Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment. Their representation comes in the form of sprinkled-in lines about bowing and “gaijin,” which smacks more of exoticization than authenticity, especially as they are seen through Ian’s perspective.įor all its cool premise, this fantasy’s full of tropes but no surprises. Ikumi, a girl whose avatar has “eyes like an anime character's," is Japanese, as is one of the game’s creators. The surname Rivera is the only indicator of cultural identity for Ian and his family. Mancusi packs the story with references to memes, video games, and Disney in the vein of Ready Player One (the movie is actively referenced in the text). In order to beat that boss-Atreus, a red dragon with fire power-Ian’s party needs to collect three Elemental Stones from the other three dragons that maintain balance in the world: earth, water, and (no, not air) ice. When the game’s ultimate, undefeatable opponent seizes control of the game, the stakes rise to the highest possible level: die in the game, die in real life. Now he gets to enter the world through Dragon Ops, a mixed-reality theme park on a small island. Ian Rivera, a 12-year-old misunderstood gamer, loves the Fields of Fantasy role-playing game more than anyone. Trapped inside a mixed-reality game, two siblings race the clock to defeat a villainous AI dragon and rescue their cousin.
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