Review: Gauntlet, Holly Jennings
Holly Jennings’ Gauntlet is better than the first book in the series, improving on the action sections and dealing with more complex themes.
Yes, it really is possible to play video games for money. Even gaming companies like Nintendo have acknowledged this in the past few years, although their Super Smash Bros. 4 Invitational was basically an ad for the game at E3. Holly Jennings has just taken that trend to its logical extreme: in the future world of Gauntlet (and the first novel, Arena) pro gaming is another sport, with VR tournaments offering plenty of prizes. Kali Ling, after the events of the first book, is now a player-owner of Team Defiance, and when she and her team receive an invitation to a tournament featuring the best teams from around the world, how can they say no?
All in all, Gauntlet takes the good parts of Arena and makes them better, but at the same time, it feels as though it tries to tackle too many things at once instead of keeping the focus tight. Overall, it gets a 3.5/5 stars.
The Good
Kali remains a great heroine. She retains her toughness from the first book. It seems as though Jennings has learned not to repeat “the warrior” quite so many times, which is nice for those of us who read books practically straight through. However, she does have to deal with escalated forms of her problems from the first book, and throws in more based on the fact that she now owns the team as well.
Additionally, though there is a dose of romance between her and Rooke, the book both avoids the love triangle (no spoilers, but I definitely thought it was coming at one point) and seems to focus more on friendships anyway. Yes, she and Rooke have their moments, but Jennings fleshes out the other three Team Defiance members by making sure Kali talks to each of them individually and supports them.
Basically, this book goes by on the strength of Kali Ling and the action scenes, which remain excellent as always. (It certainly helps that Jennings justifies what happens in-game by pointing out that gamers now have to be strong in real life as well to accommodate the VR pods and also do all that they do in-game.)
Finally, this book does feel like a really nice escalation from the events of Arena. It’s framed around yet another tournament, but the details and the surrounding plots make it more complex than just trying to make it to the top. Although it may have more pages than Arena, it seemed to go by faster for yours truly, and that’s not always a bad thing.
The Not-So-Good
(Some thematic discussion follows; I don’t consider it a spoiler, but you might. Either way, you’ve been warned.) Now, Arena primarily focused on the idea of addiction and actually showed different outcomes. Gauntlet picks that up and runs with it, but also adds in other themes like dealing with queer stereotypes, overcoming fear, and still more. There’s a lot.
Fortunately, the dialogue never devolves into after-school special style, but it does occasionally feel a bit flat or bumpy. Ultimately, the strength remains in the addiction storyline, for reasons I won’t divulge lest I ruin the surprise for all of you. The others come off as slightly rushed at points or perhaps just too packed-in.
Finally, and this is rather a nitpick, the classic gaming references are about appropriate for a 20-something and above, not the older teens who might be picking this up as a foray into more adult fiction. This series does certainly have some crossover, but it falls more to the adult side of things.
The Recommendation
Gauntlet naturally flows from Arena, and so, as per usual, you should start with the latter and not the former. I’m intrigued enough to keep an eye on this series, and it would work best for those who do have some history with video games but also like their entertainment to involve the occasional book as well.
Next: Review: Red Sister, Mark Lawrence
Arena and Gauntlet are both on shelves now.