Author: Karen Lord

Title: The Galaxy Game

Genre: Sci-Fi

Publication Date: January 2015-paperback edition

Number of Pages: 320

Geographical Setting: Four Galactic Planets (one is earth called Terra)

Time Period: Futuristic

Plot Summary (from Amazon): On the verge of adulthood, Rafi attends the Lyceum, a school for the psionically gifted. Rafi possesses mental abilities that might benefit people . . . or control them. Some wish to help Rafi wield his powers responsibly; others see him as a threat to be contained. Rafi’s only freedom at the Lyceum is Wallrunning: a game of speed and agility played on vast vertical surfaces riddled with variable gravity fields.

 Serendipity and Ntenman are also students at the Lyceum, but unlike Rafi they come from communities where such abilities are valued. Serendipity finds the Lyceum as much a prison as a school, and she yearns for a meaningful life beyond its gates. Ntenman, with his quick tongue, quicker mind, and a willingness to bend if not break the rules, has no problem fitting in. But he too has his reasons for wanting to escape.

Now the three friends are about to experience a moment of violent change as seething tensions between rival star-faring civilizations come to a head. For Serendipity, it will challenge her ideas of community and self. For Ntenman, it will open new opportunities and new dangers. And for Rafi, given a chance to train with some of the best Wallrunners in the galaxy, it will lead to the discovery that there is more to Wallrunning than he ever suspected . . . and more to himself than he ever dreamed

Characteristics of Sci-Fi Genre: This story is not lacking in the jargon that usually companies a sci-fi novel. From the name of the planets to the name of the characters, the reader can instantly tell that the story is set in a place much different than the one we currently live in. The story pulls you into a galaxy that makes you imagine the "What Ifs" and "If Only's" that could occur in another time or place. A story that appeals to the intellectual and speculative nature of this genre. You must remove yourself from the present and place your mind in a world unlike the earth of today. The situations in which the characters find themselves are beyond what we could experience currently, therefore the mind must create the world as the story unfolds. While we follow the three main characters through not only a coming of age story but an understanding of the world around them, the tone of the world is dark and does lend itself to the issue of war among the planets as characteristic of the genre.

Overall Thoughts: I normally do not read this genre as my brain doesn't do well with creating such worlds and scenarios that are so different from my own. I did fumble through with the bits that explained places and backgrounds because of the jargon used to describe them, but because I connected with the emotions of the characters in the story, I did find the book enjoyable. The felt the turmoil within the young people as they try to crave their place in a changing world riddled with power struggles, while trying to figure out how to balance their own power struggles created by their super human powers. 

Subject Headings:

Psychic-Fiction

Alien

Appeal: Other worldly, Furturistic

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Enders Game

Harry Potter

Dune