Book 53 of 2023: Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett

[vivdunstan]

This is a children's book, first published in 1992. Though I'd read most Terry Pratchett books - including all the Discworld ones - this series of three books is new to me. The main character is a young school boy, Johnny Maxwell. Who in this first book gets caught up in a computer video game crossing into the real world, and a desperate fight for survival. All set against the backdrop of the 1990/1991 Gulf War. Johnny has a gang of friends who help him to various degrees, and the book is a vivid insight into a school boy's life in the period, and computer gaming culture in Britain at this time. It's also a powerful anti war novel, and extremely contemporary to its time. There are also moments that struck me as familiar from now - one particular visual image is phenomenally reminiscent of the Covid era. Really good stuff, that I wish I had read long ago. And I will definitely read the sequels.

Comments

[a_cubed]

The sequel Johnny and the Bomb (also a strong anti-war novel) was made into a pretty good TV adaptation (I think by the BBC).

[vivdunstan]

Yes it was the BBC, though much earlier ITV had made a version of the middle book, Johnny and the Dead. Neither of which I've seen!