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Game On!
Get your game on!
Jaden wants to be the next King of Games--and he has the instincts, the skills, and the confidence to make it big. But when he makes an enemy of a powerful teacher, and a rival of Duel Academy's top student, Jaden's path to glory is suddenly paved with trouble.
But it'll take more than a few bumps to throw this duelist off his game! His attitude might be easygoing, but he's serious about dueling. And he's not alone--Jaden's new friends are there to help him along. Game on!
Jaden wants to be the next King of Games--and he has the instincts, the skills, and the confidence to make it big. But when he makes an enemy of a powerful teacher, and a rival of Duel Academy's top student, Jaden's path to glory is suddenly paved with trouble.
But it'll take more than a few bumps to throw this duelist off his game! His attitude might be easygoing, but he's serious about dueling. And he's not alone--Jaden's new friends are there to help him along. Game on!
- GenresFantasy
96 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2009
1 person is currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Tracey West
742 books549 followersTracey West is the New York Times bestselling author of Dragon Masters, a series in the Scholastic Branches line. She has written more than 400 books for kids, including the Pixie Tricks series and the Underdogs series with Kyla May.
Some readers also know Tracey for writing books based on animation such as Pokémon and LEGO Ninjago.
She currently lives in the western Catskills of New York with her husband, Bill; their adopted dogs; and a whole mess of chickens.
Some readers also know Tracey for writing books based on animation such as Pokémon and LEGO Ninjago.
She currently lives in the western Catskills of New York with her husband, Bill; their adopted dogs; and a whole mess of chickens.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 16, 2024
I lost interest in Yu-Gi-Oh! after the original series, and this is the main reason why: an academy PURELY for playing Duel Monster card battles—which wasn't even the reason I liked the ORIGINAL series.* Ugh. Imagine an academy PURELY for playing Rock Band (not making an *actual* rock band, playing real instruments, but the *video game*), or an academy PURELY for LEGO Star Wars. What actual life lessons are being learned at such a place? I mean, at least Pokémon is about actual animals that exist LITERALLY EVERYWHERE in their world, so training to catch them at least has an in-universe purpose.
I have to assume this is basically a young reader version of the anime, since—oddly enough—the only complete episode I've seen is the very last one, just because I wondered how it ended. No, didn't really care how it started, since that felt (and feels) unimportant.
Anyway, Jaden is the "next" Yugi, so much so that the actual Yugi shows up and hands him a card, just when Jaden is late for his admissions exam (good job making a good first impression). He pisses off the examiner, who personally gives him an unfair exam to teach him a lesson about being late, but—naturally—he pulls some weird strategy out of his behind to completely give the examiner a smack down. I barely even read the details of the duel, since all of the mentioned cards are unfamiliar and may as well have been like school kids gesturing and yelling Dragon Ball-style attacks at each other.
The rest was what feels like a normal "first years'/bottom performers' hazing" kind of introduction to the school, which has a somewhat classist dormitory setting: Blue is the elite/rich kids, Yellow is the average folks, Red is Jaden and the other "bottom tiers" (despite Jaden's performance in passing an unfair exam). I mean, the book CLAIMS it's based on merit, but I have to wager that, regardless of story reasons, Jaden isn't exactly swimming in money, so Red Dorm is actually just the "poor" people. They just really want him to be some kind of underdog, I guess.
Then Jaden gets the attention of a Blue Dorm kid and they have an unauthorised after-hours duel, which isn't allowed, so they have to end it abruptly at the risk of punishment, possibly expulsion. Really cheap, but oh no, can't have Jaden ACTUALLY show up the snotty elite kid so early! Ugh.
Basically, all this does is justify my decision not to watch the show. Actually, pretty much every Yu-Gi-Oh! that isn't the original series justifies my decision not to watch the show (and even the original was an extended yawn, honestly, but at the time there weren't a lot of new things to watch). There's an amount I want to watch a clip of the cat, though. That has my curiosity piqued, haha.
Recommended for... the increasingly small audience who still enjoys GX but is also a very young reader. Also included a poster, I guess? (My copy's used and... doesn't.)
*The original Yugi started out playing all different kinds of games, and some of them were pretty clever! Yet once the trading card game was introduced, it became this one-note series where everything was solved with the "Heart of the Cards": believing badly enough that a card—usually one made up JUST for that scenario—would appear and help him win the duel. Like Jaehwan with stabbing, or Saitama with one punch.
I have to assume this is basically a young reader version of the anime, since—oddly enough—the only complete episode I've seen is the very last one, just because I wondered how it ended. No, didn't really care how it started, since that felt (and feels) unimportant.
Anyway, Jaden is the "next" Yugi, so much so that the actual Yugi shows up and hands him a card, just when Jaden is late for his admissions exam (good job making a good first impression). He pisses off the examiner, who personally gives him an unfair exam to teach him a lesson about being late, but—naturally—he pulls some weird strategy out of his behind to completely give the examiner a smack down. I barely even read the details of the duel, since all of the mentioned cards are unfamiliar and may as well have been like school kids gesturing and yelling Dragon Ball-style attacks at each other.
The rest was what feels like a normal "first years'/bottom performers' hazing" kind of introduction to the school, which has a somewhat classist dormitory setting: Blue is the elite/rich kids, Yellow is the average folks, Red is Jaden and the other "bottom tiers" (despite Jaden's performance in passing an unfair exam). I mean, the book CLAIMS it's based on merit, but I have to wager that, regardless of story reasons, Jaden isn't exactly swimming in money, so Red Dorm is actually just the "poor" people. They just really want him to be some kind of underdog, I guess.
Then Jaden gets the attention of a Blue Dorm kid and they have an unauthorised after-hours duel, which isn't allowed, so they have to end it abruptly at the risk of punishment, possibly expulsion. Really cheap, but oh no, can't have Jaden ACTUALLY show up the snotty elite kid so early! Ugh.
Basically, all this does is justify my decision not to watch the show. Actually, pretty much every Yu-Gi-Oh! that isn't the original series justifies my decision not to watch the show (and even the original was an extended yawn, honestly, but at the time there weren't a lot of new things to watch). There's an amount I want to watch a clip of the cat, though. That has my curiosity piqued, haha.
Recommended for... the increasingly small audience who still enjoys GX but is also a very young reader. Also included a poster, I guess? (My copy's used and... doesn't.)
*The original Yugi started out playing all different kinds of games, and some of them were pretty clever! Yet once the trading card game was introduced, it became this one-note series where everything was solved with the "Heart of the Cards": believing badly enough that a card—usually one made up JUST for that scenario—would appear and help him win the duel. Like Jaehwan with stabbing, or Saitama with one punch.
September 16, 2012
Jaden shows everyone who's boss, but Chazz can't stand being second place.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews