Review: Great Start
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 11, 2013
Power Play is a fairly short YA novel about an eighth grade girl named Jaycee, a little bit of an outcast, who gets transported into her favorite video game.  She must learn skills and become the hero of the game.This book is definitely meant for younger readers, something that my ten year old daughter would enjoy.  The language is young, but not patronizing, and the premise is something almost every video-game obsessed kid fantasizes about.  Getting sucked into your favorite game, what could be better?I liked the characters, they were distinct, maybe a little stereotypical with the girl being unpopular, having a crush on the popular boy and targeted by the nasty cheerleader types, but truthfully a lot of kids can relate to that position so I found it very relevant to the book.My only real critique was something I've noticed happen quite a bit in stories told from first person, which is tense switching.  From time to time, it would switch from past to present tense, which caused me to pause the flow and go back to re-read.However, the book was a very appropriate length to keep the attention of the readers, especially the young ones, and the pace was swift enough to get you moving through quickly.  I would definitely be on the look out for more of this author's work, especially if you have middle-grade readers.  I give this book a solid four stars and would definitely look at more of Sutton's work in the future.