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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Meeting your great-uncle for the first time can be intimidating but meeting him as he lay dying in a hospital is downright terrifying for twelve year Ted Gerson. Despite his initial nervousness, Ted ends up having a great conversation about his skill with “escape the room” video games. Shortly after his visit, Ted’s great-uncle passes away and has left a codicil in his will that Ted can have all the “treasure” within his apartment. Recruiting his best friend Caleb and new acquaintance Isabelle to help, the three soon realize that while Ted’s great-uncle was an utter slob, the apartment also holds a sense of mystery…just like a real live room escape game! Looking for clues and solving puzzle after puzzle, meeting people who work for the Monuments Men who reclaim stolen artifacts from World War II and trying to outwit a villainous antique dealer, Ted and friends are constantly on the go in this face-paced adventure. Debut author Markel captures middle school dialogue perfectly and the friendship that builds between gamer nerds Ted and Caleb with new-on-the-scene book nerd Isabelle is funny and genuine. Narrated by the talented Greg Watanabe, character voices are interesting and diverse. This book will have wide appeal for mystery lovers, gamers and even reluctant readers. While the ending is completely far-fetched, readers will enjoying having the story come to conclusion will all clues revealed and even a hint at another novel to continue the adventure.
Highly recommended for grades 5-8.
Highly recommended for grades 5-8.
3.5 stars. Fun mystery for kids who like escape rooms and video games. Recommended for grades 4+.
I honestly never thought I'd give a book a single star but here I am. I give this book a single star because I hated every. single. character in this book, and any appearance of potential that glimmers in this book is quickly expunged. Oftentimes I feel like I'm forced to give two stars because I can see something that could have been made out of it, but in this case I have absolutely nothing. I physically clawed at this book because it infuriated me that much. There were times I actually wanted to tear it apart because it was so teeth-grindingly annoying.
Ted with his Holden Caulfield level perpetual judginess. Having read a lot of children's books recently, I do have to say I am somewhat baffled at adults being unable to write children who aren't infuriating to read as adults but Ted really stands as a shining example of a character archetype I hate. He is the most best at the thing! He has hidden potential! He never has to use a walkthrough because he's so amazing and awesome and perfect but not at reading as is made unendingly, perpetually clear with his interaction with Isabel but it's okay because he's the hero and he's so smart at the thing! He's smart at the video game that requires smarts and not shooty things because he's different and smart! Smarter even than his sister who goes to Harvard, so says his own mother apparently! An emotional conflict that could be interesting if it's handled remotely with any sort of depth or understanding beyond a lip service to "I feel bad because she set a standard my parents don't feel I can reach and it's terrible woe is me." No feelings of "she is my sister and I love her and these feelings of inadequacy are unfun but unavoidable". No, nothing as interesting as that. And as he treats Isabel like some sort of freak alien who doesn't understand games, he sits there pettily grieving over her snobbiness over books.
And let's TALK about Isabel, shall we? I have read another video game themed book this year, the [b: Memory Wall|7696504|Memory Wall|Anthony Doerr|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327935430s/7696504.jpg|10379359] by Rosen which I liked infinitely better, and one of the things I liked about it was that it introduced female characters that weren't totally ignorant to the topic of video games - an aspect I rather enjoy being a woman who has loved video games for a very, very long time. Considering that Isabel is the ONLY girl in this book, and of ALL the THREE FEMALE CHARACTERS OF THIS BOOK, she is forced to be the representative of her gender. And I simply won't take excuses for this. If claiming that just because Isabel doesn't like games doesn't mean that girls as a whole don't is a weak argument when there are zero other girls interacted with, and no where is it mentioned that Isabel might not be a singular case. She's a miserable girl stereotype, weird cleanliness and bookishness and all. None of her quirks explained, just a stereotype through and through. At the very end of the book we get a sentence about her backstory, her life in her previous school - and that is ALL????????? I got to that sentence in the epilogue and I was furious. This book repeatedly acts like talking briefly about a difficult THING is the same thing as depth and it just goddamn isn't. And nothing about Ted's initial assessment about Isabel turns out to be incorrect with is just the worst, most lazy writing, and I hated it because not only did her character not prove to be more interesting than she presented herself to be, which is how usually this happens, it means that Ted was right again because he's so smart and apparently likes to analyze people! Was I supposed to grow affectionate to her incessant "look at me" quoting? Was I supposed to be impressed by her ability to remember a Bible passage? The thing is, YES, I was, and yet I know that the author most likely had to look it up to make his character look smart for stupid fake reasons.
There's little be said for Caleb. He's sidekick model Type 23, and like most characters in this book, gets his little lip-service to "life sometimes has difficult things" in regards to his father's divorce that is then hardly ever brought up nor used as a part of his character. A character to have some funny quips and stand in perpetual awe of the main character and be his best friend, a la Ron Weasley and also every single most boring archetype sidekick ever in the history of ever.
Ted's parents are also pretty awful. In-universe they're just terrible parents, who condescend and talk down to their own child. As characters in a book, they're not dissimilar in places to Isabel, especially the father, who apparently thinks its okay to criticize his wife for her preferred reading. At no point does anyone call him out for the elitist BS it is. As a bookseller? As a person? As someone who listens to what everyone reads, people who judge other people for the type of books they read (OR, one of my bigger pet peeves is readers acting snobby at people who don't like/enjoy/can't read for pleasure which, you're in luck, there's also plenty of THAT in this book) can honestly just shut the hell up, and that's exactly what I was yelling at this book whenever he opened his mouth.
Speaking of which, this book is incredibly elitist. It only takes the best of the best, and doesn't seem aware of its own faults in that respect. There's just absolutely no middle ground in this book, and when it grounds itself in OUR reality with OUR history, I'm afraid it just doesn't slide. There's no learning from mistakes and because of that, there's no growth. The book ultimately ends with nothing having changed fundamentally. No one is older, more knowledgeable, more experienced. They solved the puzzle but whatever, we knew Ted would, because he can SOLVE ALL THE PUZZLES THE BEST AND THE MOST FASTEST BECAUSE HE'S THE MOST AMAZING.
Ted with his Holden Caulfield level perpetual judginess. Having read a lot of children's books recently, I do have to say I am somewhat baffled at adults being unable to write children who aren't infuriating to read as adults but Ted really stands as a shining example of a character archetype I hate. He is the most best at the thing! He has hidden potential! He never has to use a walkthrough because he's so amazing and awesome and perfect but not at reading as is made unendingly, perpetually clear with his interaction with Isabel but it's okay because he's the hero and he's so smart at the thing! He's smart at the video game that requires smarts and not shooty things because he's different and smart! Smarter even than his sister who goes to Harvard, so says his own mother apparently! An emotional conflict that could be interesting if it's handled remotely with any sort of depth or understanding beyond a lip service to "I feel bad because she set a standard my parents don't feel I can reach and it's terrible woe is me." No feelings of "she is my sister and I love her and these feelings of inadequacy are unfun but unavoidable". No, nothing as interesting as that. And as he treats Isabel like some sort of freak alien who doesn't understand games, he sits there pettily grieving over her snobbiness over books.
And let's TALK about Isabel, shall we? I have read another video game themed book this year, the [b: Memory Wall|7696504|Memory Wall|Anthony Doerr|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327935430s/7696504.jpg|10379359] by Rosen which I liked infinitely better, and one of the things I liked about it was that it introduced female characters that weren't totally ignorant to the topic of video games - an aspect I rather enjoy being a woman who has loved video games for a very, very long time. Considering that Isabel is the ONLY girl in this book, and of ALL the THREE FEMALE CHARACTERS OF THIS BOOK, she is forced to be the representative of her gender. And I simply won't take excuses for this. If claiming that just because Isabel doesn't like games doesn't mean that girls as a whole don't is a weak argument when there are zero other girls interacted with, and no where is it mentioned that Isabel might not be a singular case. She's a miserable girl stereotype, weird cleanliness and bookishness and all. None of her quirks explained, just a stereotype through and through. At the very end of the book we get a sentence about her backstory, her life in her previous school - and that is ALL????????? I got to that sentence in the epilogue and I was furious. This book repeatedly acts like talking briefly about a difficult THING is the same thing as depth and it just goddamn isn't. And nothing about Ted's initial assessment about Isabel turns out to be incorrect with is just the worst, most lazy writing, and I hated it because not only did her character not prove to be more interesting than she presented herself to be, which is how usually this happens, it means that Ted was right again because he's so smart and apparently likes to analyze people! Was I supposed to grow affectionate to her incessant "look at me" quoting? Was I supposed to be impressed by her ability to remember a Bible passage? The thing is, YES, I was, and yet I know that the author most likely had to look it up to make his character look smart for stupid fake reasons.
There's little be said for Caleb. He's sidekick model Type 23, and like most characters in this book, gets his little lip-service to "life sometimes has difficult things" in regards to his father's divorce that is then hardly ever brought up nor used as a part of his character. A character to have some funny quips and stand in perpetual awe of the main character and be his best friend, a la Ron Weasley and also every single most boring archetype sidekick ever in the history of ever.
Ted's parents are also pretty awful. In-universe they're just terrible parents, who condescend and talk down to their own child. As characters in a book, they're not dissimilar in places to Isabel, especially the father, who apparently thinks its okay to criticize his wife for her preferred reading. At no point does anyone call him out for the elitist BS it is. As a bookseller? As a person? As someone who listens to what everyone reads, people who judge other people for the type of books they read (OR, one of my bigger pet peeves is readers acting snobby at people who don't like/enjoy/can't read for pleasure which, you're in luck, there's also plenty of THAT in this book) can honestly just shut the hell up, and that's exactly what I was yelling at this book whenever he opened his mouth.
Speaking of which, this book is incredibly elitist. It only takes the best of the best, and doesn't seem aware of its own faults in that respect. There's just absolutely no middle ground in this book, and when it grounds itself in OUR reality with OUR history, I'm afraid it just doesn't slide. There's no learning from mistakes and because of that, there's no growth. The book ultimately ends with nothing having changed fundamentally. No one is older, more knowledgeable, more experienced. They solved the puzzle but whatever, we knew Ted would, because he can SOLVE ALL THE PUZZLES THE BEST AND THE MOST FASTEST BECAUSE HE'S THE MOST AMAZING.
This book was a major disappointment. It played on soooooooo many stereotypes, about women, about Japanese people, about intellectuals. I strongly disliked how Ted and Caleb treated Isabelle for the majority of the novel. Even Ron and Harry weren't that mean to Hermione for being smart in the first Harry Potter book. I didn't like that Ted was billed as this super-genius, who didn't know how smart he was, surrounded by very smart women who were somehow obnoxious for being smart enough to show Ted up, and yet still not as smart as Ted himself.
By about half-way through the book, I just wanted it to be over. I only finished it to find out how the mystery resolved, and even that fell flat. I'm not sure if hospitals are run differently in California than they are in other states, but several of the plot points crucial to Ted obtaining clues did not seem even remotely plausible given my own extensive experience with hospitals
I sadly will not be recommending this book to any of my young patrons.
By about half-way through the book, I just wanted it to be over. I only finished it to find out how the mystery resolved, and even that fell flat. I'm not sure if hospitals are run differently in California than they are in other states, but several of the plot points crucial to Ted obtaining clues did not seem even remotely plausible given my own extensive experience with hospitals
Spoiler
(the cameras inside patient rooms is a gross violation of privacy that I can't imagine any patient would actually agree to, revealing a patient's name and which room they are staying in is a HIPA violation that could lead to the loss of a medical professional's license. As the child of a medical professional, I have visited quite a few hospitals and hospice facilities in a number of states from Illinois to Hawaii, and not one of them-ICU and CCU floors included-required a visitor to sign in or out. That is certainly not normal procedure for general visitors upon entering the main entrance of a hospital. That wouldn't even be practical, since most hospitals have doctor's offices in them and people coming in and out all day.).I sadly will not be recommending this book to any of my young patrons.
I've only completed one escape room but it was familiar enough that it was a lot of fun to read about these kids figuring the clues out. This would be a fun read aloud, which is what it was intended for in the BYL reading crate "Reader Player One." I think I'll suggest my husband read it with our daughter who's 7.5 yr.
A great read-aloud with my 10 year old son. We both enjoyed. Highly recommend.
This was a really fun little adventure. It wasn't exactly like I expected just based off of what it was compared to, but it didn't really matter. This is a great read for young people, especially ones that enjoy gaming. And there's some good references to classic video games for us older readers who still love books for young'uns. Really good mystery and definitely a page turner.