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The Academy Trilogy #1
The Games Heroes Play
NEW LOW PRICE!! In honor of the release of this book's sequel, titled "The Games Villains Play", the price of this book has been dropped from $2.99 to $0.99! Enjoy!Jay was never the star player in gym class. He has never lifted a car, never raced a train, and certainly never read someone’s mind. The closest he has ever come to fighting crime is when he has had to fight an asthma attack. But when the Academy, the world famous school that trains heroes, accepts Jay based on an ability he never knew he had, his whole life begins to change.Jay is whisked away to the Academy to begin classes with a mixture of excitement and fear, hoping he will be able to figure out his ability and keep up in his classes. Jay soon discovers that the problem is not whether he can keep up with the Academy, but whether the Academy can keep up with him. The ability that came so suddenly begins to take on a life of its own, and Jay struggles to understand what is happening to him, while the Academy grows wary, fearing what he might become.
- GenresSuperheroes
137 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 28, 2012
1 person is currently reading
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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May 17, 2013_The Games Heroes Play_ is what you get when you cross _Ender's Game_ with superhero fiction. The protagonist, Jay, is enrolled in an academy for budding super-heroes. The bulk of the book, after the setup and basic world-building, consists of a number of "simulation games" in which teams of students compete against each other in training exercises. Jay, unsurprisingly, turns out to excel at this for reasons revealed at the end, although any reasonably intelligent reader will figure out the reveal before the book is half-finished.
It's a simple but reasonably effective story. For those that like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like.
The book suffers from some editing issues. Verb tense is sometimes mixed up, or an inappropriate tense is chosen. There are typographical errors and occasional homonym substitutions (e.g. "passed" for "past"). The characterization is pitched at a young-adult level at best.
If you're interested in a 'super-powered kid goes to hero school, takes classes and trains, then wacky hijinks ensue' story, this fills the bill, but you should probably read Jacob Gowans' _Psion Beta_ and sequels first. They cover similar territory but are better written and have more sophisticated plot and characterization. That said, I'm still going to read the followup _The Games Villains Play_ to see what happens next.
It's a simple but reasonably effective story. For those that like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like.
The book suffers from some editing issues. Verb tense is sometimes mixed up, or an inappropriate tense is chosen. There are typographical errors and occasional homonym substitutions (e.g. "passed" for "past"). The characterization is pitched at a young-adult level at best.
If you're interested in a 'super-powered kid goes to hero school, takes classes and trains, then wacky hijinks ensue' story, this fills the bill, but you should probably read Jacob Gowans' _Psion Beta_ and sequels first. They cover similar territory but are better written and have more sophisticated plot and characterization. That said, I'm still going to read the followup _The Games Villains Play_ to see what happens next.
July 9, 2013
Don't really understand the Ender's Game comparison with this book. Although there are a few similarities they are only that they both include kids in a school with unusual abilities. Ender's Game had a dark feel to it at times where the main character or characters had killed people, tortured animals or just dealt out death in general. Nothing like that happens in this book or the next one in the series. It was an okay book and I wish it had some of those darker elements that Ender's Game did have but it was still an okay book without them. Not a great book but a good one none the less.
June 10, 2013
This book was incredible. It has a very simple premise and it is a very easy universe to get into. You can definitely feel the influence of books such as "Ender's Game" and the like, but don't let that detract from this book. If you enjoyed those, you'll love this. Its a very inexpensive ebook and a very short read.
September 20, 2013
It's Harry Potter meets Marvel. That's it. This was the feeling I got throughout the book, and I haven't even read Harry Potter. It's so simple, it really is a childrens book. The story is quick, and it doesn't feel finished. I'm not sure if I'll read the next book... but on the other hand, if it's this short... who knows.
July 17, 2014
I'm pretty sure that this book was written for kids - even so, the writing was too simplistic (too much tell not enough show) and I figured out the reveal WAY too far in advance. Also when it finally was revealed, even the characters didn't seem very interested...
All in all, though, not a bad way to spend a coupla hours.
All in all, though, not a bad way to spend a coupla hours.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews