The Battle makes for a great sequel to The Gauntlet. I liked that e returned to the world of Paheli and the Architect with new characters and a fresh perspective. The techy aesthetics and new antagonists also created a sense of novelty in an otherwise familiar landscape. Ahmad is a sympathetic protagonist and his tag team dynamic with Winnie made for a compelling friendship storyline. As with the previous book, there are three puzzles/tasks to be solved, but not everything is what put seems at first; twists abound. This was a fun read and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first book. It also works fine as a standalone.

A cute and fun story! The Battle is the sequel to The Gauntlet and is action-packed with some fun twists.

It's been four years since Farah Mirza proved that "there is no one who knows how to play - and win - a game better than a Mirza" in The Gauntlet. And if you read The Gauntlet, you will no doubt remember her younger brother Ahmad, and Farah's quest to rescue him from the game world of Paheli that he found himself in or remain there until another game player comes along and wins.

Ahmad is now a 7th grader at PS 52 on New York's Upper East Side. He's not the star student his sister was, he still has difficulties paying attention in school and always drawing an elaborate game world called Paheli. Ahmad has not recollection of actually being in Paheli, thinking his drawing are inspired by family trips to India and Bangladesh, instead. But he really gets in trouble when a mysterious package arrives at school, addressed to Ahmad and sent by Farah, now a student at Princeton. And thanks to the smartest girl in class, Winnie Williamson, the school lets him have the package, which turns out to be a game cartridge called The Battle.

Almost as soon as they load it, New York freezes, Ahmad and Winnie find themselves in the world of Paheli and the game begins. The first person in hologram form that they meet is the MasterMind, master coder and rebuilder of Paheli "all new and upgraded for the twenty-first century." She's working for the game master known simply as the Architect. The object of the game is to win the three challenges the MasterMind and the Architect set up and New York along with all its occupants will be unfrozen.

After they learn the object of the game, Ahmad and Winnie make their way to teashop of Madame Nasirah, the gamekeeper. Her job is to guide and help players with the game. She gives them each a knapsack with several items to help them: a map, a water bottle, a lantern, and snacks. Fortified, they are ready to face their three challenges and unfreeze New York.

Along the way, Ahmad and Winnie meet some Paheli residents from Farah's game, besides Madame Nasirah and Lord Amari the Architect. Vijay Bhai, who was 12 when he was left behind in Paheli after his friend Zohra Bhuiyan was ejected from the game by the Architect (see page 214 in The Gauntlet). And Titus Salt, former controller of Paheli, moving the city with clockwork precision, now haunting alleyways since the MasterMind took over Paheli.

The three challenges are as action packed as any video game, all the more so because the MasterMind keeps tweaking the code. Unfortunately, she's tweaked the life right out of Paheli, as T.T., a giant mouse explains "The code doesn't allow for life." For example, the souk used to be a place teeming with vendors, shopkeepers, shoppers, and good smells, now they have repetitive conversations while repeating the same actions over and over. The excitement and activity in the souk was one of the things I really liked about The Gauntlet, and I missed here.

In all fairness to the character of Ahmad, I found him to be super annoying in The Gauntlet and even in the beginning of The Battle, but he did grow and change by the end of the book for the better. Winnie, who is black, is a nice character, smart and kind. She reminded me a little of Farah, but she could have been fleshed out just a bit more.

On the whole, The Battle was a fun book to read, and although I have referred to The Gauntlet a number of times, I do think that this sequel would stand alone. Bottom line: I was very excited when I heard there would be a sequel to the first book, and while I wasn't totally disappointed by this book, it pains me to say that I didn't really love it as much as the first book - and I totally blame it on the MasterMind.

A Mizra is heading back to the City of Paheli for a new game, and in an updated city.

Ahmed Mizra doesn't mean to get in trouble. It just happens. This time, it really wasn't his fault that a classmate--the super smart, goody-two-shoes Winnie--hand-delivered a package to him when he was supposed to be in lunch detention. But he's about to find himself--along with Winnie--on the adventure of a lifetime when the package turns out to be a video-game and supposedly from his older sister, Farah. Ahmed is stunned to learn that this video-game is set in Paheli--a city that he thought he made up and has been sketching since he was a small child. Ahmed has very few memories of his first experience with Paheli, but he most definitely won't forget this time.

The MasterMind will make sure of that.

An intriguing follow-up to "The Gauntlet", "The Battle" sees a return to the enchanted city of Paheli and it's twisted games with a more modern look. This time, instead of three friends going through the trials, it is Ahmed and Winnie who forge a friendship through the trials, learning to trust one another as they solve puzzles, fly rickshaws, and team up with some interesting characters--some of whom are very familiar to the readers.

2,5 stars

The Battle is the sequel to The Gauntlet, and almost like a companion novel. Unfortunately it could not quite live up to the first book. The compelling things from the first book seemed to have fallen away.

The Battle focuses on Ahmad, the younger brother of Farah who she had to find back in the first book. The game was destroyed but managed to rebuild itself and took a more modern route, appearing to Ahmad as a console game. Inside the game everything was also videogame like.

Taking the setting from the middle eastern setting to a generic video game made it lose quite a lot for me. The clear descriptions the first book had felt like they were nowhere to be found in here. It was generic. I had little idea what anything looked like. Adding on to that, the game lost its clear rules and there was just chaos with the challenges. I had no idea what exactly we were heading for in most challenges. It didn’t make it a fun read.

I was excited we got Ahmad as a main character now. From the first book we learned that he had ADHD and I was excited we were going to get that rep in here more front and center. Except I don’t think we did. I think it was mentioned way at the start of this book but the rest of the book just seemed to ignore it. Or that is how I felt in any case.

A theme of the book is friendship which is great. However I don’t understand this friendship. She never gave him attention, never stuck up to him, never smiled at him, nothing. Then this game appeals to her (as the game does) and whoop there she is. They trust each other and that is the end. Again, nothing is actually talked about. Also her personality gave me a whiplash, it was all over the place.

Also there was scene where the police was trying to catch the children and shooting flame bombs at them or something. This bothered me because it certainly didn’t need the violence and it has the potential to be quite triggering for this age group.

Overall I unfortunately didn’t quite enjoy this sequel like I did the first book.

Until I read this book, I had no idea I was a science fiction fan! This book had me from page one. The characters and setting were engaging and I could not put the book down.

A terrific follow-up to The Gauntlet! Riazi draws in even the most reluctant of readers and keeps them engaged. Perfect series for kids who love gaming, but may not be ready yet for Ready Player One or Wildcard.

Years after The Gauntlet, the Architect returns with a new partner, MasterMind, to take revenge on the Mirza family. Now twelve-years-old, Ahmad Mirza must face their latest creation, The Battle. Ahmad is forced back by the Architect to a brand new Paheli. A slicker and more modern update raises the stakes, and with New York frozen in time, Ahmad must beat the game again before it beats him.

Like the first book, the story is structured around three challenges that Ahmad and Winnie must complete to defeat MasterMind’s game. Riazi again gives readers not much time as our characters must rush all over the city of Paheli. Ahmad remembers little from his past adventure, so he’s just as confused as Winnie is. What definitely carries on the from the debut is the fast-paced mix of monsters and high-stakes battles for survival. I loved the descriptions of the new Paheli, it’s an entirely new landscape with some familiarity with Ahmad and returning readers. The world-building of the novel and game design shines through. The old Paheli isn’t there anymore, but parts of it still manage to linger with a more significant emphasis on the steampunk design this time around. I enjoyed the level of detail given to the setting. I’m obviously not the intended audience, but this book is good fun, full of action and adventure.

A similar issue I had with The Gauntlet was the disparity in characterisation between the lead, now Ahmad, and its secondary characters. The Battle introduces Ahmad’s classmate, Winnie, as his companion into Paheli. Throughout the novel, you really get a feel for Ahmad and watch him grown as a person, but Winnie is not as fully developed. She’s a smart and confident girl but doesn’t really impact the story as much you’d expect and felt like a paper character meant to just tag along with Ahmad.

Overall, I have no doubt that younger readers will enjoy the new Paheli landscape with high-rise landscapes, flying cars and familiar faces. A surprising reveal at the end makes me wonder where the future of Paheli could lead. I personally didn’t enjoy The Battle that much which is quite disappointing, especially when I adored the first one. I absolutely loved The Gauntlet, but its sequel doesn’t match up with the magic of its predecessor. It is a solid and fascinating return but to those who loved the world created before may be disappointed by its execution.

Like Jumanji, the game has upgraded it's technology to fit in modern times.
While the setting has changed, the tricks and treachery have not.
The characters have to be even more clever to survive Paheli, making for an entertaining book.

Thank you for the ARC