Gamers' Quest by George Ivanoff is a computer game married to a novel format. The fantasy story line is built around a series of plots, each of which are completed by the characters before they move onto the next stage of this unfolding drama. The range of characters we meet grows as does their skills and abilities. As they progress they acquire weapons and tools to enable them to complete stages and advance in their quest.

The main characters, Tark, Galbrath, Zyra and The Cracker, separately begin a journey of discovery. They don't all have the same objective and, when their paths cross along the way, which they do frequently, they either, more or less, compete or cooperate. Their main foe is The Fat Man. They also meet and deal with a variety of other interesting adversaries. The book ends with a twist that keeps it true to its computer game structure.

This is a relatively simple book to read and is clearly designed to entice and capture young game players into the magic of reading and using their own imagination to add the spice, colour, drama and action to the story. The author has written over 30 books for children and teenagers. An experience reader of fantasy would look for much more than this simple story with its staccato plot and thin character development. The most rounded character is the evil Fat Man.

Gamers' Quest was a winner in the 2010 Chronos Awards, which honours the best works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror produced by Victorians in the previous year. This would be a good book for a young person who you may consider to be too close to computer gaming and who may benefit from having their imagination channeled elsewhere.