Review: Hydrostatic: Level of Fire by C.M. Blackburn

Hydrostatic: Level of Fire

by C.M. Blackburn

Everyone plays computer games, but what happens when the computer game plays you? Joe, Lottie, and Zac only mean to try a new game downloaded from the Internet, but find themselves literally sucked in. Soon they find themselves having to beat the traps and puzzles with all the others trapped inside the game. The only way to escape is to play the game through, but they only have one life..! 

Hydrostatic – Level of Fire is part one of a series where the children have to find out who has written the game, why it is trapping children there, and beat him both in the real and the virtual worlds. 

My Take:

When Joe downloads a secret new game he heard about in an online chat room, his brother Zac can't resist helping him defeat it. The burning lava and rolling boulders appear to be too hard a trap to beat alone. But when they key in a cheat code that appears at the bottom of the screen, they are digitized and sucked into the game, along with their sister Lottie, struggling just to survive. As Zac uses his knowledge of video game mechanics to defeat deadly trap after deadly trap, the three kids realize that the sadistic game has trapped other kids in it, and that if they are going to escape the virtual death trap, they will all have to work together.

The problem is that, in a video game, you usually have extra lives. But in this one, you only have one. And if you die, you're stuck in the game... forever!

Content:

Drug Content:

G - none, unless you consider video games a drup. Which they can be. ;-)

Violence:

PG - Burning lava, crushing boulders, swinging bladed pendulums, arrow and spike traps. The usual fare for video games, but the damage, the pain, and the blood in this game are very real. One injury nearly kills a character.

Language:

G - squeaky clean.

Adult Content:

G - This is a preteen kids book, no worries on this front.

Christian content:

Nada. The kids learn some valuable lessons about sticking together, about leaving nobody behind, and the responsibility of sacrificing for the greater good. Hopelessness, fear, and despair are met with encouragement, exhortation, and courage. While the book doesn't give a nod to faith of any kind, it does emphasize how these siblings look out for one another, no matter the cost.

Final analysis:

Weighing in at just over 100pp paperback, this MG scifi-fantasy was a quick read. While it read in parts like a walkthrough of a custom Minecraft level, or a hi-res VR version of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the stakes couldn't be higher, and the kids were very aware of it. The characters were believable and likable, and the action was intense in places. The book was obviously geared for MG readers ages 9-12, and would be enjoyable for them, but teens might find the book a bit young for their tastes. Some plot twists made the story line intriguing, and I found the ending satisfying. Five Stars!