Escape from Sherwood

Escape from Sherwood by Beattie Alvarez (Christmas Press), RRP $17.99 Junior Fiction ISBN 9-780648-815495

Reviewed by Susan Hancy

Escape from Sherwood is an exciting and fast-paced story about kids trapped inside a computer game, racing time and a power-crazed overlord to escape and return home to Mum. From the get-go it had been thinking of a modern-day junior fiction version of Space Demons and it delivered!

Michael is a 9-year-old gaming aficionado who notices something is odd on his computer screen. He doesn’t have time to investigate because he needs to hurry for school. When he returns home – all the worst for wear with a black eye thanks to the class bully - he learns that Mum has done the unthinkable: allowed his 3-year-old sister, Penny, to play unsupervised in his room. 

Michael races upstairs, but Penny’s nowhere to be seen. She’s trapped inside the computer game of Sherwood and Michael has no choice but to rescue her. But even when he finds her, escape is not simple. Michael and Penny become wound up in a broader plot formed by the housekeeper -- aka Robin Hood -- to overthrow the evil King John. The youngsters have to race through the increasingly more challenging levels of the game to stay ahead of King John’s bow and arrow-wielding avatars. They’re joined by Michael’s best mate and – surprisingly – the class bully, whose game knowledge proves invaluable for their survival. Can Michael and his fellow merrymen outwit King John and survive the impending game flush which will not only restart the levels but wipe them out for good?

The theme is right on point for the current generation of JF-aged kids, many of whom would rather be glued to a screen than reading a book. The clever weaving of technology terms into the vivid description of the game is guaranteed to score bonus points with the most avid of gamers. Case in point: my 8-year-old son was hooked into the story from chapter one, and with the cliffhanger chapter endings, he couldn’t put it down. For me as a parent, this story was a winner!