Well, there's clearly a right time and a wrong time for many books to come out. This came out at very much the wrong time, when the online world was ablaze with news of Mr Beast and all the problems caused by him breaking copious rules, bending many moral laws, and of course hanging out with a gender-dysmorphic groomer. Allegedly. It takes you a mere couple of pages to realise the character Sir Hype is a more rugged-looking Mr Beast equivalent, and now that Sir Hype has bossed the world of competitive-race-up-mountain-utube-videos, he's moved the production into a different world – a cyber one, using tech featured in this author's previous sets of books. But Archie, our main character, did a bit of rule-bending himself, and kind of fluked a hole into the online game world for him and lots of others competitors – in such a way they became very, very stuck in it.

The problem with this is that reading about asinine adoration of utube stars is no better than the actual thing in real life. Yes, it might 'talk to' a certain kind of reader in the right way about the right thing, but it isn't at all for everyone. And for some reason, whenever there was action here – a demolition derby of cars, a real-life 'the floor is lava' contest – I found the writing didn't get enough detail across, lacking in engagement and clarity. Still, these books are only for fans of computer games who would want to read about having to live one through, and that is certainly what this achieves. I just know the author is able to go about it better than this – which he actually proved with the sister book to this, released the same time, "My Friend From the Future". Two and a fraction stars.

(I'm reviewing this together with My Friend from the Future)

You probably don't remember Nick Arcade, but I certainly do. Well, these books remind me of that. A young hero, plopped into a real life video game, trying to make it through all manner of scrapes and obstacles. Tapping into the current cultural cache of video games and streaming, the author uses those facets of modern life to craft a fun, interesting story for younger readers. Highly recommended for any young gamers in your life.

My 10-year-old son is enjoying this series by Dustin Brady. He loves the humor and adventure. I love that his love of video games and his love of reading find a great home in this fun new series.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this e-ARC!
3 stars

There are some realllly cringe moments in this book, but in the way that was intentional and just fit a generation that grew up with YouTube. Sir Hype really encapsulated a lot of huge YouTube creators, and Archie's love for him for sure fit what I see from my own 9-year-old niece with creators she likes. So honestly, even though multiple instances at the start had me rolling my eyes, it's a very fun and cute modern children's fiction book. There's also nice little lessons, especially for this generation, showing that creators are putting on a persona for them (even if not all may be as sucky as this one is). So yeah, overall, an easy read and something I could see being a good recommendation for this generation of kiddos.