The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith

I finished this right before I’m about to head off for my week long softball camp – lucky you. AND LUCKY ME, seeing as this book was amazing (but we can get into that a bit later). I thought that I should tell you guys that I think I have a minor case of pink eye in my right eye…. I think I got it from one of the damn colored contacts that I bought – and I wore them almost all day. It pained my poor right eye to finish this book, but I got through it! For you guys. Mostly for me though. :D

If you had to choose a couple words to describe Jenny, they would probably be something along the lines of these ones: innocent, kind, and most importantly – good. When she and her friends get caught inside a seemingly harmless board game, Jenny learns that the mysterious boy who sold her it is the ruler of the shadow world – a place the exact opposite of anything good. How will she get her and her friends out alive (who have to face their worst nightmares by themselves), and also escape Julian’s obsessive idea of having her light to match his shadowy darkness?

To start off, I would just like to say that I loved this book. I’ve always loved L.J. Smith’s writing, and this just helped me love it even more. The Forbidden Game was brilliantly written, full of never ending action which you have to expect from three books in one – another thing that I love about Smith’s writing.

But the one thing that I know that I can always rely of from L.J. Smith is her wonderful villains. I don’t mean that their actually wonderful… their actually quite horrible sometimes, but come on give them a break – they’re villains! What I mean is that her villains are memorable! The people that make the main character go through hardship, are not always enjoyable to read about and the thing about villains is that you have to love them as much as you hate them. The part that made this book so amazing was the beautiful Julian. This villain did have a vulnerable side, and that was that he longed for the innocence of the main character, and in the end it brought out a part of him that made a GREAT ending.

I don’t want to turn into a fan girl on this review, but damn! Julian was the highlight of the book, and I couldn’t wait for the part where he would come up and make some more trouble or give another difficult clue. I sort of got angry that Jenny didn’t give into him, but everybody knows that never happens because authors like to piss the readers off.

I give this book a big 4.5 because despite all of awesomeness, the story ran on a bit and too many similar themes for each section.

Here is her official site if you want to take a look at her other books, I strongly suggest the Night World series… and also her older ones like The Secret Circle and Vampire Diaries. http://www.ljanesmith.net/index.htm If you find the thing at the beginning annoying, you can just click on it and go on through. (I was clever enough figure it out.)

LATER Cheese Graters,

MRR