Invitation to the Game - Softcover

Monica Hughes; Monica CHughes

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749709537 ISBN 13: 9780749709532

Publisher: Harper Collins, 1992

Synopsis

It’s the year 2154. Lisse and her friends have been deemed unemployable in the eyes of society. Now they must scavenge the disintegrating city for food and shelter just to make ends meet.

But their dismal existence starts to look up when Lisse and her friends are invited to participate in the Game, an experience highly regarded in their society. The Game is a virtual reality in which they are challenged to survive. But as they spend more time in the Game, the line between reality and fantasy starts to blur. What started as a simple exercise quickly becomes a test of endurance, trust and their will to live.

About this title

About the Author

MONICA HUGHES was the author of over thirty-five books. She received numerous literary awards, including, in 1982 and 1983, the Governor General’s Award (then known as the Canada Council Prize) for Children’s Literature. In 2002 Monica was made a member of the Order of Canada. She passed away in March 2003.

From Kirkus Reviews

The choice for high-school graduates in 2154: to live on the dole or become colonists. Lisse and her friends are bright, caring young people, but there are no jobs. Thrown together by a computer, they forge a fortress from an abandoned warehouse and learn to live with one another, avoiding the streets' drugs and hedonism. Suddenly, there comes an invitation to the Game: shared computer-induced experiences in a wild, virgin wilderness. Always, when injury threatens, the computer pulls them back--until the last time, when they discover that they have actually emigrated to another part of the galaxy. Using their individual and group skills, they start to conquer the new planet, ultimately meeting and intermarrying with other groups of colonists. Hughes, a facile, experienced writer, knows how to keep a story moving. She conveys a real sense of social threat; the reader cares about the group's small victories over the mean streets. Unfortunately, she telegraphs her punches: the new planet may astonish the characters, but it won't surprise the reader. The details of environment and skills to cope with it are adroitly done; but the hard technology--e.g., computer-induced reality and painless, undetected transport across light-years-- are less convincing, while the tidy conclusion has a perfunctory feel. A mixed effort, but entertaining. (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper Collins
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0749709537
• ISBN 13: 9780749709532
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 144