The Game (Firebird) - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Hayleys parents disappeared when she was a baby. Since then, she has been raised and homeschooled by her grandparents. Grandad is overworked and travels a lot; Grandma is much too strict and never lets her meet any children her own age. When Hayley does something wrongshe is not quite sure whatthey pack her off to her aunts in Ireland. To Hayleys shock, her family is much bigger than she thought; to her delight, the children all play what they call the game, where they visit a place called the mythosphere. And while she plays the game, Hayley learns more about her own place in the world than she had ever expected. This original novella by Diana Wynne Jones is sharply funny, fast-paced, and surprising until its very endlike all of this acclaimed authors work.

Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Into the mythosphere March 30, 2007
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

Diana Wynne Jones has dabbled in mythologies in a modern setting before, though she usually sticks to multiverses. But she tries out a new approach in "The Game," a solid fantasy novella that dips into Greek mythology for the biggest family drama this side of Olympus.

After angering her grandmother -- she's not sure how -- Hayley finds herself being shipped off to her aunts in Ireland. Upon arriving, she finds herself swamped in dozens of family members, including quite a few cousins. Soon her cousin Harmony introduces her to The Game, where the children travel into the mythosphere (all the legends and great stories), and fetch back enchanted items.

But they have to do it in secret, lest the forbidding Uncle Jolyon learns of it. And when the children play the last round of the Game, Hayley finds herself having to fetch a golden apple from a dangerous garden -- and learns of her mysterious past, and the prophecy that has Uncle Jolyon wanting her out of the way.

Jones always comes up with the most incredible ideas -- in this case, a sort of mythological scavenger hunt, and a story that includes a bunch of minor Greek deities. In fact, it's kind of surprising that Jones didn't expand this novella into a slim book, with a few more adventures in the mythosphere and some more family antics.

The family antics and descriptions are tightly written, but Jones really hits her stride when the Game comes into play -- then we have the larger-than-life depictions of things like the Hesperides, as well as a very modern version of Hades. And the dialogue has that touch of humor, with a nod to J.R.R. Tolkien during one round of the game.

Hayley's a pretty likable kid, with a melancholy side about her missing parents and her ultra-strict grandmother. The book really flourishes when she discovers what she can transform into. And Jones sprinkles the story with a few nasties -- the bratty Tollie and dictatorial Jolyon -- as well as a bunch of minor deities, Titans and the odd celestial hunter. (One of the few plot threads that gets lost).

"The Game" is a solid little novella from Diana Wynne Jones, a mythological adventure with a likable heroine. A nice little fantasy with an unusual twist finale.

2 out of 5 stars

Not one of DWJ's best July 20, 2007
7 out of 9 found this review helpful

I am a fan of Diana Wynne Jones, so when I saw that she'd written a new novel, I was excited. Unfortunately, this book fell far short of my expectations.

I think one of the main problems was that I couldn't identify with the character. We're not told very much about Hayley (presumably because Jones was trying to keep the true identities of the characters a secret until later in the book). I couldn't figure out how old she was, or anything about her that really mattered. I assumed, though, that she was about 10. The problem with that assumption, however, was that she then went and followed strange adult men into bushes, without really questioning the situation or her own safety. A similar theme appeared in "Fire and Hemlock", but that was written decades ago when child predators weren't as much in the news as they are today (and the main character in that novel eventually grew up, rendering her friendship with a man twice her age somewhat more acceptable).

I do appreciate Jones's creation of the "mythosphere", and I thought it was an interesting idea. However, I would have liked to see more of it. So many books for children today seem to suffer from a lack of editing. If anything, this book seemed to suffer from over-editing! It seemed as if large chunks were missing. Certain things were badly or barely explained. How could a wedding photograph of Hayley's parents even exist if they were as old as they were supposed to be? Why did Hayley have no memories of the world changing around her? Surely she would have noticed that computers, cars, and airplanes were relatively new inventions. How did she pin Jupiter to the sky when the planet was already there?

There also didn't seem to be much peril. Aside from the rather gory scene with the Maenads, the characters didn't seem to be in much mortal danger. And how could they be? Half of them were immortal!

Jones has been through this territory before in "Eight Days of Luke" (though with Norse mythology, while "The Game" is Greek mythology). However, there seems to be an awful lot of metaphor and symbolism here for kids to absorb. And while I enjoyed the unique "mythosphere" aspect, I really wanted to see all parts of the story more fleshed out.

4 out of 5 stars

Too short April 19, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

I liked this story, but it wasn't among my favorite Diana Wynne Jones books. I think that's because it was so short - a lot of things are left pretty vague, and while the concept is imaginative and creative with the best of them, I wished that there was more detail, to make this world more real. I guess I would call this story more "clever" than "immersive," if that makes sense. So, 4 stars for an interesting story, anyway :)

3 out of 5 stars

More like an outline for a possible series of novels than a stand alone story June 17, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

I am a big fan of Diana Wynne Jones -- at her best there is no one who writes better (easy reading) fantasy in the English language. This novella (too short to be called a novel) is not her best. She has a grand concept here (though one that is not entirely unique as a similar notion is employed in Neil Gaiman's American Gods novels): that the collective beliefs we call myths take on a life of their own, in a parallel series of realities she calls the "mythosphere." Some individuals can "slip" in and out between their mythical existence and the world we call home.

Given that premise, "The Game" seems like a rough draft of a possible opening story that would introduce such a universe. The problem is that she published it, and it appears to stand alone. On its own this novella doesn't really do justice to the grand idea behind it.

The story only hints, for example, at what might happen when mythical beings from different strands interact. It doesn't go very far in clarifying the precise relation between the "mythosphere" and "mundane existence" and doesn't explain how these realms connect -- as another reviewer mentioned: the time scales of both seem to be very different but there is no indication of how that affects the characters' experiences of "mundane" reality. It also never really fleshes out the characters and especially the main character -- except to depict her as the standard type of fantasy hero/heroine: an orphan who is raised by adults who don't understand her and fear what she can become, finally gets a chance to escape and meet others like her and discover that her destiny is great.

Part of the problem is that what Jones is trying to do is keep the true identities of the characters a mystery until the very end when we are supposed to discover who they really are, and have an aha! moment that explains why they are the way they are. But to make that work we have to really connect with the character first on mundane terms before we discover their "extra-mundane" identity -- Jones did this very well in "Dogsbody" where I really felt that she gave me a window into the inner life of a dog before showing that this was no ordinary dog. But another major part of the problem is that we didn't get a long enough or clear enough view of what it was like to enter the mythosphere -- her descriptions didn't bring this to life for me but only seemed to sketch it. This is in contrast with her wonderful Chrestomanci series where I really felt like the world she described of parallel universes and some who could move between them was a living world.

I think she could have developed this world into something as compelling and real as the Chrestomanci world, and that this would have made a nice introductory story if it were developed a bit more. Even though we only have a glimpse here of what might have been it remains an imaginative and exciting set of possibilities she allows us to glimpse, and remains worth reading for that reason.

5 out of 5 stars

Very Original and Very Cool March 16, 2007
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

The plot, while seemingly outlandish when summarized, is actually presented in a very artful, pretty, and sequential manner. It's lovely writing, and I never saw the ending coming.

The mythology plays a major role. Unlike many other authors who do this, Wynne Jones has it in a way that makes sense. Also, it's just really cool.

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