Crash Course

Wanting to be just as good a hover race car driver as his older brother, Bug, Jason joins the International Race School where his skills are put to the test by challenging instructors and fierce competitors, including the mysterious driver in black, in this illustrated, high-speed drama.

Grade 4-8–Jason Chaser, 14, and his shy but brilliant 12-year-old brother (nicknamed The Bug) are the youngest driver-and-navigator hover-car racing team invited to attend the prestigious International Race School in Tasmania. What they lack in age, though, they make up for in skill, determination, and ingenuity. And having a world-class star like Scott Syracuse as a mentor does not hurt. However, the Australian brothers are not really prepared for the mean-spirited and downright terrifying treatment they receive upon arrival. Sure, hover-car racing is a dangerous sport, but when the competition is intent on physically destroying you, your chances of survival are reduced pretty dramatically. The first in a series, this futuristic adventure (with appealing illustrations by a Marvel Comics veteran) is certainly fast-paced, action-packed, and (thankfully) slim. Reilly's writing, though, is painfully sloppy and the text is heavy with groan-inducing clichés. This novel seems to find its only true inventiveness in Reilly's descriptions of the vehicles and rules involved in this sport. An acceptable addition to a fast-and-easy section for the 10- to 14-year-old set, but by no means a must-have.–Jeff Katz, Queens Borough Public Library, NY
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Bestselling author Reilly (Area 7; Ice Station) takes a rough detour into the world of children's books with the first book in the paper-over-board Hover Car Racer series, set in the near future ("Since hover technology required no gasoline to fuel it, the oil-producing countries of the Middle East crumbled"). Readers meet 14-year-old Australian Jason Chaser, who is determined to become a champion racer. His 12-year-old brother, Bug, serves as navigator for Jason during his races, though the brothers' relationship runs even deeper (the nearly autistic but mathematically brilliant Bug only communicates by whispering in Jason's ear). Jason places last in the Indo-Pacific Regional Championships, but nonetheless receives an invitation from Scott Syracuse, a famed ex-racer, to enter Race School and train to become a world-class racer. There Jason meets Ariel Piper, the only female student (resulting from a Citadel-esque legal coup), and he soon discovers that someone is sabotaging their cars. Jason races both to figure out who has it in for them and—against all odds—to win a coveted spot in the Sponsors' Event ("a feature race held in front of the schools' sponsors, benefactors, and famous ex-students"). Raimondi contributes stylized comic book-style pen-and-inks, and 3D maps of each race course begin various sections of the book. Unfortunately, racing clichés (e.g., the requisite photofinish), stock characters and a predictable plot make this feel like a treatment for a summer blockbuster movie. Ages 10-up. (June)
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Gr. 6-9. Fourteen-year-old Jason Chaser is a promising driver of hover cars--futuristic vehicles, a combination of car and plane, that use Earth's magnetic forces to run at high speeds, eliminating the need for fossil fuels or roads. Hover car racing has become such a popular sport that the entire island of Tasmania has been turned into a hover car racing school. Jason and his brother are plucked from their Australian home and invited to train with the best of the world on the island. While in Tasmania, Jason meets a hot female racer, uncovers what seems to be a nefarious scheme, and finally wins a big race. Most of these plot elements aren't developed, and the last part of the novel is devoted to a lengthy description of the big race. Still, many readers will appreciate the comic-book simplicity of the story (Raimondi's occasional full-page illustrations, in fact, are in comic-book style) and will thrill to the adrenalin-pumping accounts of the competitions. Todd Morning
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