Saving Thanehaven

May 20, 2013
Noble the Slayer fights monsters with help from an ill-tempered, shape-shifting, magical weapon, Smite. Smite has always been with Noble, but how far back does “always” go? One day on the way to rescue a princess, Noble meets a skinny kid named Rufus who questions Noble’s very mission and autonomy. “Let’s just say I’m a freedom lover,” says Rufus. “Power to the people, and all that stuff.” Noble, Rufus explains, is nothing more than the lead character in a first-person “shooter” game, controlled by some distant player. Soon the slightly dimwitted hero abandons Smite and, with Rufus, embarks on a quest to free gaming subroutines everywhere. Joined by a growing retinue of fugitive characters, they jump from game to game, dealing with everything from deadly organic spaceships to Barbie-style dress-up environments, with an efficient antivirus program in a white lab coat hot on their heels. Jinks (The Paradise Trap) serves up a genuinely funny tale, filled with sprightly (or is that spritely?) characters, unpredictable twists, and a veritable roman à clef of half-familiar video-game scenarios. Gamers should adore this book. Ages 10–up.

August 1, 2013

Gr 5-8-Noble's life is one of struggle and battle. He must fight everything he encounters, including the terrain he stands on, in his quest to reach the castle and free the princess. Even his own morphing weapon, Smite, can't be trusted. This all changes when Noble encounters Rufus, whose refreshing independent philosophy offers him a choice to leave behind his life of violent drudgery. Noble's quest is then transformed into one of liberation, as he in turn offers the individuals he encounters on his way the freedom to change their destinies. The only thing is, it turns out that Noble and his band of freedom seekers are in fact characters in computer games-and Rufus is a computer virus sent by the ostracized and disgruntled ex-friend of Mikey, the boy who owns the computer. Eventually Noble realizes that Rufus's only agenda is to force Noble's computer home to crash. With the support of his ragtag bunch of gaming heroes, Noble forces a showdown with Rufus. Jinks creates a hilarious combination of disparate game characters from Noble the Knight to zombies, MyScene-type fashion victims, and Lulu the silver unicorn from a preschool game. Their attempts at cooperation outside their individual game environments provide a very funny background to an overall theme of "is there capacity for independent thought in software and gaming programming?" As in Terry Pratchett's Only You Can Save Mankind (HarperCollins, 2004), readers are left with sympathy for the characters in the games, who are doomed to inevitable extinction as each new level is achieved. Jinks successfully delivers life lessons from gaming, and has a lot of fun along the way.-Jane Barrer, United Nations International School, New York City

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2013
Grades 5-8 Long-suffering hero Noble is squelching through a carnivorous swamp on his way to rescue the princess or die trying, until he meets Rufus, an out-of-place kid who suggests that Noble's life sucks. Noble privately agrees, but what else can he do? Stop? Well, yes: Rufus explains that Noble is trapped inside a computer game, and unless he takes back his autonomy from the players controlling him, he will never be free. Electrified by this revolutionary idea, Noble joins Rufus on a new quest to free others from this tyrannical system. As they travel within the computer, their subversive influence grows, but when the system fails, it looks more like chaos than freedom. Jinks cleverly reinterprets the inner workings of our familiar devices to create a believable computer world, though tech-savvy readers will appreciate it the most. Clues to Rufus' true identity as a virus and what's happening outside the computer are easily found, and the ultimate messagethat following rules and thinking autonomously are not mutually exclusivedoesn't feel didactic. This is a no-brainer for gamers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

October 7, 2013
Saving Thanehaven has possibly the strangest premise of any recent teen book: the protagonists are characters in computer games. The antagonist is a virus named Rufus, set out to sow seeds of dissent among previously content programs, dragging them into a world where they can make their own decisions. But there is a price to pay for this newfound independence, as Noble, of the game Thanehaven, is discovering. To save Thanehaven and the very computer on which many lives (or programs) depend, Noble will have to rise above his role in the game and the lies he has been fed by Rufus, and begin to make his own way. There is surprising emotional depth to Saving Thanehaven, with Noble’s growth from a being whose existence is dictated by others to a strong-minded and independent hero at its heart. The personification of the inner workings of a computer is a sheer delight to read, and while it takes some suspension of belief to settle into this story, it is certainly worth it for this quirky twist on the classic quest tale. This book is recommended for readers aged 10-14.

Meg Whelan is the children’s buyer at the Hill of Content bookshop in Melbourne