The Forbidden Game

Another series by the ever-brilliant LJ Smith, writer of The Vampire Diaries and The Night World series. And I have to say, this is another brilliant example of how young adult fantasy should be. This series follows Jenny Thornton, who unwittingly becomes the target of supernatural forces when she buys a board game for her boyfriend's birthday party.

While trying to fix a last-minute party for the love of her life, Sixteen year old Jenny wanders into a store on the wrong side of town. "More Games" is a weird collection of old and new games, with some of the strangest stuff she's ever seen... including Julian, the shop teller. He recommends a plain white box, and after seeing it, Jenny knows she'll buy it.

Without knowing what's inside the glossy white box.

And when her friends arrive, they open the box to find a paper house, ready to be constructed. Despite it seeming childish, they all feel compelled to construct the place, and throw themselves into the task. But once the house is constructed, and the players assembled, the game begins.

Unfortunately it's like no game you've played before. The teenagers are transported into another world, and from inside the house, Jenny's friends are distributed around the house, locked in rooms where they must face their worst nightmares. And Jenny has to find them.

The books follow different games set up by Julian, all with the purpose of taking Jenny with him forever, and the friends must play by his rules to save her. And it turns out that his obsession with Jenny has been going on since before she walked into his shop...

This story is a really brilliant, and it's basically the classic story of good vs evil, but with teenagers, and those teenagers having no magic. There is a lopve triangle, but instead of introducing someone to a girl in a loving relationship and the girl then running off with him, the progression of emotion is a lot more believeable as all the characters become more 3D as the story progresses.

I've found that some books that were written for a different generation of teenagers sometimes become irrelevant to the others. This series was written in 1994 and maybe because of the classic story basis still manages to appeal to me, and others, now. Though the original book covers are a lot less appealing nowadays...

Above is the original cover for the first book of the series- "The Hunter"

Basically, this is a brilliantly dark, creepy, imaginative story written by someone who for me, is one of the icons of the genre, and now that her books are being re-released (with GORGEOUS covers) theres really no reason not to get at least one of her books to get a good look at just why I started reading fantasy.

Also- the older readers here should remember Point Horror? from the nineties? Well this series was actually published in that collection! So a little blast from the past there :P