Pixel Raiders: Space Fortress is the 4th book in the series about two children who are really into gaming called Rip and Mei. They get invited to a Virtual Reality beta test and try it out but something goes wrong and a virus enters it and one wrong move and Rip and Mei will be stuck in the game forever.
In this book, they’re drifting through space in a rickety old spaceship after just finishing the last level and get a mission from a kooky wizard to go to the centre of the universe and defeat the virus in the game. But before that they have to outrun space pirates, survive a crash landing and even battle each other in an arena!
This book is very exciting and adventurous. I say that because the adventures they get up to and you never know what’s going to happen next. This story is in the present and is set in cyberspace and fits into the genres of science fiction, adventure and a bit of comedy. The illustrations in this book are cartoon style and it also has a HUB that you would see in an actual video game showing their XP, level and how many objectives they’ve cleared.
It also has good authors Steven O'Donnell (A.K.A Bajo) and Stephanie Bendixsen (A.K.A Hex). They are in the ABC show Good Game and Good Game Spawn Point, both gaming shows reviewing games and showing gaming news. Bajo was raised in a farm in Toowoomba. He loved to play any game he could and spending time with his animals. Hex grew up in Australia, then New Zealand, then Australia again. She enjoys playing any type of video game and has two cats Gandalf and Merlin.
I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait for the next one to come out! My favourite part of this book is probably the ending where they face the virus. I don’t have a least favourite part of the book because all of it is good! I like the characters as they are very relatable and fun.
I would recommend this book to kids around the age of 7-12 and have an interest in technology and gaming because the whole series is a game! This doesn’t have a very high level of language but does have some gaming terms some people may not understand.