Review: Creative premise, a bit flawed but good for teens
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 10, 2014
Digi is the tale of Peter, who is painfully computer illiterate. His father has lost his job recently, and Terry, a rich bully who also happens to be successful in every area Peter lacks in, takes special delight in tormenting him. One night while agonizing over his computer class homework, lightning causes a surge and Peter soon realizes he can see all the manifestations of various code and programs that make the computer work.Peter is easy to relate to. Nothing ever seems to go right for him, but he does the best he can and steps up to set things right when given a chance. Sometimes the dialogue and characters are a little weird (like a goth/screamo girl who backflips out of rooms), but it adds some welcome flavor to the text. I think the book is also a little bit educational, and although it certainly takes liberties with some aspects of programming and computers, I think it might be a good way to get kids into that kind of thing. There are some mistakes that a further round of editing could catch, like missing punctuation. The sudden powers Peter finds himself with, as well as his "magical" friends the dumpies, gives the usual fantasy genre and interesting cyber twist.While the book is a quick read (I blasted through it in an afternoon), it still feels like there's too much setup to get to the interesting parts. Early chapters are spent hammering in that Peter is a dunce at computers, or that Terry is an absolute jerk. I was about 25-30% into the book before I felt it was getting to the point. While this book is probably best enjoyed by teens and younger adults, I think there's enough here of interest to general fantasy fans. There are hints of greater things to come, and I look forward to further books in the series.