3 out of 4 stars
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Island Games: Mystery of the Four Quadrants by Caleb Boyer is the story, quite literally, of the power of friendship. It features two teenage best friends, Matthew and Ryan, who wake up on a mysterious deserted island for no reason and with no memory of how they got there. As they try to figure out how to survive, it becomes clear that this is far from an ordinary island. The boys must use their skills, wit, and each other to overcome a multitude of increasingly difficult, and increasingly strange, challenges.
Before I begin this review in earnest, I must offer a confession: when I first began to read this book, I was completely unaware that the author was twelve years old. As such, my progress notes for the earlier chapters must have seemed very harsh indeed, as there was a lot that I thought the author could improve upon. Now that I know that I am dealing with a younger writer, I have shifted my focus not just toward improvement (though of course there’s always room for that), but toward helping nurture and encourage this author’s love of writing. My taking a figurative red pen and scribbling harsh critique all over the place would not be the best approach, as much of what I could critique will likely resolve itself over time, as the author becomes more experienced.
With this in mind, I am going to start with what I did not like about the book, and end with what I did.
One thing I did not like is that there was a bit of needless repetition. A paragraph would explain something—namely, that Matthew had spotted something in the distance—and then a sentence or two later Matthew would say “hey, I’ve spotted something in the distance,” repeating what had been explained in the narration almost word-for-word. This is something that I think would be improved if the author used a beta reader, someone who goes through the entire book with a fine-toothed comb and suggests clarification, correction, and basic editing, as well as offering advice on how to improve a weak narrative.
This idea of eliminating too much repetition will help create more tension in the writing and encourage the reader to want to find out more. Suspense is a very difficult thing to get right, but once you do, it will be very satisfying for both you and your readers.
The other thing I would encourage the author to do is to try and avoid clichés. Slapping someone out of a “trance,” for example, is something that may weaken the writing a bit if just because it’s too predictable. You don’t have to banish these from your writing altogether—rules are made to be broken, after all—but it might be worthwhile to try something new.
As for what I did like about the book, something that surprised me as I was reading was that I felt a distinct sense of nostalgia. Island Games is the kind of adventure story that I would have loved as a child, and I couldn't help but be reminded of the game show Legends of the Hidden Temple. The author has a very vivid imagination, and the scenes I pictured in my mind were rich and detailed. The writing is also accessible and simple to read, without being bogged down in lengthy descriptions.
Another thing I thought the author did well was to give the reader a sense of the sort of basic discomforts that the characters felt throughout the book. Going without predictable food and water is exhausting. Large, inhospitable areas of land make any journey across them seem endless, and make landmarks seem closer than they actually are. If you don’t have access to baths or showers for a few days, you start to smell. These are things that seem obvious to us, but when outlined in a story, they make the writing that much richer.
Overall, Island Games was fun to read, and I want the author to keep writing. The more experience he gains, the better he will be, and I look forward to seeing what the future brings. For this reason, I give this book 3 out of 4 stars.
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Island Games
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