Wizards of The Game

by David Lubar

Book Overview

Mercer Dickenson lives for the battle. Along with his warrior-mage, Shath'dra, Mercer plans to dominate the world of Zule with wealth and power. But first, there is the little problem of Geography... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399237062
• ISBN13: 9780399237065
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Philomel Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

This book is GREAT and I hate reading!

Wizards of the Game is very suspenseful and full of surprises. This exciting book is easy to read (I am in sixth grade) and you can get through it quickly. Even though it's a fast read, it's still really interesting and holds your attention. It is fantasy fiction with wizards and monsters, who are playing a super cool board game where they try to conquer each other. It doesn't teach you any lessons. It's just for fun. If you are in grades 5 - 9, Read this book!

Wizards of the Game Review

This book was good, funny, and quick to read. The book was about a kid named Mercer who played this role playing game a lot like Dungeons and Dragons. He was in 8th grade. Many kids at his middle school played it. They would play it at Study Hall, have comic nooks, and conventions. He is chosen to lead a school fundraiser and decides to hold a gaming convention at the school. Ed, another kid who got selected to lead the fundraiser, had a bad view of the game. Ed saw the game as a way to worship Satan and demons through black magic. So Ed writes a bad article about the game that gets put in the town newspaper. Protesters come to stop the fundraising convention. Eventually the game and convention gets cancelled but not before 4 wizards staying at the Shelter that will receive the fundraiser donation approach Mercer to seek help to return them to their world. Mercer and his friends summon a portal for the wizards but instead giants monsters come out of the portal. Mercer and his friends try to use their game skills and strategies to protect their town. They eventually get help from a surprise wizard who works at their school and the wizards are sent home. In the end, the school fundraiser was a huge success, however it was not Mercer's idea, it was a combination of a fashion show and garage sale that were the original ideas of Ed and Michelle, another classmate. The book was pretty funny and at some points exciting. I can relate to Mercer and his love for role playing games since I like to play video games. It was fun to read how Mercer includes the game in his everyday life and thoughts. The book also touched on religious beliefs against sorcery and helped me understand a little bit why such games, books, and movies involving sorcery and witchcraft are not favored by some people. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys role playing or video games.

What about the game?

If you like playing Dungeons and Dragons, you will love reading Wizards of the Game by David Lubar. The books is about a boy named Mercer, who plays a game called Wizards of the Warrior World during study hall. The students love playing the game, but others fear they may confuse the fantasy with reality. This creates some problems for Mercer and his friends. Mercer then meets four real wizards and his fantasy world does indeed become reality. I really enjoyed reading this book. I understand how kids could enjoy figuring out strategies and plotting how to conquer a fantasy world. The game seems to encourage competition and a high level of thinking as long as it is only that...a fantasy.

Imaginattion Flying Free -- a review by Emily

Mercer is an ordinary boy, having fun, and letting his imagination go wild. But what happens when Ed, writer of "(h)E(a)D Lines" and Mercer's partner in geography class, figures out about Mercer's favorite wacky game, and what it's about? Then Ed thinks of an idea to end this game of so-called "madness." He decides to write negative comments about the game in the Cryer, the paper that everyone reads. Can Mercer think of a plan to make them understand? While he struggles with yet another problem? Or will his favorite activity lead to a disaster?David Lubar lets his imagination fly free, just like his main character, Mercer. He made all of the facts seem exciting, though some were not quite tied up. But when I reached the end, all the bumps in my understanding smoothed and settled. David Lubar has a simple understanding of a child's desire for humor. He'll do anything to simplify the plot of the book. Yet nothing is perfect -- he has Mercer express his feelings by using bad language occasionally. I think the book could have lived without it. But David Lubar does have a wonderful book, in which he seems to express not just Mercer's mind, but also his own.

Richie's Picks: WIZARDS OF THE GAME

"They say that Cain caught Abel rollin' loaded diceAce of Spades behind his ear and him not thinkin' twice..."--Grateful Dead "What was wrong with these people? Did I go to their church and tell them which songs they could sing? What gave them the right to tell me which games I could play?" Mercer is a kid who is seriously into Wizards of the Warrior World, one of those popular role-playing games. He's got a bookshelf full of spell casting books, chats for hours about it on message boards, and plays with his friends during study hall and on weekends. He comes up with a great plan to hold a gaming convention as the school's annual fundraiser, until all hell breaks loose when another student writes a newspaper article about the demonic qualities of the game and what it is doing to corrupt the participants. "Well, you got trouble my friends..."--Professor Harold Hill In the hands of a lesser writer, this might have been just another somber, confrontational kids versus adults tale (à la Footloose), but when the four REAL--and really down on their luck--wizards show up (they hang out down at the soup kitchen that was to be the beneficiary before the fundraiser got nixed by the school board), things take a turn for the absurd. (You might even say this book is "out of this world.") " 'I destroy wall,' Tortwaller said, thumping himself on the chest. 'Turn bricks to water.' He started to wail and roll his head from side to side. " 'That spell take forever. One hour each brick,' Nelda said. 'Don't be such a nickel head. We grow old, you grow dizzy, hole still not big enough.' " There are some great topics for discussion--WIZARDS OF THE GAME will make a GREAT read for book groups--yet those issues never once get in the way of the fun and the excitement. David Lubar, the former designer and programmer of popular video games, stirs magic, imagination, school board politics, and the First Amendment together into a potion that will turn middle school readers and players into David Lubar fans--as quick as you can say, "Albóndigas!" Richie Partington...