Rodomonte's Revenge

World of Adventure #2

by Gary Paulsen

Best friends Brett and Tom love the new virtual reality game, Rodomonte's Revenge, until the computer infiltrates their minds and transforms the game into something dangerously real

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Fantasy, Childrens

82 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Gary James Paulsen was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote more than 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for teenagers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1997 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gary Paulsen's World of Adventure stories don't waste time getting into the action, and as short as the books are, that's important. In Rodomonte's Revenge, Brett Wilder and Tom Houston are very different kids: Brett is a clever video gamer with an eye for recognizing patterns, and Tom is an athletic type whose aggressive gaming style is tempered by superb instincts. Gaming is their only shared interest, but they're best friends, so Brett and Tom are first in line on the morning that Rodomonte's Revenge, a state-of-the-art virtual reality arcade, opens at the Downtown Mall. As a team, the boys expect to be more than a match for the single game the arcade owns, but VR is a wilder experience than they anticipated.

Brett and Tom must survive a world of volcanoes, buzz-bugs, tunnel spiders, deadly winds on high mountain ledges, and a seemingly invincible king, Rodomonte, who will stop at nothing to guard his treasure. The adversity proves too strong on the first trip through the game; Brett and Tom hardly make it to the mountain before dying. A long line of customers are waiting, so it will be days before Brett and Tom can try again. Not long after leaving the arcade, however, they both have vivid delusions of buzz-bugs attacking others around them. Something has gone wrong with the VR technology, but is it fixable? Yes...but it will require Brett and Tom to reenter the video game and defeat it without losing a single life, or they will die for real. Can two resourceful gamers defeat a ruthless AI presence? If ever Brett and Tom needed the clutch gene, it's now.

Rodomonte's Revenge carries the seed of an impressive story, but the narrative plausibility is leaky, and that is the book's undoing. If the premise were supported better, this could be a superb exploration of potential problems spawned by VR technology. As is, I'll rate it one and a half stars, and it wouldn't have taken much for me to round to two. This sort of plot-light book isn't Gary Paulsen's strength, but I'm optimistic about the World of Adventure series going forward. I'm curious what volume three will be like.

[Eddie Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this book back in the second or third grade and I just loved it. It is a story that takes in a virtual reality arcade game. A mix of Enders Game and Tron(?) (that might not be the best analogy) Either way. Definitely a far stride from The Hatchet and all those stories that Gary Paulsen is better known for. Still a great read for young ins. This is the book that got me into reading books for fun.

[Chris Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book always bugged me as a kid. As I remeber it, the why/how any of it was happening was sparse to non-existent, there was a baffling section where it just has the two walking for an extended period of time (like 30 minutes) which would never exist in an arcade game, and how they need to one shot like 90% of the game after only being able to beat the first bit of it before.

That said, minor props to being one of the earliest Game Lit books published.

[Richard Mayotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid Quick Fun

I read this book in the fifth grade and it stuck with me. Over the many years since reading, I have forgotten the title but never the content. I googled the premise and after an all day google search I found this book again.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is all about when virtual reality goes bad. It’s a fun adventure and reminded me of one of my favorite Scooby-Doo movies: Scooby-Doo and the Cyberchase.

Lava rivers and
Giant bees and spiders are
Less fun in real life.

[Thomas Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just want to say that I love love love this book.

[anthony P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Childhood classic

[April Suter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two boys get to play a new artificial intelligence video game that becomes real and they must solve the game or they lose their life.
Even though the book is a little dated, video gamers will enjoy this Paulsen story.

76 pages

[Dena]

Kids books are still fun to read - even if they are only 78 pages. Will be passing this one along to Ben - he'll love it!

[Sterling Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

IT IS SOOOOOOOO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!! Paulsen over did him self on this one!