The Forbidden Game (The Forbidden Game)

by L.J. Smith

[Leah]

If you haven’t heard of L.J. Smith, then you clearly haven’t been around the Young Adult scene for very long, because she’s a bit of a legend. She’s the entire reason The Vampire Diaries was even a thing, and has written more books than I can dream of writing. However she’s not without her controversy and she was famously fired by Alloy Entertainment in 2011 because she wanted to write The Vampire Diaries her way and they wanted to follow the TV show. I’m very much on L.J’s side here because although Alloy have the copyright and basically hired L.J. to write for them, they kinda come across as jerks. They get these amazing writers to write these books then they just hang them out to dry and that’s NOT COOL. #TeamLJ For my shame, I have only read the first four Vampire Diaries books (they’re basically so different to the TV show so trying to watch the show and read the books skews your thoughts) and that’s literally all I’ve read from L.J. Smith, but after reading Caraval, a review kindly said that The Forbidden Game, a bind-up of L.J. Smith’s three Forbidden Game books was better, I was all over it.

The Forbidden Game brings The Hunter, The Chase and The Kill together, as one mammoth 750 page book that’s very hard to put down. It’s enthralling, pulse-pounding, thrilling and you’re never sure what’s going to happen next. It’s very much rooted in the supernatural and the whole concept is that seven teenagers are put through the ringer, all because Jenny arranged a pool party that couldn’t happen because of bad Cali weather and decided that a board game would do instead. They should have played Monopoly. Was Monopoly even out in 1994 I have no idea. Mass chaos ensues as the game turns out to be real. It’s a paper house, with paper players, until all seven of them recount an oath that everything that happens in the game happens, and all of a sudden the boy from the game story where Jenny bought the mysterious game, is basically making all their worst nightmares come true. And that’s just the first book.

This trilogy is insane. I read the first book in one evening, the second book prior to going to work and I finished it off the same evening with book three. I was enticed from start to finish, curious to see what Julian’s end game was and why he was so obsessed with Jenny; why he went out of his way to so thoroughly ruin her life (that sounds so dramatic, but it’s the tip of the iceberg people!!!!). To read this book you have to believe a bit in the supernatural, in magic and mysticism, of which I do, in books anyway. I love other worlds and crazy superstitions and I love the idea of what was basically a book Jumanji (BTW I am dying to now watch the original Jumanji). The games the characters go through are intense, they’ll get your heart racing and you’ll wonder if they’ll all survive (especially if you’ve watched The Vampire Diaries and you know just how characters die with literally no warning. I am a CYNIC).

You don’t get to learn too much about the characters, this book is basically a 750 page book about surviving. Again and again and again, but in different circumstances each time. We know and care about Jenny, Tom, Summer, Michael, Zach, Audrey and Dee, but it’s mostly Jenny who is the driving force and Julian is also a massive, massive part of this trilogy. He starts out as this mysterious guy, then he’s like the villain but then his arc changes… and honestly? I have no idea how I felt once I closed the book. I let out a huge breath, but I was also conflicted. I was sad, I was a bit teary, a bit emotional and it’s a credit to L.J. Smith’s writing that she could make me feel this way about a character who was pretty horrible, who did some shady things, and all in the name of love…

The Forbidden Game holds up so well. I didn’t know this trilogy was released in 1994, and there’s not a lot that tells you it’s a 90s book. Sure, there are no mobile phones (man, simpler times or what?!) or constant selfies, but it’s such a refreshing change that you don’t miss any of this newfangled technology (or I didn’t). L.J. Smith is a fantastic writer, she kept me hooked for 750 edge-of-your-seat pages and I just wanted more games! I know it’s awful to want that, considering what we saw the group go through but it was so compelling. The stories didn’t feel repetitive or over the top, and I wanted more from this shadow world. There’s a teaser there that leaves the door open for more, if L.J. Smith wanted to write more (although she seems to have fallen off a cliff, not having been seen on Twitter since 2015 *weeps*) and I would read more. A Julian origin story would be brilliant. Even after all this time. I have now gone and requested all of the L.J. Smith books from my library because I need more from her! I am so glad I got recommended this book, because it’s brought me an author that I’m excited to read books from, and I can’t wait for my reservations to arrive!