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A review by declaired
The Game by Monica Hughes
4.0
I read "Invitation to the Game" in the 6th grade with it's super cheese scifi headset cover, and it has stuck with me for years as a smart middle grade/ya science fiction book (with a female protag!) that packs a lot of story into a short amount of pages.
Reading now, as a young 20-something, I can see how flat the characters are (there are 10, and I can remember about 5 reliably) and how..well..straight it is, with literally everyone married in the epilogue. In some ways it's not a very radical book at all.
It's one of those science fiction books that is itself a little afraid of technology and what it will do to the world, but it produces a lot of lovely images and scenes, and some meaningful social commentary. and it is well written, and paced well, and the character motivations (while usually simple) are sensible, as is the world. (At least, not enough to question it in the book). it's smart and fun.
also the motherly artsy character's name is Scylla and that's beautiful.
Reading now, as a young 20-something, I can see how flat the characters are (there are 10, and I can remember about 5 reliably) and how..well..straight it is, with literally everyone married in the epilogue. In some ways it's not a very radical book at all.
It's one of those science fiction books that is itself a little afraid of technology and what it will do to the world, but it produces a lot of lovely images and scenes, and some meaningful social commentary. and it is well written, and paced well, and the character motivations (while usually simple) are sensible, as is the world. (At least, not enough to question it in the book). it's smart and fun.
also the motherly artsy character's name is Scylla and that's beautiful.