Poznanski does a great job illustrating just how seductive the world of Erebos is, and convincingly depicts what appears like addiction. I imagine it would be especially good for young gamers, who might be able to see themselves in Nick. Can Nick and his friends figure out exactly what–or who–Erebos is, before it’s too late?Įrebos is a fun, lightning-quick read.

Nick gets further and further sucked into the game, even as the game’s quests get creepier. After finally getting his hands on one, Nick enters the immersive computer game world of Erebos, where the graphics are amazing, the music is almost hypnotic, and the game reacts to you almost like a living, learning creature. Erebos is the story of high school student Nick who notices some funny things going on at his school–his friend Colin becomes withdrawn and no longer answers his texts or comes to basketball practice, other students are consistently absent, and some people are secretively passing around a CD. So as a lifelong fan of video games, I was looking forward to picking up Erebos, by Ursula Poznanski.

I play a mean Pikachu and Toon Link in Super Smash Bros.: Brawl, and can still remember the first time my friend R and I beat final boss Master Hand in the original Super Smash Bros. At various times, my brother, father, and I have simultaneously played computer games like Morrowind, City of Heroes, and of course, World of Warcraft. I cut my baby teeth on the Sega Genesis (and totally dominated at Sonic 2 and The Lion King), graduated to the Playstation, and fell in love with the GameCube. With a gamer for a dad, we grew up always having computer and video games around the house.

Ursula poznanski erebos 2