⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5
After a slow, dull start, it really improved when the author got into his stride.
This book is described as sports science fiction which sent a shiver of boredom down my spine. I have very little interest in sport in general, but football especially. I don't know the rules of the game, what the different positions even are, let alone their role in the game!
My initial assumption was so wrong though. It touched on the game of football and other than the PIV armbands and the feedback it gave on the wearer during the game there was absolutely no Sci-Fi in it either.
If you're a young teen or you want to get this book for a young teen (the main character is 15 years old so older teens may not be able to relate to it) and they want a quick read (I read it, start to finish, in about 6 hours) but isn't, like me, interested in either football or science fiction then get this book.
I'm only knocking off the star because of the inclusion of big brands like FIFA and Adidas as well as several big name players like Diego Maradonna and David Beckham, which could, potentially, leave the author in deep trouble with such big brands for using their brand names without prior permission or signed contracts or whatever as well as quotes at the start of every chapter which wasn't properly credited, other than the name of the person who said it and who they were/are. That's the only reason though.
It's a good book and a quick read at only 33,000 words as opposed to the industry standard for YA sci-fi books of 80,000-90,000 words so it should, technically have been more than doubled in length... even the shortest length for YA to be considered by most publishers is 45,000 words so it was a minimum of 12,000 words under for that too!
Suggestions for volume 2? Increase the word count or market it as a short story rather than volume 1.
