The Game Master’s Gloves by R. S. Pastore is a kid’s book designed to encourage young gamers to develop a love of reading. It does so through integrating an exciting kids-focused story with fun gaming moments and a few positive life lessons.
It stars three kids who are about 12 years old: Hunt, Jace, and Phoenix. Like many in our day and age, they are excited about video game esports leagues, and at least one of them dreams of being a professional gamer. The difference is that in this book’s world, esports leagues began in the mid-1980’s after the release of the Maxetor gaming systems, and the extremely popular Dashpoint series of video games.
Today, Hunt and his friends compete with others in Dashpoint 5, the latest in the series. It features advanced technology, including the ability to generate levels on the fly using AI. It even goes so far as to mimic other famous games, both past and present. This is one of the coolest parts about the book; it makes references to a variety of retro and modern titles. In just the second chapter, the author references many games such as Double Dragon, NBA2K, and Rocket League. He does a great job of mixing real gaming history with that of the book’s fictional Maxetor consoles.
Eventually, Hunt’s father is donated an original Maxetor console, games, and the Game Master’s Gloves. The latter of which declares Hunt to be the Game Master, and that he would never lose a competition again if he wore them and did what they said. This sets off a chain reaction of events that contributes to strife among the three friends, Hunt’s parents, and others in a local North Carolina town. Generally speaking, most of this is handled in an entertaining fashion that keeps the story progressing in a believable way. Usually, the events are laid out so as to end chapters on cliffhanger, thus encouraging readers to continue further just a little more. Additionally, when Hunt and his friends became afraid at times, they did so in a manner that makes sense. Moreover, these scenes were written in a way that was easy to understand and relatable to kids.
However, the story did falter in a couple of areas. The most unfortunate was when the specific origin of the gloves was explained. The characters who conveyed the story leading up to them were among my favorites in the book, but the real beginning of when the gloves first obtained their power was a bit weak. After completing the chapter that discussed the topic, I thought, “OK. Well, I guess I will just keep going.” As in, it wasn’t a satisfying explanation. There’s also one other disappointing aspect. That being Hunt’s dad! He seemed really apologetic. It’s like he never told Hunt to do anything. He just asked him to. It’s like, “If you disagree son, that’s totally fine! Just do what you think is best!” Ugh! The dad really grated on me. Of course, this being a kid’s book, the parents are not going to be the main characters, but still… irritating.
On the other hand, some of the main concepts of the book were conveyed very well. One was already touched on, that being the combination of a fictional gaming history with that of retro video games. Although I’d like to share a bunch more of the references the novel makes in this area, I’d rather you find them out for yourself. At least one of them was a great joy to read about. It made me laugh out loud!
Beyond that, there were other major themes that are especially helpful for young readers. I truly appreciated that the concepts of obsessing about video games and winning in a competitive environment were explored during the story. The book does a great job of sharing both the pros and cons of esports and how it can impact young gamers who want to go into that kind of life. It also provides practical advice on having a reasonable relationship with video games and how to be relatively healthy while doing so. These comments were well written, and I was impressed to see them included in the book.
When considering the novel as a whole, The Game Master’s Gloves by R. S. Pastore is not just entertaining and fun to read, but also presents reasonable life advice in the context of video games. Because of that, I recommend it highly! I’m glad that I read it, and I hope it helps younger gamers to enjoy reading as well.
Review Overview
Summary: An enjoyable reading adventure starring three kids that also makes many references to retro video games. It contains a few positive lessons that are helpful to share with young gamers who want to go into the world of esports, thus making the book that much better!
Title: The Game Master’s Gloves
Genre: Kid’s Book
Year Released: 2024
Author: R. S. Pastore
Read On: Amazon Kindle.
Price Paid: Free, from a promotion by the author on Amazon.
Remember, we can have different opinions about the games we play. If you like something more (or less) than I do, both of our perspectives are valid.
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