Space Demons

Space Demons Trilogy #1

by Gillian Rubinstein

They came pouring across the screen like alien and menacing insects. Excitement hit him like a fist in the pit of his stomach. Life suddenly seemed more interesting. He re-set his watch and began to play Space Demons again.

This computer game is different.
It won't just draw you in, it will make you part of the game.
And there may be no coming back.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Fantasy, Australia, Adventure

213 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian_...

Also works under the pen name Lian Hearn

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

بعد از خواندن نمایشی در کهکشان سالها دنبال این کتاب بودم تا بالاخره بهش رسیدم...و واقعا ارزش آن همه سالهای انتظار را داشت!یک داستان هیجانی و تخیلی فوق العاده.من بی اندازه رابین اشتاین را تحسین می کنم.

[Caroline Eising · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book featured on the English syllabus when I was in primary school in the late 80s. When I saw the cover in a second hand book sale, it was like a wormhole back into childhood. I had a few vivid memories of the story (one of which turned out not to be in the book at all!) but only vague ideas of what it was actually all about. I was very interested to see how it all turned out.

On re-reading, I was pleasantly surprised at the detailed characters and the number of pre-teen social issues the book hit upon without sounding preachy. Leader/follower conflicts, the struggle for identity, broken families, mental illness - these issues and more come into play as a natural part of the story, intertwined with a rather silly and dated story about a Japanese video game. I can see why the Australian Psychological Society sponsored the book, and why it was put onto the school syllabus (one of the very few sci-fi stories to make it onto a syllabus - and certainly the only non-classic like Brave New World etc).

The dated technology doesn't detract too much from the story (I'd be interested to find out what today's kids would make of game cartridges and Hanimex consoles) and the issues are still valid so I'd still recommend it just as much for todays kids - but perhaps lower the age group to 9-10 year as it isn't that dark, and kids do seem to be becoming aware of these issues at a younger age. The book doesn't talk down to kids and isn't afraid of using complex language. In my edition, some of the words (such as 'enthralling', 'diabolical', 'perversely' and 'exasperated') have been underlined in pencil, as this is obviously a former student's book - I hope you improved your vocabulary, Dale from 7D!

Now to work out where that misremembered scene came from (standing on top of a climbing frame and looking up at the stars). It certainly wasn't in this book - was there a sequel? Ah! After looking up the reviews (something I never do before reading a book or writing my own review) I see it was part of a trilogy and Skymaze really ring a bell. So I bet I'm thinking of that one. I'll have to keep an eye out for a copy!

[Anne Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

First half of the book, three stars. Second half, four stars, maybe four and a half.

Andrew receives a cartridge with a game on it as a present from his father who has just returned from Japan. At first, the game seems a non-event but, suspicious that it can't be as boring as it appears, Andrew tries all sorts of tricks to see how it responds. Eventually he becomes thoroughly addicted but, before that happens, he invites his best friend Ben over to play. Just to see if Ben can figure out how to get in as quickly as he did. Something strange happens: for a moment, it seems like Ben left his chair and whirled into the game to battle the space demons.

It's a hypergame. It turns out to be possible to take a gun from the game and bring it out into the real world. And it's possible to get into the game to fight the demons directly. But if Andrew can get in, who or what can get out? And is the directive 'Respond to hate' as obvious as it seems?

The revelation of charming and popular Andrew as self-centred, selfish and manipulative is exceedingly well-done. The story strips a veil away from Andrew's likeability by slow degrees as he works on Ben, Elaine and Mario to help him feed his addiction to the game.

As Andrew becomes less likeable, so nasty and pugnacious Mario becomes pitiable as his jagged, torn personality and his self-hatred is laid bare. There is courage aplenty at the end of the book but none more so than that of Mario who has to learn to trust.

[Sarah (is clearing her shelves) · Rating 3 out of 5]

13/7 - I have no idea why I picked this one up at the library booksale. It's got the tackiest 80s-style cover imaginable and the story wouldn't normally appeal to me, I would have thought. Except I did buy it, maybe 10 years ago. It started out as a reasonably normal YA, sort of sci-fi/techno thriller, but then towards the end all kinds of YA messages started creeping in and it started sounding a bit preachy. It became quite clear that it's a YA of the 80s, which were written quite differently from the YA books of the current time - no romance and no true supernaturalness. I didn't really feel like the ending was particularly satisfactory for the reader in regards to Andrew and Mario's final feelings towards the game. Elaine and Ben quite clearly learned a lesson about not giving in to hate and what the game did to them, how it poisoned and amplified their feelings, but I didn't feel the same thing occurred to the other boys. They were excited, discussing the ordering of the next game in the series, no longer considering the danger they were in while playing this game. As soon as they were out they were making excuses and saying it was all part of the game, that no one was ever in danger. If I was Elaine or Ben I would be worried about what was going to happen when the next game arrives (something which immediately becomes a problem, as there are two more books in the series, and reading the reviews tells me they seem to follow the same general plot line - play game, get sucked into game, serious danger of never getting out etc. etc. - with the same main characters, who never seem to learn their lesson).

[Alvaro Zinos-Amaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was ten years old and I loved it.

Almost thirty years later, I decided, with some trepidation, to revisit it. I think it holds up remarkably well. Gillian Rubinstein manages to explore a plethora of difficult social subjects affecting teens through her four rich, well-drawn main characters and the game-related situation in which they become immersed. You can enjoy the story on a surface level, appreciating the various twists and turns, but also appreciate deeper metaphorical layers.

Finally, the novel does exceptionally well something that I think the best science fiction narratives do. It directly couples the characters' internal realizations and transformative insights with the main resolution of the plot, so that one wholly depends on the other and they both take place at the same time. Bravo!

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was assigned reading way back in fifth grade, which for me was a whopping twenty-one years ago. And by "assigned reading", I mean to say I didn't read it, which made for a fun lesson when we were each supposed to summarise a chapter each to the class and I had to make something up.

Having finally gotten around to it finishing it, I can tell Mrs Cummings that, no shit, this story is actually really quite good. Better and more engaging than Goosebumps, very much a relic of the late 1980's in the most beautiful way possible, and indeed a fairly clever allegory (or whatever, you know what I mean, Miss) for puberty and teenage angst. It seems to actually be more aimed at early high school readers than fifth graders, as there are some subtle references to suicide, and much explicit exploration into broken families, divorce and child abandonment.

Given the current obsession our culture has with shows that superficially evoke the eighties, they should totally make a film adaptation of this - something that was actually written in that decade, and captures eighties/nineties Australian suburban life wonderfully.

[Amanda Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I randomly picked this up out of a Little Free Library, and I really enjoyed it. It's intriguing with good character development. I will be keeping an eye out for the next two books.

[Feral J. apone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had only one shelf reserved for books in my early teens and this book stayed on it. I can’t tell you how many times I read space Demons but I never got sick of it. It was that good.

As someone who grew up in the era of the Commodore 64, I knew the thrill of finding a hidden game on a floppy disk and the frustration that came when it didn’t always work. Space Demons recreates that exciting world of digital discovery from the 80s. I do admit that now days the technology and pop references might be a little dated But don’t let that get in your way if you want to have a go. The story is compelling and was unique for its time. The character development is solid enough to last the entire trilogy.

This book perfectly mirrored my love of computer games and was a staple of my young adult hood. Gillian Rubinstein, later known as Liam Hearn is a hell of a writer that has taken me on many an exciting journey. Highly recommended.

[Samantha Parkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished _Space Demons_ by Gillian Rubinstein, a novel about a cocky, privileged British kid who gets a video game as a present. Once he and his friends play the game, their envy for each other turns to hatred, and this sucks them into the game where they play for much higher stakes. The emotions the kids feel in the real world fuel their desires to escape into the game so that they feel like winners. I love the book because it portrays children as people who are emotionally intelligent and capable of reflecting, forgiving, and healing. I read this book when I was a child and was excited to my children. My daughter (6) liked Ben (the protagonist’s best friend) and my son (9) liked the part where they had to shoot the space demons from inside the game to keep from dying. She gave it 5/5 and he gave it a solid 8/10.

[The Book Squirrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this (or a teacher read it to us) AAAGES ago back in primary school but I couldn't remember the whole story. I thought I'd pick it back up and see what it was like. And, it's still pretty good. I think it stands the test of time, overall.
I really liked the lesson on hate feeding on hate. Emotional regulation is something that can be really difficult for some kids, but SOO important for them to learn in order to have functional relationships with others.

[Erica Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish the game descriptions were more detailed but I like the concept. The overall story was actually darker than I expected, and it’s well-written, with young characters that are fleshed out

A group of kids who are all dealing with personal/family problems end up playing a video game that gradually seeps its way into their real lives, and they find themselves battling more than just their inner demons—they must find a way to come together, refuse to hate, and ultimately beat the game.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband LOVED this book as a kid. I read it for him. It was good. Forgot I read it, though.

[Kathryn O'Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Hanieh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book started a new chapter in my life and im forever thankful for that!!

[Zoe Butler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't really write a good review, I read it for school and it is not my genre of hook bit there wasn't anything majorly wrong with it.

[Samuel Oden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book greatly! Love the deeper meaning behind this game…this book. Just goes to show that love conquers all. Can’t wait to read the sequel!

[Mitchell George · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Space Demons holds a special place in my life - after receiving it in a Kris Kringle exchange, it was one of the first books that I really, really powered through as a child, and I remembered adoring it in those days. A tale of kids my age, playing with insane, reality-warping video games and filled to the brim with bizarre angst? Sign me up!

I've long lost my copy, but back in July, I decided to give the book a long-overdue re-read. In what I remembered as an epic, in-depth science fiction masterpiece... well, suffice to say, twelve-year old Mitchell wasn't quite at the point where I understood what qualified as a 'masterpiece'.
That might sound harsh, but I want to say - I don't hate this book. It's just a very silly, very strange novel made for kids and teenagers, and I'm certainly no longer the target audience, so take that with a grain of salt.

The book primarily focuses on Andrew, who's father gifts him a video game designed by a genius Japanese scientist. What originally seems to be a fairly basic - if beautiful - computer game involving rocket ships, quickly takes a more sinister turn when Andrew enters the game to shoot the titular Space Demons - how's that for an FPS? Andrew slowly begins to be turned by the game, treating his friends and family with more disdain and cruelty, eventually falling into conflict with the hardcore swearing, mohawk-wearing Mario - the ultimate gamer bad boy.

Suffice to say, the book has a bit of an underlying criticism of video game addiction - Andrew and Mario particularly are constantly talking about playing the game, to the detriment of those around them, with Andrew using it as an escape from his domestic life. It's very heavy handed in this criticism, but the book was written in 1986... I think I can cut it a little slack in that department. Of course, there is more going on - especially in regards to dysfunctional families and whatnot, but I honestly only think Elaine's character arc regarding this felt well-rounded enough. Still, it's a very bold book, even if I don't think the dialogue and characterisation quite do enough heavy-lifting.

The biggest sticking point I had with the book was the ages of the characters. The majority of the child cast seem to be in the last year of Primary School (elementary school for you yanks), so are all roughly around twelve years of age. Pretty much all the dialogue, ranging from Andrew's darkening mood, to Ben's near psychological breakdown, to Mario's James Dean x 100 attitude problems do not feel like the kind of behaviour relatively normal pre-teens would go through. Honestly, of the main cast, new girl Elaine feels the most well-written, as her emotional turmoil is tied to her deadbeat mother, and the fact she and her father never stay in one place at a time. But otherwise, hearing twelve-year olds rant about 'the game feeding on hate' or whatnot constantly pulled me out of this very silly story.

This was also the early era of video games as a whole, a time when their worlds were flat, monocoloured wastelands, but even then, whilst Rubinstein does a pretty decent job of conveying the rather depressing world our protagonists share - lots of rain and dreary, Australian autumn weather - I could never picture the world within Space Demons. A lot of references to scrolling cliffs and pitch-black caves, but I could never visualize these worlds, which is a shame. Honestly, even a single illustration or two of the interior world of Space Demons would've gone a long way in better conveying it, but perhaps this would worked better back in the 80s - by the time I read this book, I'd already been immersed in the gorgeous 3D world of Jak and Daxter or Super Mario 64, and just couldn't connect with this archaic description.

Space Demons is a very silly, very charming book. Penned in a time before video games were such a large piece of our lives, this leads to a lot of very odd descriptions and some heavy-handed messaging. Coupled with these bizarrely written pre-teens and utterly ridiculous moments (a lot of kids insulting each other in some pretty brutal ways in this book) makes this book hard to recommend. But, at the same time, I have a lot of love for it, as I credit it with sparking a lot of my love for reading. It's silly, it's funny, but it's also quite stupid and hard to take seriously at the best of times, but if you've got a love for video games or just need a breezy read to make you giggle, I think you'll find Space Demons has something for you. I'm a little sad that my feelings on it have waned so much, but it'll always, always have it's place on my shelf.

[Sharni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Revisiting an old favourite.

[MichaelK · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this in my school library when I was 7 or 8, and thought it was amazing. The book contains a single swear word which shocked and excited me; swearing was naughty. I read the sweary passage out to my friends, giggling.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was about 11 or 12 years old, so I suppose I could easily relate to the characters back then. I've been quite nostalgic about this book for the last decade or so, and I finally decided to track it down and re-read it at the age of 33. I guess at this age I expect characters in novels to be a bit more rounded out, the descriptions a bit richer. This is not an exceptional book, but still enjoyable enough to read. I think teenagers of this decade would laugh at the computer terminology used, and the pop culture references are hilariously dated now - remember the "Agadoo" song?!

Four stars from my 12-year-old self, but more like 2 stars if I had read it for the first time now.

---

Just finished reading Space Demons to my kids, aged 8 and nearly-11. They are probably a bit young for it, but they mostly liked it, and I enjoyed reading it to them. 4 stars this time.

[Mender · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book, I can see why it would be YA popular in the ... 80s? Kids get sucked into a computer game, the game becomes real and starts to infiltrate their lives.

But I really hated the POV changes. They aren't marked, they just happen. You start off in Ben's head, mid-scene you're in his mothers head, then it jumps to following Andrew. It's just whoever the author feels like talking about at the moment, there's no discipline to it. I thought perhaps it would turn out to be plot related, that perhaps the game had a hive mind which caused all minds to be interchangable or something, but no. It's just how it's written. I'd have put it down at the first chapter in a slushpile read.

It's a good story, the ending is trite, characters don't earn their change of hearts, I just didn't care for it at all.

[Jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm on a roll with computer-styled games but this is where the rolling stopped. Actually, it's the first book I read on this theme and it's because of school.

Space Demons is outdated, kind of simplistic and hard to get through even though it's not very long at all. The characters and whole situation is based decades ago. Probably at the time it was a good read - there is mystery in the beginning, but it goes down hill quickly into a clunky 'thriller'.

The better computer-inspired books I've read recently are Ender's Game (which is also really old, but reads okay in the present - probably because exit's science fiction and set in the future instead of Rubenstein's Space Demons which is in the 'present'.... 1980s?). The other really, really good example of a computer-styled book is Contest by Matthew Reilly. It's clear and doesn't try to include too much teen angst.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book for kids and one that would hold up quite well to this day. A young enigmatic teenager is given a mysterious Japanese prototype game that when played sucks you into the game and has you shooting 'demons'. with a gun that is powered by hate. When the bridges between the two worlds start to crumble and the demons from the game start appearing in the real world Andrew and his three friends, who are also playing, must learn to conquer their hatred and give up their guns if they are ever to make it out.

Very exciting and imaginative and despite the stress and fear this game causes at the end when they finish the game they are offered the chance to play the sequel....which they immediately decide they might want to do!

Good for teenage boys and girls

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Space Demons was an awesome book; I remember having to read it for class when I was in grade 6 and absolutely loving it. The concept of being pulled into a computer game where your power is fueled by hate is both creepy and interesting. The strength of the book lay in the parallels that Rubinstein drew between the world inside the game and outside - seeing the characters in action tells us far more about the characters' personalities and personal problems that a paragraph of solid info. "Space Demons" is more about dealing with the "dark side" of their natures rather than bashing space demons, so if you're looking for action, you'll probably be disappointed.

[Charles Kos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genius!

First read this book in maybe grade 5, about 1992, or earlier. Then I read Skymaze. I saw both books again at the Salvoes and picked them up. Read Space Demons again. The excitement is still there! A tremendous plot, fabulous adventure, incredible brooding horror of the unknown.

This is good but Skymaze is way better. Compared to other books, easily clocks five stars, making Skymaze a six or seven.

Charles Kos, author of "In Search of the Origin of Pyramids and the Lost Gods of Giza."

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked it up at the used book store because the cover (and title) promised some formulaic campy 80s fun in the "video game becomes real" YA subgenre - but we were once again stung: it turned out to be an awkward attempt to use the trappings of the genre in a psychologically wholesome way. Well-intentioned, but not too impressive or satisfying in the execution.

[Destiny Awaits · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our teacher read this to us in year 6 and it was pretty damn awesome. It was a kind of psychological thriller and I can't really remember much about it now but it was one of those things that just made you happy to be hearing it. So I can't say for sure the five stars are well deserved, but for catering to its target audience it did its job.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little heavy handed and vague with its after-school special-style themes, but there's nothing really wrong with it, other than general dullness and hard-to-picture descriptions of a video game world. Children's literature should be more fun than this.

[Emma Hoare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book many moons ago when I was in Year 7 and I STILL think about it. Every time I catch something out of the corner of my eye I think of this book. Time to get me another copy and take another look.

[Kimberley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book!
Read it in Primary School and here we are 20 years later I found it in a 2nd hand book store, bought it, read it again and LOVED it even more.
Was ahead of its time then and very enjoyable to read now :)