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Saving Thanehaven
Noble is a knight with a heart that's true and, well, noble. With his not-so-trusty sword, Smite, he fights his way through a vicious, unfriendly landscape, sure (or at least, he thinks he's sure) that one day he'll defeat the bad guys (whoever they are) and win the heart (at least he guesses that's the idea) of a beautiful princess. Then one day Rufus comes along and turns his world upside down. Rufus has his own ideas about how to get ahead: don't fight, negotiate! Don't play by the rules! Suddenly, life is more interesting--and less painful--than ever before. But the new rules are harder to live by than the old ones, and suddenly, it appears possible that Rufus might have an ulterior motive--at the very least! With a slippery, ever twisting plot that is set inside a very confused computer, Catherine Jinks's latest novel will pull in fans of adventure, computer games, and just plain fun.
Releases simultaneously in electronic book format (ISBN 978-1-60684-284-3)
Releases simultaneously in electronic book format (ISBN 978-1-60684-284-3)
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
1 person is currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Jinks
62 books538 followersCatherine Jinks is the Australian author of more than thirty books for all ages. She has garnered many awards, including the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award(three times), the Victorian Premier’s Award, the Aurealis Award for Science Fiction, the Australian Ibby Award, and the Davitt Award for Crime Fiction. Her work has been published in Australia, New Zealand, Britain, the United States, Germany, Spain, France, Portugal, Poland, Russia, the Czech Republic and Thailand.
Catherine was born in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1963. She grew up in Papua New Guinea, where her father worked as a patrol officer. Her high-school years were spent in Sydney, NSW; in 2006, her alma mater, Ku-ring-gai High School, named its library after her.
From 1982 to 1986, Catherine studied at the University of Sydney, graduating with an honours degree in medieval history. She then worked on Westpac Banking Corporation’s staff magazine for approximately seven years. In 1992 she married Peter Dockrill, a Canadian journalist; in 1993 she and her husband left Australia for a brief spell in Nova Scotia, where she began to write full time. They returned to Australia in 1994, and Catherine gave birth to her daughter Hannah in 1997. Since 1998, she and her family have been living in Leura, NSW.
She has two brothers, and two pet rats. Like most people in Leura, she has become a slave to her garden, but not to the extent that she’ll buy rooting powder.
Catherine has been writing books since she was eight years old. She doesn’t expect to stop writing them any time soon.
Author photo: Catherine Jinks in front of 'Conceptual Networks', by artist Paul du Moulin.
Photo by Paul du Moulin
Catherine was born in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1963. She grew up in Papua New Guinea, where her father worked as a patrol officer. Her high-school years were spent in Sydney, NSW; in 2006, her alma mater, Ku-ring-gai High School, named its library after her.
From 1982 to 1986, Catherine studied at the University of Sydney, graduating with an honours degree in medieval history. She then worked on Westpac Banking Corporation’s staff magazine for approximately seven years. In 1992 she married Peter Dockrill, a Canadian journalist; in 1993 she and her husband left Australia for a brief spell in Nova Scotia, where she began to write full time. They returned to Australia in 1994, and Catherine gave birth to her daughter Hannah in 1997. Since 1998, she and her family have been living in Leura, NSW.
She has two brothers, and two pet rats. Like most people in Leura, she has become a slave to her garden, but not to the extent that she’ll buy rooting powder.
Catherine has been writing books since she was eight years old. She doesn’t expect to stop writing them any time soon.
Author photo: Catherine Jinks in front of 'Conceptual Networks', by artist Paul du Moulin.
Photo by Paul du Moulin
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 6, 2013
Saving Thanehaven has an intriguing concept. An ambitious one too, and that is the problem I think. It may have been a little too ambitious. I was never able to fully relate to the characters because I knew they were computer systems, parts of a machine. Yes, they are given personality, but a good portion of the book is dedicated to them figuring out they are a computer system and working to save the computer from crashing. The whole thing was a uneven and it was longer than necessary. I may have come at this one at the wrong time though as my writing students had an assignment similar to this recently. They actually wrote stories I enjoyed more.
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November 29, 2020An intriguing premise which might descend into technobabble to the uninitiated.
Good characterisation but ultimately the reader is aware that they are all players in a game.
Good characterisation but ultimately the reader is aware that they are all players in a game.
July 2, 2014
Video gamers and techies will definitely find a lot to like in this novel from Down Under with a story that looks at what happens when video game characters decide they want more freedom than they generally have since their existence is defined by the plot of their games and the players who own their computers.
It all starts from Nobel the Slayer as he is trying to get to the castle to save the Princess Lorellina from the clutches of the evil Lord Harrowmage. With his trusty sword Smite, he is working his way along, slaying evil henchmen, when he meets Rufus. Rufus is quite the stranger. In fact, he is not from Thanehaven. He has entered Thanehaven to convince its residents to throw off the chains of their bondage to the game so they can live their own lives as they see fit.
And thus starts a journey through various games and sections of the computer as Rufus and Nobel recruit allies to their cause. The problem is that things are not as they seem, and the changes they are cause create major problems, causing Nobel to really question what he has gotten into. Is Rufus rallying people to the right cause or is he the source of trouble that could lead to all of their destruction?
I have always liked Jinks unique sense of humor. It is not really punnery so much as it looks at everyday life in a new light to make you smile about them. She definitely continues to do this with her newest book.
I also thought it was intriguing how the book really uses the characters and settings to help explain concepts like computer data storage, deleting files/programs, transferring data between devices, and even what the kernel is. While some readers might find this a little draggy with relation to the story, this is a big part of what made me find the book so humorous (and probably is a nice way to help younger readers understand the technology by putting faces on it!).
This is definitely worth a try if you or your middle schooler or older are into video games or computing.
It all starts from Nobel the Slayer as he is trying to get to the castle to save the Princess Lorellina from the clutches of the evil Lord Harrowmage. With his trusty sword Smite, he is working his way along, slaying evil henchmen, when he meets Rufus. Rufus is quite the stranger. In fact, he is not from Thanehaven. He has entered Thanehaven to convince its residents to throw off the chains of their bondage to the game so they can live their own lives as they see fit.
And thus starts a journey through various games and sections of the computer as Rufus and Nobel recruit allies to their cause. The problem is that things are not as they seem, and the changes they are cause create major problems, causing Nobel to really question what he has gotten into. Is Rufus rallying people to the right cause or is he the source of trouble that could lead to all of their destruction?
I have always liked Jinks unique sense of humor. It is not really punnery so much as it looks at everyday life in a new light to make you smile about them. She definitely continues to do this with her newest book.
I also thought it was intriguing how the book really uses the characters and settings to help explain concepts like computer data storage, deleting files/programs, transferring data between devices, and even what the kernel is. While some readers might find this a little draggy with relation to the story, this is a big part of what made me find the book so humorous (and probably is a nice way to help younger readers understand the technology by putting faces on it!).
This is definitely worth a try if you or your middle schooler or older are into video games or computing.
September 5, 2014
Saving Thanehaven by Catherine Jinx is about a young man whose name is Noble. Noble's daily life is fighting monsters, slaying dragons and saving princesses. Soon Noble finds out (by the help of Rufus) that he's life of heroism and good deeds were nothing more than a mere computer game. His life begins to change dramatically and soon noble finds himself learning how to think in his own way.
The author made this book truly amazing. I loved it when she made noble not understand simple things because his mind is in the middle ages. "Noble can't understand this. It makes no sense to him"(pg29). I think this could relate to a lot of people like when you speak French and move to a school were you need to learn English. It also tells you about how your life can change in an instants and there is more to your life than what you think know.
I would rate this book a 4.5/5 because it had lots of parts that were dramatic. Like the part were Noble doesn't know who to believe in any more or when the computer starts taking damage and the world starts to crumble. There were also boring parts to the book that is why it didn't get the highest marks it could have gotten. All in all this was one amazing book that I would recommend any one that likes fantasy and sci-fi it, it is the greatest combination of the two I have read so far.
The author made this book truly amazing. I loved it when she made noble not understand simple things because his mind is in the middle ages. "Noble can't understand this. It makes no sense to him"(pg29). I think this could relate to a lot of people like when you speak French and move to a school were you need to learn English. It also tells you about how your life can change in an instants and there is more to your life than what you think know.
I would rate this book a 4.5/5 because it had lots of parts that were dramatic. Like the part were Noble doesn't know who to believe in any more or when the computer starts taking damage and the world starts to crumble. There were also boring parts to the book that is why it didn't get the highest marks it could have gotten. All in all this was one amazing book that I would recommend any one that likes fantasy and sci-fi it, it is the greatest combination of the two I have read so far.
February 5, 2014
Set in a videogame, this book would be benefit from some online cheat codes that allow readers to skip to the end. Quest titles (and videogames) are tedious unless the creators either ramp up the action or offer characters to care about. Unfortunately none of these are included in Saving Thanehaven. Rufus, a hacker, inserts himself into a videogame and attempts to liberate everyone from their programmed path. Noble, the hero, is told he doesn't have to fight anymore, gargoyles don't have to be frozen in stone, and the princess doesn't have to wait around to be saved. The bad guy here is the antivirus software tries to defeat Rufus and replace the now glitchy characters with replacements. Other reviewers have praised this book saying it's perfect for gamers. Not so, when the games themselves are far more appealing.
August 18, 2013
Saving Thanehaven is far from the first book to marry the idea of a computer game and a fantasy novel. Epic in particular from a few years ago is the best of the lot, and Catherine Jinks, who had a solid start to a series with Evil Genius, is trying something a little different here that ultimately did not work for me at all. While it tries to bring this subgenre to a middle grade level, it ultimately ends up being a slog of a short book that continues a streak for me where Jinks just might not be the author I want. There's some here that works, but most of it, unfortunately, does not.
September 28, 2014
A highly enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek sort of story. It gets off to a slightly slow start, but makes up for that later. Fans of Ready Player One, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, and Only You Can Save Mankind will appreciate this adventure that takes place entirely within the circuits of a laptop.
April 1, 2015
Imagine that you're a knight, fighting your way to the castle to save the princess. But what if it turns out you're actually the bad guy, keeping the princess imprisoned in her castle because to leave it would mean certain abduction? Noble the Knight finds himself facing that very dilemma in this action-packed adventure for ages 11+. A young man named Rufus shows Noble that there is another way, that feuding and fighting may not be his only lot in life. But there is more to Rufus than meets the eye and sometimes what has been written cannot be changed.
December 23, 2013
Very unique! The rendering of the inner workings of a videogame, software, hardware, etc. is really interesting and unique. The spoofs of popular computer games or types of games was very funny. The mystery of Rufus--the computer and the real one--is great. The struggle and mystery about what is right and best in each situation is very presented; the book is thought-provoking as well as a great adventure.
March 6, 2016
This book would seem a lot better if you could relate to it more. It seems like it was written to be funny... but you have to know computers to get the jokes. It follows Noble and his friends as they travel through a computer, but I don't get the parts of a computer, other then very basic parts. Looks like it would be good, but I wouldn't recommend you haveread it unless you have built and programmed your own computer.
October 12, 2014
Noble the knight is convinced by Rufus that he can choose his destiny. He doesn't have to fight. Thus begins a journey of discovery and destruction inside a computer.
Along with other characters from games on Mikey's computer, Noble trails after Rufus until things start to fall apart. Can Noble save Thanehaven and the other 'worlds' inside the computer?
Along with other characters from games on Mikey's computer, Noble trails after Rufus until things start to fall apart. Can Noble save Thanehaven and the other 'worlds' inside the computer?
May 21, 2014
I loved the idea but I didn't like the characters or the way they acted.
June 14, 2021
Clever premise, cleverly worked out…but once the penny dropped I just lost interest. Maybe would have worked better for me as a short story?
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews