Game Over: Rise of the Raid Mob

"The writing was immersive and it felt like I was watching a live stream of the gaming rather than reading it. (...)
This book was basically every teenage gamers dream. Your favourite video game becomes a reality so instead of fending off enemies from behind the controller, you’re placed directly into the action! (...) This book was basically every teenage gamers dream. Your favourite video game becomes a reality so instead of fending off enemies from behind the controller, you’re placed directly into the action!"

-- Reader review

"Move over Ready Player One there's a new gaming story in town"

-- Reader review

If you have a gamer in your life though this is definitely something they will absolutely love and enjoy reading, they will get sunk into the game as if they were playing. It’s so vivid, action packed taking the characters right into the war, gore and adventure of the game. The reader will connect instantly with the characters and the growing friendship throughout the story. The characters are real and written as so, dealing with school bullies, mental health, neuro-divergence, poverty and more issues these teens are going through. The gaming world connects them and helps them form a strong growing bond. (...) It’s so vivid they will feel like they are playing themselves and be so swept up in the story and the friendship and the game."

"This was a very fun book! Lots of fun references for pop culture and gamers. This was a great adventure and boy the cliff hanger at the end!"

-- Reader review

Four friends face off against an impending alien invasion.

High schoolers Jack Delaney, Cameron Yates, Megan Joyce, and Ayo Osikoya-Arinola aren’t the most popular students at their school. But as tHeScOuRgE, ForgeFire666, Zuul, and Hephaestus in Distant Dawn, a global online co-op game featuring massive mechs and tentacled alien foes, they comprise the Raid Mob, the game’s most legendary squad. Their skills have gained them exclusive first access to the company’s new virtual reality controller set, and this next Fullmersion level of Distant Dawn brings the sights and smells very close. When the teens seemingly come face to face with aliens spouting plans for a takeover of Earth, they must use their skills to save humanity. Are reality and the world of Distant Dawn colliding, or are they just experiencing overstimulation from the new tech? Sullivan explores themes of friendship, family, resolve, and reality in this fight-filled series opener. Cameron, who stutters, and Ayo, who is autistic, in particular draw strength from their virtual selves. Sullivan also touches upon issues in technology and gaming like doxxing and data mining. Extended action-packed scenes should engage gamers and science-fiction fans, though some casual readers may find them dense. Illustrated elements, including scoreboards, robot and weapon specs, and blacked-out “game over” spreads, add an immersive element, as does a musical playlist. Other than Nigerian British Ayo, the main characters read White.

Action-packed interplanetary hijinks. (Science fiction. 12-16)

-- Kirkus Rev