Rating: Needs Parent Supervision

I like how this book helped me see the appeal of the Minecraft video game. Players can explore and collect resources and use them to create castles, craft weapons, decorate, or even have pets!

The story hops from several perspectives, including a girl trying to find her way at a new school, a boy feeling threatened by the new girl, and a younger sister standing up to her stubborn brother. The five main characters all experience something new: a virtual reality Minecraft world that seems to magically transport the kids to become Minecraft characters in the game.

If your kid is into Minecraft, they’re probably familiar with the grotesque zombies and other creatures the team encounters in the Virtual World. Not my style, but it adds suspense when the kids hear groaning or are attacked.

Otherwise, the messages are pretty healthy: working together as a team, and having empathy for others.

My two hesitations:

  • Luck. Ash does something for good luck
  • Lying. The kids are not fully truthful with a teacher. They pretend the virtual reality headsets aren’t as powerful as they truly are because they don’t want to lose access. I turned this into a discussion with my 2nd grader about how dangerous that was and how parents and teachers are not folks to keep secrets from. 

Here is an excerpt to give you a general sense of reading level. I don’t like how the font changes at seemingly random moments, but it became less distracting once I came to decide the different fonts had no particular meaning.

A bit of advice: I started with Book 3, but I was confused several times, so this Book 1 is a better place to start, and makes book 3 easier to follow.

See also my reviews of Book 3: Deep Dive and Stonesword Saga Book 1.

If your kid likes this book, I’d suggest you check out Trapped in a Video Game by Dustin Brady. Here is a link to my review of that one.