The Dragon Box
Katie W. Stewart
Amazon Digital Services
Fiction, CH Fantasy
Themes: Games, Wizards
**+
Description
James didn't want to go over to Mack's house. Everyone knew he was a crazy old man - who else would have a secret cat zapper in their yard? But
Mum had been a friend of his since childhood, and wanted James to return a book she'd borrowed. As it turns out, Mack's nothing like the mean codger
neighborhood rumor makes him out to be. Instead, he fancies himself an eccentric inventor - a modern-day mad scientist of sorts, with inventions
ranging from a hologram projector to an unreliable remote-controlled door lock. Before he leaves, Mack gives the boy a strange gift: a little metal
box that he claims is a computer game, even though it has no screen and no plug-ins and only a single button. Dubiously, James presses the button...
and finds himself in a strange world. A wizardly copy of old Mack informs the boy that he's inside a very special computer game; real as it seems, he
can't come to any lasting harm, and he even has an emergency escape switch. But any game is prone to glitches, and James soon realizes that the quest
to save an imaginary kingdom from a wicked witch might have dire real-world consequences.
A Kindle-exclusive title.
Review
There seem to be two types of children's book authors in the world. One remembers the wonders and terrors of childhood and gleefully embraces them,
respecting their readers enough not to water things down or bubble-wrap the corners. The other shrinks in fear of perpetually traumatizing unformed minds,
constantly coddling their audience and shining a flashlight into every nook and cranny while reassuring them in loving whispers that "it's just a story,
it's all just a story." (Well, to be honest, there are three types - the type that sees how hot the market is and wants to dip their bucket into the golden
river regardless of what their target audience needs or wants - but I digress.) Stewart fits neatly into the second category.
The story starts promisingly, establishing James as a picked-on boy trying to deal with a paraplegic father (formerly a professional soccer player) while
being unable to live up to his own unrealistic expectations of himself. The kindly old man's strange game offers him a chance to develop self-confidence and
problem-solving skills... and herein lies the problem. The story becomes a thinly-veiled Lesson for James, tromping from problem to problem and never failing
to let James triumph. At this point, it becomes nothing but a Fluffy Bunny story. Everyone's nice except for one or two bad guys, nothing particularly
dangerous or troublesome thwarts the heroes, and the only person who doubts there'll be a happy ending is James himself. The fact that James's mother once
played the same game adds an unintentionally creepy factor; has Mack been stalking the family, or is there something special about them that makes them
ideally suited to his experimental full-immersion games? I don't know, and I don't expect the author does, either, as no real explanation is offered. (I'd
suspect a series, but the game world seems far too customized and lightweight to support it... not that Fluffy Bunny stories concern themselves overmuch
about such things.)
Fortunately, I downloaded it during a freebie promotion window, or it would've lost another half-star.