzles and thrilling mysteries.