Terry Pratchett

The inimitable author of the bestselling Discworld series brings to life a reality-bending tale of aliens, war, and virtual heroism, as 12-year-old Johnny Maxwell discovers that the boundary between war and war games is perilously thin.

Only You Can Save Mankind

It's just a game . . . isn't it? The alien spaceship is in his sights. His finger is on the Fire button. Johnny Maxwell is about to set the new high score on the computer game Only You Can Save Mankind. Suddenly, a message appears: We wish to talk. We surrender. But the aliens aren't supposed to surrender—they're supposed to die!

Meagan Fischer 

An interesting premise and alright execution. I might have given it 4 stars if I were in the target audience of preteen to teenager. I also think that reading it as an e-book made it harder to enjoy just due to the way the large amount of dialogue appeared on the page. Quite different from the Discworld books I've read from him in the past.

Kirsten Simkiss

This is my first time ever reading Terry Pratchett. I know, everyone says to start with Discworld but I haven't gotten that far yet. While Discworld appears to be his most popular series, most of the people I know had never read or heard of the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, making me a pioneer in this particular series at least within my friends.

It's intelligent children's writing, though dated. How uncomfortable a feeling it is to start considering that all the aliens we killed in our first person shooters were actually living things we were tricked into slaughtering under the guise of a game. It's also proof positive, of what little we get of the real world, that while times may have changed some, they still have a lot more growth to undergo. It has a character of color named Yo-Less (a nickname, I'm not sure we ever got his real name) who has to flee the site of a car accident involving a stolen car he wasn't even in because he's worried the cops will assume he was involved. The female character, Kirsty, deals with sexism from every male character, forcing Johnny to reevaluate his understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of women. It also touches on a subject that still troubles children to this day: how to deal with parents who are divorcing.

While all these bits and pieces of the real world are good, the majority of the plot involves what happens in their dreams and, honestly, was not as enthralling as I'd hoped. It's a bit like Galaxy Quest lite. I don't want to spoil things, but it didn't quite hit the spot as far as sci-fi books go.

I don't know that I would recommend this book to friends, seeing as it was only okay. It certainly isn't among the best of the books I've read in the genre. However, I can't really say anything bad about it either. It's an okay book. It's definitely safe to read for all ages, that being said.

Jordan

Luca Masters

Pramit Pal

Tim Pennington-Russell

Daniel Waterhouse

IF NOT YOU, WHO ELSE? As the mighty alien fleet from the latest computer game thunders across the screen, Johnny prepares to blow them into the usual million pieces. And they send him a message: We surrender. They're not supposed to do that! They're supposed to die. And computer joysticks don't have 'Don't Fire' buttons . . . But it's only a game, isn't it. Isn't it? The first book in the Johnny Maxwell trilogy.

Only You Can Save Mankind

Reviews