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A review by missprint_
Deadly Pink by Vivian Vande Velde
3.0
When Grace's mother pulls her out of class Grace knows something is wrong. What she never would have guessed is that it's Grace's smart, talented, generally better sister Emily who is in trouble.
After working at Rassmussem as a game programmer for college credit, Emily has inexplicably decided to go into the game she was building. According to the note she left behind, Emily doesn't plan to come out. Ever.
With time running out before the immersive reality game equipment does permanent damage to Emily, Rassmussem is running out of options to get Emily out of a game she clearly doesn't want to leave. They hope Grace might be able to help.
But inside the game is nothing Grace expected. Her sister has taken refuge inside a game designed for little girls complete with frilly dresses and unicorns. Worse Emily wants nothing to do with Grace and she definitely doesn't want to leave.
Grace always considered herself the average sister compared to Emily. But with her sister in real danger, this average girl will have to think her way out of this problem before it's too late in Deadly Pink (2012) by Vivian Vande Velde.
Deadly Pink is Vande Velde's third novel featuring Rassmussem games with the first and second being Heir Apparent and User Unfriendly respectively.
Fourteen-year-old Grace is an authentic narrator with equal parts sarcasm and (especially later in the novel) ingenuity. While the game itself is not the most interesting, or well-developed, setting Vande Velde does an excellent job presenting Grace's complicated relationship with her older sister.
Unlike Heir Apparent the focus of this book is more on the characters than the game play. With most of the non-playing characters playing minor roles in the plot, most of the story deals with Grace trying to convince Emily to leave the game.
While both sisters are well-rounded characters, the lack of setting and secondary characters for the majority of the novel is a major weakness. The game is never explained to Grace or the reader giving the effect of Grace running blindly through the game with little understanding of where she is supposed to go or how she is going to save Emily. Grace's constant plodding through the game while never asking advice from anyone makes for a plodding plot that drags.
The story picks up in the last third of Deadly Pink as Grace comes into her own. Finally embracing her strengths andalso using the limitations of the game's play to her own advantage, Grace proves at last that she is a heroine worth reading about. If the entire book had been like this small part, it would have been a definite winner.
Unfortunately the story falters once again with a rushed ending to explain Emily's motivations to go into the game as well as a hurried explanation of what happens after the game is over.
If there are more Rassmussem stories to be told, one can only hope they will return to the style of Vande Velde's earlier novels.
Possible Pairings: Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci, Dramacon by Svetlana Chmakova, Alter Ego by Robbie Cooper, Missing Abby by Lee Weatherly
After working at Rassmussem as a game programmer for college credit, Emily has inexplicably decided to go into the game she was building. According to the note she left behind, Emily doesn't plan to come out. Ever.
With time running out before the immersive reality game equipment does permanent damage to Emily, Rassmussem is running out of options to get Emily out of a game she clearly doesn't want to leave. They hope Grace might be able to help.
But inside the game is nothing Grace expected. Her sister has taken refuge inside a game designed for little girls complete with frilly dresses and unicorns. Worse Emily wants nothing to do with Grace and she definitely doesn't want to leave.
Grace always considered herself the average sister compared to Emily. But with her sister in real danger, this average girl will have to think her way out of this problem before it's too late in Deadly Pink (2012) by Vivian Vande Velde.
Deadly Pink is Vande Velde's third novel featuring Rassmussem games with the first and second being Heir Apparent and User Unfriendly respectively.
Fourteen-year-old Grace is an authentic narrator with equal parts sarcasm and (especially later in the novel) ingenuity. While the game itself is not the most interesting, or well-developed, setting Vande Velde does an excellent job presenting Grace's complicated relationship with her older sister.
Unlike Heir Apparent the focus of this book is more on the characters than the game play. With most of the non-playing characters playing minor roles in the plot, most of the story deals with Grace trying to convince Emily to leave the game.
While both sisters are well-rounded characters, the lack of setting and secondary characters for the majority of the novel is a major weakness. The game is never explained to Grace or the reader giving the effect of Grace running blindly through the game with little understanding of where she is supposed to go or how she is going to save Emily. Grace's constant plodding through the game while never asking advice from anyone makes for a plodding plot that drags.
The story picks up in the last third of Deadly Pink as Grace comes into her own. Finally embracing her strengths andalso using the limitations of the game's play to her own advantage, Grace proves at last that she is a heroine worth reading about. If the entire book had been like this small part, it would have been a definite winner.
Unfortunately the story falters once again with a rushed ending to explain Emily's motivations to go into the game as well as a hurried explanation of what happens after the game is over.
If there are more Rassmussem stories to be told, one can only hope they will return to the style of Vande Velde's earlier novels.
Possible Pairings: Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci, Dramacon by Svetlana Chmakova, Alter Ego by Robbie Cooper, Missing Abby by Lee Weatherly