Customer Reviews

Game, The

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

I'm a fan of Diana Wynne Jones, but I was disappointed by this one. Hayley, the main character, joins her cousins in a game in the mythosphere. You can read about the plot in some of the other reviews. The mythosphere, a place where all the myths have some sort of physical reality, is a wonderful idea, and I hope Jones goes back to it. But in this book there's no character development and very little at risk, so the story just doesn't hook the reader. And though the book is intended for children, say 10-13, it assumes a familiarity with myth that American children, at least, will not have. There isn't even enough description--I wanted to know a lot more about the mythosphere, and about the objects the children gather there.

Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favorite authors (Howl's Moving Castle is my personal favorite) but this book seemed like an idea for a story. The characters, while well researched, were not developed at all. I couldn't connect with any of them, not even the main character. Jones came up with some interesting ideas like the mythosphere, but that's all they were- ideas. After I finished the last page, I felt like I had missed a chapter somewhere. Over all, I was rather disappointed.

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 :)

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.

I wasn't planning on writing a review of The Game, but after finishing the book, I feel I need to. The book has a great idea: a girl who lives with her strict grandma and traveling grandpa, is sent to live with her cousins, where they take her to a place called the "mythosphere." No spoilers here; you can read that in the book description. Well while the idea is great, and the mythosphere sounds like an amazing place, the entire things falls short.

For one thing, there wasn't enough description. I felt like I never got enough of a description of the mythosphere, for it to make sense. I wanted a clear picture of it in my mind, but I was forced to make up in my own imagination (aside from a tree here, and a lake there, descriptions) of what I thought the mythosphere would be like. I wished there had been more world-building involved, so I could really get a good feel for the mythosphere.

There was also a clear lack of descriptive character actions, and it was hard to tell--especially in the mythosphere--what was happening. The author describes what the character is seeing, but not what the character is doing, until it is already done, and you don't know how it happened.

This extended to the mythology characters as well. While I was excited to read another book having to do with mythology, I really wish there had been more explanation of the significance of important characters, or how they related to the story through mythology. It seemed the author relied heavily on the hope that the reader would have previous knowledge of such things, and there was no explanation for readers who may not have this knowledge.

For one reason or another, I did find myself lost at times (which is so frustrating), and chose to just forge on through, skipping ahead until I understood what was happening. I finished the book, but it wasn't much worth finishing. The end happens all too quickly, and you don't know it's the end, until there's no more story to read. I kept hoping that more pages would magically appear, so that the weak sauce ending I had just read, wouldn't be it. As much as I didn't like the way the book was written, it did deserve a stronger ending.

All-in-all, the whole idea of the book was great. The actual book could have been great...with some more work. It just felt like I was reading a first draft, and that there should have been more to the story. So...two stars for an awesome idea, and no more stars, for not pulling it off.

As another reviewer said: "I think perhaps this novel would appeal more to her fans rather than someone reading her books for the first time."

Hayley, a young London girl raised in isolation by overly restrictive grandparents, is sent as punishment to stay with unknown relatives in Ireland. She finds herself amidst lots of joyous young children who invite her into their secret game-world of the "mythosphere". Because Hayley has never been allowed to play outdoors with other children before, she does not realize how unusual they are or how magical the mythosphere is.

I am a fan of Diana Wynne Jones, so I expected to enjoy this. I did, but it is not her best book. It is shorter than her usual novels, and it is not set in one of her more popular series. Although she tries to justify it, Hayley is overly naive and innocent. Jones' fans will be slightly disappointed that The Game is not up to her excessively high standards, while readers unfamiliar with Jones' work should start with one of her better standalone novels like Dogsbody or one of her Chrestomanci novels like Charmed Life.

Hayley, a young girl living in London with her loving grandad and strict grandma, is bored with a life entirely bound by her grandma's rules. Then a street musician named Flute, who doesn't live by the usual rules, walks through a wall into her garden. He shows Hayley the mythosphere--something she had only heard about from her granddad--a place where all the myths, legends, fables and fairy tales exist. Hayley finds it fascinating, but is disturbed by the grim turn that many of the stories in the mythosphere take. Then Hayley's grandma gets angry at her, although Hayley can't figure out why, and Hayley's packed off to live with family in Ireland. There she finds a boisterous collection of aunts and cousins and a game that the cousins' play, which is a sort of scavenger hunt in the mythosphere, where participants must gather everything from Cinderella's glass slipper to Beowulf's drinking horn. It's not all fun and games, though, as events quickly lead to Hayley discovering family secrets, what happened to her parents, and why everyone is so afraid of Uncle Jolyon.

THE GAME is an interesting concept, as it weaves together so many myths, fairy tales, fables, etc., and puts new faces on old gods. The mythosphere is especially fascinating and it's a shame that Jones didn't spend more time exploring it. The novella's short length means that the pace is relatively quick and you don't have to wait long for answers. And, as always, Jones is an excellent writer. On the downside, it does leave many unanswered questions, which I can't really get into here as they're too spoilery, but basically once I found out the truth about Hayley's family I started wondering how they acted, for the most part, like such normal people. It also wrapped up much too neatly (probably due to the novella's length) and there were way too many characters to keep proper track of all of them (especially the aunts; I stopped even really trying to sort them out after they were introduced). While it's not my favorite Jones work, this is a solid, enjoyable novella.

...still, I feel this story line could have been explored so much more! This was a distressingly thin book - I'd expected something along the lines of "Conrad's Fate" or "The Pinhoe Egg," but this book only took me about 45 minutes to read.

Ms. Jones' books seem to skim over things occasionally - sometimes rather mundane things, which I don't mind, but sometimes very intriguing things, like the mythosphere business in this one. We are given a brief explanation of the mythosphere and a good description of Hayley's poignant interest in it, and then suddenly the characters are all involved in the game with not much additional explanation about the mythosphere, how the new characters know about it, how they get around in it, whatever. The characters simply go there and do what they're supposed to do. (This reminds me very much of how people in the Chrestomanci books simply 'cast a spell' to accomplish the thing they're trying to do. It's just too easy, as written.) There are no side adventures while there, no real difficulties accomplishing what they set out for. This could have been a real gem, but instead, too thin, too quick and weak.

I look for more depth and involvement in Ms. Jones' future works.