Mindwar ~ Review

Mindwar
The Mindwar Trilogy Book 1
By Andrew Klavan

Rick Dial's life is over.  His dad has run off with an old college girlfriend.  He'll never play football again thanks to an accident that ruined his legs and his life.

The last few months he's been living in his bedroom.  And not really even living more like existing.  All that he is and does revolves around video games.  

Everything is about to change, and it could cost Rick his life...

But he could save the world...

Rick's mind could turn him into the hero he always wanted to be.  War is coming, but it is about to be waged on a new front - a virtual front - and few people have the ability to survive within the Realm.  

But Rick's recent obsession with gaming has uniquely prepared him for a mission into the Realm.  But to die within the Realm means to die outside it as well.  There are dangers that can't be prepared for within this virtual world - a world that is the creation of genius who has placed himself on the same level as the Creator.

With time running out, Rick is the government's only chance of stopping this first major attack.  The possibility of never leaving the Realm is all to real.  But is Rick ready for his life to truly be over?  Or is this the very thing he needs to rediscover his life and his faith?

I'm looking forward to book 2 in this series, which in my opinion makes this book a game winner!

Mindwar is an exciting and suspenseful series debut that will keep up into early hours.  I think this book would be suitable for Tween, Teen, and Adult readers who love their reading to be suspense-filled!  I think fans of Stephen Lawhead's Bright Empires series, Robin Parrish's Offworld, and Ted Dekker's Circle series will appreciate this book/series.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher through the BookLook blogger program in exchange for my honest review.

About the Book:

When Rick lost the ability to run, he came one step closer to becoming a hero.

New High Score! New Record Time!

Rick nodded with grim satisfaction. He laid the game controller aside on the sofa and reached for his crutches.

Rick Dial was the best quarterback Putnam Hills High School had ever seen. Unflappable. Unstoppable. Number 12. But when a car accident left him crippled, Rick’s life as he knew it ended. He disavowed his triumphant past. He ignored his girlfriend. He disappeared into his bedroom—and into the glowing video screen.

But Rick’s uncanny gaming skills have attracted attention. Dangerous attention. Government agents have uncovered a potentially devastating cyber-threat: a Russian genius has created a digital reality called the Realm, from which he can enter, control, and disrupt American computer systems . . . from transportation to defense. The agents want Rick, quick-thinking quarterback and gaming master, to enter the Realm and stop the madman—before he sends America into chaos.

Entering the Realm will give Rick what he thought he’d never have again: a body as strong and fast as it was before the accident. But this is no game, there are no extra lives, and what happens to Rick in the Realm happens to Rick’s body in reality.

Even after Rick agrees to help, he can’t shake the sense that he’s being kept in the dark. Why would a government agency act so aggressively? Can anyone inside the Realm be trusted? How many others have entered before him . . . and failed to return?

In the tradition of Ender’s Game and The Matrix, MindWar is a complex thriller about a seemingly ordinary teenager who discovers a hidden gift—a gift that could make him a hero . . . or cost him everything.