In the Game
In the Game
“Beam us back!” hollered the twins. But the words were swallowed up by the silence.
“This is so creepy,” Mo said.
“QUIT GAME,” yelled DJ. He tried, again, to summon the menu.
“So, what, we’re just trapped here forever?” Karl blasted the rafters in frustration.
“I don’t think so,” Starlight said, furrowing her brow. “It hasn’t learned all it wants to.”
“Why do you think that?” DJ said.
“Because it still hasn’t won.”
“No,” said the announcer suddenly. “But I WILL.”
A wind began to pick up, sending confetti flying.
“Is this a tornado?” asked the twins, pointing to the far end of the rink. The whirlwind began sucking up the rink like an enormous vacuum cleaner.
“Not sure we have a strategy to fight THAT,” said DJ.
“I do” Karl said. “HUG!”
The Super Six hugged. Karl froze a solid ball of ice around them. The storm howled
and raged outside. Ice and confetti scarred the surface of the ball, obscuring their view.
“We are never getting out of here alive!” yelled the twins as the ball now rose into the air. “It’ll be okay,” Mo said. “I called Ron before we got sucked in and told him we might be lost in the video game. I’m sure he’s close to finding a way to get us out.”
Hot on the heels of Shooting Stars (www.cmreviews.ca/node/3099) comes In the Game, the fifth book in Kevin Sylvester’s “Hockey Super Six” series. This adventure begins with two of the Super Six, DJ and Karl, being sucked into a hockey-themed video game. One by one, the rest of the team realize what has happened, and they join DJ and Karl in the virtual-reality-turned-real-life hockey game. When the dreaded GANG (the real-life school bullies, short for the Greatest Awesome Nastiest Goobers) also turn up in the game, it’s a battle to outsmart both them and the AI who has taken control. Will the Super Six end up forever trapped in a virtual hockey prison? Or will they manage to escape and save the world, as per usual?
In the Game featured a lot of the same hockey puns, fun illustrations, and comic-book style exposition as the previous four books, but it felt like it also had more play-by-play hockey. While the others were often driven by a plot that featured hockey as a solution to a larger problem, this book was almost entirely set within a hockey game (or rather, WAS entirely set within a hockey game, albeit a virtual one). For a non-hockey fan, someone who picks these books up for the other elements of the story, this might not be such a great thing. For a die-hard hockey fan, though, a book set entirely on ice could be a real winner.
I don’t pretend to know what Kevin Sylvester’s intent was with this particular part of the “Hockey Super Six” saga, but it almost reads like a cautionary tale about the dangers of technology. Essentially, the video game was learning from the Super Six in order to beat them at their own game. With all the new developments in artificial intelligence, In the Game almost felt like it was showing how dangerous it can be if technology “knows” too much about human habits. This interpretation could lead to some interesting discussions with kids about digital footprints, internet safety, and general information sharing.
I’m happy to see that author/illustrator Kevin Sylvester continues to find new ways to keep the “Hockey Super Six” books interesting while keeping the same excitement, engagement level, and snappy humour that readers have come to expect.
Allison Giggey is a teacher-librarian in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.