Customer Reviews

Wizards of The Game

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mercer is an ordinary boy, having fun, and letting his imagination go wild. But what happens when Ed, writer of "(h)E(a)D Lines" and Mercer's partner in geography class, figures out about Mercer's favorite wacky game, and what it's about? Then Ed thinks of an idea to end this game of so-called "madness." He decides to write negative comments about the game in the Cryer, the paper that everyone reads. Can Mercer think of a plan to make them understand? While he struggles with yet another problem? Or will his favorite activity lead to a disaster?

David Lubar lets his imagination fly free, just like his main character, Mercer. He made all of the facts seem exciting, though some were not quite tied up. But when I reached the end, all the bumps in my understanding smoothed and settled. David Lubar has a simple understanding of a child's desire for humor. He'll do anything to simplify the plot of the book. Yet nothing is perfect -- he has Mercer express his feelings by using bad language occasionally. I think the book could have lived without it. But David Lubar does have a wonderful book, in which he seems to express not just Mercer's mind, but also his own.

"They say that Cain caught Abel rollin' loaded dice
Ace of Spades behind his ear and him not thinkin' twice..."
--Grateful Dead

"What was wrong with these people? Did I go to their church and tell them which songs they could sing? What gave them the right to tell me which games I could play?"

Mercer is a kid who is seriously into Wizards of the Warrior World, one of those popular role-playing games. He's got a bookshelf full of spell casting books, chats for hours about it on message boards, and plays with his friends during study hall and on weekends. He comes up with a great plan to hold a gaming convention as the school's annual fundraiser, until all hell breaks loose when another student writes a newspaper article about the demonic qualities of the game and what it is doing to corrupt the participants.

"Well, you got trouble my friends..."
--Professor Harold Hill

In the hands of a lesser writer, this might have been just another somber, confrontational kids versus adults tale (à la Footloose), but when the four REAL--and really down on their luck--wizards show up (they hang out down at the soup kitchen that was to be the beneficiary before the fundraiser got nixed by the school board), things take a turn for the absurd.

(You might even say this book is "out of this world.")

" 'I destroy wall,' Tortwaller said, thumping himself on the chest. 'Turn bricks to water.' He started to wail and roll his head from side to side.

" 'That spell take forever. One hour each brick,' Nelda said. 'Don't be such a nickel head. We grow old, you grow dizzy, hole still not big enough.' "

There are some great topics for discussion--WIZARDS OF THE GAME will make a GREAT read for book groups--yet those issues never once get in the way of the fun and the excitement.

David Lubar, the former designer and programmer of popular video games, stirs magic, imagination, school board politics, and the First Amendment together into a potion that will turn middle school readers and players into David Lubar fans--as quick as you can say, "Albóndigas!"

Richie Partington...

Wizards of the Game is very suspenseful and full of surprises. This exciting book is easy to read (I am in sixth grade) and you can get through it quickly. Even though it's a fast read, it's still really interesting and holds your attention. It is fantasy fiction with wizards and monsters, who are playing a super cool board game where they try to conquer each other. It doesn't teach you any lessons. It's just for fun.

If you are in grades 5 - 9, Read this book!

This book was good, funny, and quick to read. The book was about a kid named Mercer who played this role playing game a lot like Dungeons and Dragons. He was in 8th grade. Many kids at his middle school played it. They would play it at Study Hall, have comic nooks, and conventions. He is chosen to lead a school fundraiser and decides to hold a gaming convention at the school. Ed, another kid who got selected to lead the fundraiser, had a bad view of the game. Ed saw the game as a way to worship Satan and demons through black magic. So Ed writes a bad article about the game that gets put in the town newspaper. Protesters come to stop the fundraising convention. Eventually the game and convention gets cancelled but not before 4 wizards staying at the Shelter that will receive the fundraiser donation approach Mercer to seek help to return them to their world. Mercer and his friends summon a portal for the wizards but instead giants monsters come out of the portal. Mercer and his friends try to use their game skills and strategies to protect their town. They eventually get help from a surprise wizard who works at their school and the wizards are sent home. In the end, the school fundraiser was a huge success, however it was not Mercer's idea, it was a combination of a fashion show and garage sale that were the original ideas of Ed and Michelle, another classmate.

The book was pretty funny and at some points exciting. I can relate to Mercer and his love for role playing games since I like to play video games. It was fun to read how Mercer includes the game in his everyday life and thoughts. The book also touched on religious beliefs against sorcery and helped me understand a little bit why such games, books, and movies involving sorcery and witchcraft are not favored by some people. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys role playing or video games.

Book was in condition described. Shipped quickly. My 12 year old really enjoyed reading this, was very easy reading for him.

I read this book because I liked the premise, as stated on the blurb: A bunch of role-playing geeks encounter *real* wizards, and it's awesome.

It sounded great. Doesn't it sound great? And it's technically true - the kids DO play a D&D style game, and they DO encounter real wizards, and real magic DOES happen... at the end of the book, in a kinda one-off moment that makes no real difference whatsoever. The magic part is a needless subplot.

Pity the plot-plot is so... well... um.... Let's put it this way. If everybody was less caricatured, there'd be no book. We have the hysterical "Christians" who are terrified of magic, picket as soon as they get a whiff of anything remotely LIKE magic, drag the Bible into everything they can think of, and who the friendly pastor (who runs a soup kitchen that the game tournament was supposed to help) manages to Bibically condemn as not-really-Christian, though he's far too good to use that term. We've got the Pagan/Wiccan girl (who's probably doing it just as a fad - we're told she wanted to be a nun at one point because her "interests jump around so much) who is determined to beat the picketers at their own game, being as rude and offensive as possible. (Most non-Christians, like most Christians, are far too polite to do this.) We have the hysterical school board that's convinced that even MENTIONING the Bible at a school board meeting is illegal. (It's not.) You have the naive Christian kid who started all this mess *convinced* that he can get in trouble if he prays at school. (He can't - and if he did, he'd be well within his rights to sue. Yes, the ACLU would support him. You're allowed to pray in schools, so long as you're not disrupting class or coercing others.) Also, he's easily converted by people pointing out he has no idea what he's talking about.

And for all that the message of the book is supposed to be "LOL, games are just games, silly!", it's playing this game that gets the kids to try their first act of real magic... which directly leads to a three page scene where actually scary monsters appear until a surprise character reveals HE can do magic (unlike these kids) because on his world magic is used for warfare. (And the real wizards? They're there because they had no way of knowing their partner was an interdimensional thief. This isn't making a good case for "There's no magic, and it's all harmless fun!", is it?) If the people who think that fictional representations of magic are inherently unBiblical and sinful were to read this far (frankly, I doubt that they'd even pick up the book, and those of us who don't think that don't need the whole argument rehashed in this tedious way), I don't think they'd be convinced. Way to undermine your message there....

It's not a very interesting book except in that it's funny now and again to go "OMG! How could he POSSIBLY have oversimplified/wronged THIS aspect of it?"

Oh, and on that note - exactly when does this story take place? Where in the US nowadays can you find people who routinely use modems that tie up the phone line, have no cell phone, and don't find this worthy of comment at all? And this was a plot point! In a book from 2006? It's not like the boy's family is lacking in cash, given how expensive his hobby is and how much his parents are willing to pay for it. What the heck?

If you like playing Dungeons and Dragons, you will love reading Wizards of the Game by David Lubar. The books is about a boy named Mercer, who plays a game called Wizards of the Warrior World during study hall. The students love playing the game, but others fear they may confuse the fantasy with reality. This creates some problems for Mercer and his friends. Mercer then meets four real wizards and his fantasy world does indeed become reality.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I understand how kids could enjoy figuring out strategies and plotting how to conquer a fantasy world. The game seems to encourage competition and a high level of thinking as long as it is only that...a fantasy.