A Dangerous Duo

by Shawn Pryor, Francesca Ficorilli (Illustrator)

Overview

A new supervillain named Mutiny Doom has come to town and kicked Cynthia Cyber out of her evil lair! Mutiny plans to do the thing that Cynthia can't do—defeat The Gamer once and for all! But when The Gamer is overwhelmed by Mutiny and his monsters, an unexpected team-up may just save the day!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666348316
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	08/01/2022
Series:	The Gamer
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Lexile:	540L (what's this?)
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

About the Author

Francesca Ficorilli was born and lives in Rome, Italy. Francesca knew that she wanted to be an artist since she was a child. She was encouraged by ther love for animation and her mother's passion for fine arts, which she passed down to Francesca. After earning a degree in animation, she started workign as a freelance animator and illustrator. She finds inspirations for her illustrations in every corner of the world.
Shawn Pryor is the creator and co-author of the graphic novel mystery series Cash and Carrie, co-creator and author of the 2019 GLYPH-nominated football/drama series Force, and author of Kentucky Kaiju and Jake Maddox: Diamond Double Play. In his free time, he enjoys reading, cooking, listening to streaming music playlists, and talking about why Zack from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is the greatest superhero of all time.

Interviews

Although they produce goosebumps, the tales are still age appropriate;

Editorial Reviews

02/01/2023

Gr 3–5—The Gamer is 13-year-old Tyler Morant, who uses a device to activate powers and weapons for his battles against wicked digital monsters. Early in the book his nemesis, Cynthia Cyber, is defeated and replaced by malicious Mutiny Doom. As Tyler is playing in Crescent City Arcade, living versions of monsters from the games go on the attack against children. Tyler activates his powers and goes into combat first against the monsters, then confronting Mutiny Doom himself, eventually, with an assist from Cynthia. Text is sparse, typically with no more than four paragraphs to a page and fewer than 20 words per paragraph. Many pages feature onomatopoeic exclamations in enormous fonts, such as "KRASHHHH!" when The Gamer's energy field is destroyed by rocket fists. Illustrations are plentiful, but have a clumsy, computer-generated feel, are often oddly framed, and do little to complement or advance the story. The volume, written at a first to third grade reading level, concludes with a glossary of words highlighted throughout the text, such as atom, lair, and portal, as well as a list of discussion questions and writing prompts. VERDICT With little character development or plot, poor illustrations, and simplistic writing, this one is unsuitable for most libraries. Not recommended.

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