Game Zero (Escape Room 2) by Christopher Edge

What worked:

The author creates an innovative world that blends reality and virtual reality. Eden finds herself inside The Escape, although she’s not sure how she got there. She meets Ted, but there’s a significant difference between these two characters. Ted wears a VR helmet to play the game, but Eden does not. How is this possible? Readers will know The Escape is different for Eden, because she slowly forgets details of her life outside the game. And she doesn’t know how to escape back to reality. The narrative describes background music throughout the story, which contributes to the tension. The music gets louder and faster as the story becomes more suspenseful, which should cause readers to feel more anxiety.

The Escape is much like other adventure stories where the characters follow clues to reach a destination or goal. The characters begin with three riddles that they repeat throughout the story. They must find three keys to unlock three different worlds, leading to the next set of puzzles. They encounter several characters from the first book, although it’s not absolutely necessary to know this. Eden and Tom encounter many obstacles and dangers, even though Eden seems to be the only one experiencing physical harm. Tom gets an additional life if his character “dies”, but Eden may not have that option. The author leaves a couple of big surprises at the climax, so the plot continues a bit further than readers might expect.

What didn’t work as well:

The book doesn’t take any time to develop the characters, so readers can’t learn much about them beyond the game. Also, Eden is surprised when Ted repeatedly uses his helmet to make their quest easier, and readers may want the challenges to be more challenging. Ted isn’t a model teammate, and readers may be annoyed or angry at his selfish attitude.

The final verdict:

Actually, this book feels like the beginning of the series, as the climax introduces a large problem that will continue into the next book. Readers should probably start with the previous book in order to understand the background information surrounding the game and minor characters. Ami and Oscar have important roles in this book that readers new to the series won’t appreciate. I recommend you try this book for yourself.