Review Detail

The first thing that drew me into this book was the premise. It sounded a bit like Jumanji what with the board game adventure and all. It turned out quite similar to that, but much darker. I was impressed with the story line itself, but sadly, everything else was a bit unremarkable.

The characters weren't all that memorable. Gregory was sadly pretty flat for a main character. He was all about being the "easy-going funny guy" and that was basically the end of his personality. Brian seemed to mostly be the "shy-unassuming-best-friend" but he had some shiny moments and if you look for it, you can even detect some growth. I was actually most impressed by one of the secondary characters most. (I would tell you who he is, but that would be a spoiler.) It's a little sad when a secondary character can outshine a main character.

I have to say though, I was pretty surprised by the ending. Maybe I should have seen it coming, but I really didn't. A surprise ending is usually a plus (as was in this case.) I found the writing to be a bit awkward to begin with, but I settled into it after a while.

Final thoughts: Overall it was unremarkable, but not bad. The story would be good for a MG reader, but the writing may be a bit hard for them to get used to.