Saga

Epic #2

by Conor Kostick

The breathtaking sequel to the multistarred Epic ! Ghost is part of a street hacker airboard gang who lives to break rules. When they realize that their world—Saga—is being periodically invaded by strange human beings, they don’t know what to do. That is, until they learn the complicated Saga is not just their world. It is a sentient computer game, the replacement to Epic on New Earth, and it’s addictive. The Dark Queen who controls Saga is trying to enslave both its people and the people of New Earth. And she’ll succeed unless Ghost and her friends—and Erik, from Epic , and his friends—figure out what to do.

Watch a QuickTime trailer for this book.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult, Dystopia, Fiction, Adventure, Teen

384 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

Conor Kostick was a designer for the world's first live action role-playing game, Treasure Trap. He is the author of many historical, political and cultural articles. Epic was his first novel and was awarded a place on the International Board on Books for Young People Honours list for 2006 and on the Booklist Best Fantasy Books for Youth list for 2007. Set in a fantasy MMORPG, Epic can be considered an early example of LitRPG. The sequel to Epic, titled Saga, was first published in Ireland in 2006. Conor received a Special Merit Award from the Reading Association of Ireland in 2009.

In 2018, Conor joined Level Up as commissioning editor to publish LitRPG books.

https://www.levelup.pub/what-is-litrpg

Reviews

[Nicky Nunney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the premise of this book, and I enjoyed reading about Ghost and her skateboarding and the punk tones in the book.The only thing I didn't enjoy about the book (and it's a minor thing, I guess) was the way in which The Dark Queen's chapters were written. I'm looking forward to reading the final book in the trilogy.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Jennifer Rummel for TeensReadToo.com

Eric and his new girlfriend are vacationing when a new computer game infiltrates the system of EPIC. Everything except Cindella disappears, and a new game is left in its place. The new game of Saga has similarities to the old game; it revolves around class and trying to improve one's standard of living.

However, Cindella begins to realize that this new game - is not really a game. She also learns that the mastermind behind the game put a little something extra into it that seeps out into New Earth, infecting the players so they become addicted to the game. Cindella could kill the Queen of Saga, but in doing so would have to kill two million of her people simultaneously.

With the help of Ghost, a girl who doesn't know her own power, Eric must find a way out of this disaster.

The twists and turns of life on Saga make this science fiction novel a quick and enjoyable read, especially for those who play video games.

[Nevergreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this is the first book I have managed to finish in about 2-3 months. I was doing so well with my challenge, then life happened. However, progress in life and a read book!

I really loved the first book in this trilogy – in fact Epic is currently my top new read of the year thus far – so I wanted to read more. I thought I had an idea about where this book was going to go, yet it didn’t go there. On one hand this is a good thing as it didn’t follow the typical trend of a series. However, this book – a sequel to the previous book – ignored important world consequences that would have happened as a result of the previous book. I would have liked to have learned more about those consequences and the ramifications. In the second book it seemed as though the world lived on like the big things that happened in the previous book did not happen. Thus this book is more of a companion book then a sequel.

I did like the new cast of characters, which was interesting and unique with their own voice. Also Ghost was clearly described as black and this had no baring on her life, she was just another person, which is fantastic. The ratio of male to female characters in this book is vastly improved over the last book which I appreciated. The writing sometimes struggles at times, but other times it was very beautiful.

The slang of the characters in Saga was interesting but for a world that has had 2000 years to develop, it was stuck in the 90s punk stage, which was very odd. There was hoverboards, I guess as a way to make it feel futuristic, but there were still billboards and card readers and chips for money making it an interesting mash-up for a setting which could be hard to get into. This world also had the typical dystopian faction system, this time card colours dictated how you lived life and what jobs and money you got. Interesting, but nothing revolutionary. There was a distinct lack of world building at certain parts as well, however the consequence certain things occurring that were not really discussed was thoroughly and wonderfully discussed.

Overall, this book did not do what I expected. It was interesting but also kinda ‘meh’ for me. I wanted more worldbuilding and/or for things to be revealed faster then they ultimately were. However, the idea of silent parties where everyone brings their own music and headphones to listen with and dance around to your own beat sounds so neat but it would be so creepy to see a large group of people dancing with no sound at all.

Full review of this book can be found on my blog (shortly).

[Justus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second in the Avatar Chronicles, the sequel to Epic. Whereas in the first book the setting was a medieval-inspired MMORPG, we're now in a futuristic metropolis. It's clear from fairly early on that this is also a virtual world (although the inhabitants of the world don't realise this), and the connection to the characters from the first book doesn't seem forced. However, their real world story takes a back seat this time, and we follow the 'virtual' protagonists for the most part.
The protagonist this time is part of an anarchopunk movement, which I credit the author as displaying in a way that makes their cause relatable even to a 13-year-old me to whom this was a very foreign concept. It might also be that I'm getting FF7 vibes from the small group of rebels hiding in desolate buildings from the government.... It's also serving some of the other tropes you'd expect from a book of this setting, but that didn't really detract me. I felt like the writing had definitely improved from Epic, including multiple POVs and some more abstract writing than in the first volume. All said, another very solid book; and I'm looking forward to reading the third volume for the very first time now!

[Keaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book Saga, written by Conor Kostick, was a very good book. It is the sequel to the book Epic. In short, Eric is a character in his world, who has a character in their virtual world named Cindella. Cindella meets this girl named Ghost, who has no idea who she is, or why characters such as Cindella are entering and leaving her world. I think that the plot and the characters in the book were good. As previously mentioned, the book was good. However, I think there was only two slight flaws.

The book was slow at first, and it - at least in my opinion - wasn't as good as the previous book, Epic. Epic was a very captivating book, that had many twists and turns. I feel that Saga was just a rewrite of Epic in that sense. Don't get my wrong, Saga was still a good book. It featured many interesting characters and there was still a few plot twists that would be hard to see coming.

Overall, I rated this book a 4 out of 5. The story itself was good, and the characters were interesting. The biggest reason overall that I didn't give it a perfect score is due to the fact that it follows a very similar plot to its predecessor, Epic. I would definitely recommend this book if you are a person who is in to the fantasy genre, but I would also recommend reading Epic before you read Saga. Conor Kostick does a great job creating a very original series, and this book is a definite read if you are into the fantasy genre.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a relatively easy, quick read, but - at least for me - it didn't capture the magic or maintain the momentum found in the predecessor, Epic.

Taking a step back, I'm frequently amazed by how much really good literature - or well-crafted, interesting, and compelling reading - is available for teens and young adults today. Having picked the first one, Epic, off my son's bookshelf a while back, I enjoyed it and thought it was a lot better than the far too generic stuff we were fed as kids, but not nearly as good some of the top tier stuff currently on library and bookstore young adult shelves. I felt similarly about this one, but I enjoyed it less. Conversely, I can imagine teen sci-fi and cyber-punk readers - not yet ready for William Gibson or Neal Stephenson - easily becoming immersed in the story line.

I was just looking back at my review of Epic, and I was reminded - in reading this book - that I had the same reaction to both books: "The author periodically struggled to keep the characters' use of language consistent, which was slightly irritating, but, for the most part, it wasn't a terrible distraction." Which leads me to conclude that - with better editing - this had lots of potential.....

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this exciting and inventive follow-up to EPIC, you’ll meet Ghost and her band of anarcho-punk friends. They live in Saga, a virtual world - only they don’t know it is virtual. The Dark Queen and her assassin are the only two with the true knowledge of how their world came to be.

The inhabitants of Saga live in a rigid class system based on the color of the card you hold. The majority of the citizens hold red cards, the card that represents the lowest class, and live a dreary existence.

Ghost and her loyal group set out to shake things up with help from Erik, a.k.a Cindella, and B.E. from Epic. They attempt to take on The Dark Queen and squash her evilness forever.

SAGA is a good bet for science fiction buffs. Fans of EPIC will enjoy the brief appearances of the characters that were so important in the book that started it all.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sequel to Epic was everything I could have hoped for. Although Erik ended the game Epic in the last book, the Dark Queen has downloaded a new game called Saga to the computers on New Earth for humans to "play." The difference is that Saga is less a game and more a universe within a universe, as the characters are all evolved entities. Oh yeah, and the Dark Queen is scheming to force the humans to reprogram Saga so she can rule both her universe and the outside one for eternity. Plots and subplots abound, with Erik and his game persona, Cindella, mostly working in the background to help Ghost and her friends right all the wrongs the Dark Queen has done.

[Sherwood Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, labeled Epic #2, is no retread of the first. It's about a teen-age punk airboarder with no memories, who lives with a bunch of outcast kids. Ranged against them are the forces of oppression, but Kostick doesn’t settle for cliche even though this is a novel for kids. Then, just as you’re figuring out the setup, the borderland between worlds opens up. It’s great reading–if I were a teen now, it would have blown me away.

[Ria Bridges · Rating 3 out of 5]

After rereading the first book of the series, Epic to prepare myself for Saga, I still was unprepared for the dramatic shift in tone and setting between the two different novels. Where Epic took place primarily in a fantasy MMORPG crossed with a developing hardscrabble world, Saga takes place in a cyberpunk game that blurs the boundaries between real and virtual, and explores the concepts of artificial intelligence and self-awareness.

Not a bad idea, but it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting after Epic.

Within the gameworld of Saga, inhabitants are unaware that their world was created as a game for humans. There are a few who are aware of this fact, but most go about their lives believing that their world is the only world. Until they meet players from the outside, the same players who used to make use of Epic, as Saga has been forcibly put on all of New Earth’s computers after the deletion of Epic at the end of the previous book. The result is a mental expansion for all involved, as the players realize that the NPCs of Saga are as developed and diverse as they themselves are, and the NPCs come to grips with the origin of their existence and what it means to be self-aware in a programmed world.

Definitely interesting concepts to tackle, and I have no problem with how it was done. Fascinating philosophical concepts, and it was interesting to see how they were handled.

But I don’t think it was done particularly well within the context of the story. Erik and BE and a couple of other characters from New Earth make cameos, and Erik – still playing Cindella, due to the fact that when Saga took over her old character file was unable to be deleted – is the catalyst for major change in the world, but for the most part, the world and people of New Earth are relatively unimportant to the tale and the more interesting parts of the story’s concept. Sadly, this doesn’t come across very well, as it’s established that Saga’s ruler has planted addicted in the minds of millions of New Earth players, as a bargaining chip for getting parts of Saga reprogrammed to her satisfaction. A major even like that shouldn’t have come across like the afterthought that it felt like, especially when it was the motivation for Erik to start an overthrow of Saga’s government. Cindella played a big role without playing a big role, if you follow, and it didn’t make for the best reading. I was far more interested in Ghost and her gang within the virtual world, and happily more than half the story was devoted to them, but for all they did and for all the important events that revolved around them, it felt like the author was still trying to get the story to ride on Cindella’s shoulders.

It didn’t work out that way. Often, it felt as though Kostick threw Erik and BE in the story simply for a way to connect to the previous novel, to ride on its successes instead of having Saga work as a standalone novel. In my opinion, it would have worked far better as a standalone, and things would have worked far more smoothly that way. It could be notable as a standalone. Here it’s just an okay follow-up.

I’m hoping that this was just a case of Second Book Syndrome, an aberration, so that the third book will be far more entertaining and make more sense in context. I will read it, but I can’t help but feel really let down after this one, which has made me feel like I need a real break from the trilogy before I take on the final book.

[Connor Martindale · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish this book was never written. The first one is 100000% a standalone novel, so naturally the events in the first few pages of this one that set up the plot are a complete train-wreck. And I honestly don't even know if the first one was good enough to merit a sequel but whatever that's not my decision I'm just here to complain.
Ok so New Earth is now free from Epic and video games are evil!! YEAH!!!! Meanwhile, some random probe out in space has finally completed its mission and has created a link between New Earth and the host server for a new video game called Saga! So Saga comes to New Earth and everyone quickly forgets how much we hate video games now and how we need to focus on improving people's real lives rather than just escaping into VR and ignoring the world forever. The leader of Saga, literally called the Dark Queen, wants the humans to reprogram Saga so that she and her children can live forever but she already does live forever soooo I dunno whatever she's doing it for the children I suppose. So she somehow uses magical chemicals in the VR headset(?????????????) to addict all the humans to the game! Except Erik because... uh... well... Cindella is buggy? Oh also Cindella is back becauase... uh... I DUNNO NOTHING MAKES SENSE. So this is a bad situation, as you can probably see. MEASDFANWHILE, we've got some loser punk kids who just want to vandalize everything they can find and ride their hoverboards and terrorize innocent people because they won the lottery of life and are rich. And go to parties and take drugs (I'm not kidding, the drugs are called heebie-jeebies and I dunno how anyone can take this book seriously after reading that). These kids do not matter. Neither does Erik. Honestly, nothing matters until the leader of the punkies is revealed to be a super cool program that- ok basically she's Neo from the Matrix and there are 2 other Neos, one is the Dark Queen and the other is some Italian dude named Michelotttttttto lol and she kills them kinda accidentally kind on purpose and then she makes a new gubbernment where people aren't so poor and it's all good in the hood. LITERALLY CUZ SHE'S FROM THE HOOD AND SHE USES HER POWER TO MAKE MORE SKATEPARKS!!!!! HOSPITALS? NO. SKATEPARKS!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAY
Alright that's enough I'm over this book. There's a third one, but nooooooooo waaaay am I going to read that.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kostick, Conor Saga, 367 p. Viking (Penguin), 2008.

Welcome back to the world of Epic. The game has been shut down on Erik’s world, but a new game has taken its place. What Erik and his friends don’t know, however, is that this new gaming world is populated by self-actualized electronic intelligences, controlled by a Dark Queen who is determined to enslaved a world of fleshy bodies to do her bidding. To her surprise, however, the character Cindella, left over from Epic, is more than happy to thwart her plans.

Most of the point of view is from the computerized characters’ perspective, especially Ghost, a young street punk who survives by breaking rules. She and her gang of friends are key to the solution of Saga. You can tell that Kostick knows video games, especially role-playing games, whether medieval or modern. Gaming fans will have a great time, but so will others.

MS, HS – ADVISABLE. Reviewer: Cindy, Library-Teacher.
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2008...

[Somya Rathee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall the book is a 4 out of 5 stars for me, the plot was very enticing and suspenseful. Throughout the entire plot, you could clearly see the writers opinion on social status and government were completely obscure but not absolutely crazy. However, to read this book you need to be able to make connections between our real-world government and the government has been shown throughout the story. The main character, Ghost, has constantly grown as a person and in the fact that she knows who she is in the world. Yes for sure the side characters are there but mainly the growth shown behind characters is shown by the development of Ghost. Honestly, this book is a difficult read but if you want to challenge yourself and learn a couple things about our society as a whole I totally recommend this book to you.

[Martha Ugbinada · Rating 4 out of 5]

SAGA doesn't disappoint

I read Epic with my son which led me to start reading SAGA with him. He doesn't love reading as I do, so at chapter two I took the book and couldn't put it down. I am impressed at how quickly it captures my interest though there's new characters I got to know them quickly and then Cindella becomes involved and it was impossible to stop.

Ghost has an understanding of things that she cannot quite figure out but quickly stars the journey of self-rediscovery of sorts. The gang is as tight as a real family,the loyalty is palpable. Milan and Athena are such great characters that I cannot picture Ghost with anyone else by her side. it's not often when the second book impresses me more than the first.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like the first book, this one brings up some interesting questions about what AI gaining sentience might mean in the physical and digital worlds--how would you convince a game character that they are a game character and not a 'real' person, and that there was a completely different world outside theirs, and how would they feel about that? What unique possibilities might a digital being have open to them?--but man, I did a LOT of skimming. Somehow I found this volume's cyberpunk dystopia game world much less interesting than the first book's fantasy game world.
Once again, a good premise that lost a lot in execution.

[Anastacia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Saga is set in a recoded game of Epic. Saga is a dystopian, cyberpunk-ish city ruled by a Dark Queen. But one character is still left over from Epic. Cindella.

This book was such a let-down. You had a great book in Epic, then this.. Cindella is barely in this book. It focuses mostly on a mysterious girl called Ghost. She and her punk friends fight the system by tagging and looting. :0/ The Dark Queen hooks up Erik's world to Saga and drugs them to become addicted to it. It makes no sense, but whatever. Hopefully the last book isn't such a let-down.

[Amanda P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't as big of a fan of this book as I was the first in the series. It has a completely different story line and is a little confusing at first. I also feel like this book did not grab me as quickly as Epic did. Took me a long time to finish because I didn't feel like I was invested in it, but it was good enough for me to finish.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book even more than Epic, mostly because of Ghost. Ghost's personality pulled me in from the first page. I felt for her in every scene of the book. It's a bit different than Epic, not just because it's set in a different virtual world, but because the book is told in the first person. At first the differences felt a bit jarring, but I got sucked into the story soon enough.

[Owen Little · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Kostick does a great job of describing what an anarchist/punk movement is, so that anyone is able to understand it. However, I think this book fell flat after Epic. It is slightly confusing at first because the premise of it isn't explicitly explained until further on in the book, so the reader doesn't know how it relates to Epic.

[Patiopea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chyba idealizowałam trochę tę serię, bo pierwszy tom pamiętałam, jako świetny, a przy kolejnych dwóch, które nadrobiłam po latach przerwy, już nie miałam takiej frajdy. Przyjemnie mi się je czytało, ale już bez szału, szkoda.

[David Medford · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought that it was weird and confusing, but was still an interesting idea. I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

[Zay Cosey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fiction and There is a dark queen they had to kill because she wanted to reprogram the game in her own way where she rules the world on the saga and Ral don't want that to happen

[Ken Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I like about this book is how different Kostick was able to make his sequel. Completely different angle that then pulled in prior characters.

[Mackenzie Marrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skater punks realizing they're NPCs is probably the coolest thing my middle school self had ever read.

[Nicolas Neudeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even better

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Epic years ago, and loved it. I just found out about this sequel today, and it's surprisingly good! The story is fun, and the blade-runner/neo-punk aesthetic is sick.

[Andrea Atene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark AI

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

good

[78sunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meine Meinung:
Also erst einmal habe ich mich tierisch geärgert, das nirgendwo draufstand, dass es ein 2. Teil ist. Der erste Teil heißt „Epic“ und dieser hier baut darauf auf. Somit war gerade der Anfang unheimlich anstrengend und verwirrend. Grundsätzlich war die Grundhandlung über ein Computerspiel, das irgendwann autonom geworden ist, ganz interessant, obwohl es aus meiner Sicht zu utopisch und verwirrend war. Computer-begeisterte Jugendliche könnten das anders sehen und ich denke das dieses Hörspiel auch nur für diese geeignet ist. Ich will gar nicht all zu viel zur Handlung sagen, außer das es modern futuristisch war und doch auch einige Fantasy/Rollenspielelemente enthielt aufgrund des Vorgängerbandes. Die Welt um die es hier geht, SAGA, hat eine Königin, die alles unter Kontrolle hat und die auch Kontakt mit anderen Welten aufnehmen kann und diese auf bestimmte Art und Weise beeinflussen kann. So kommt es, dass bestimmte Spieler aus anderen Welten nach SAGA kommen, in der Annahme es sei eine virtuelle Welt. Von der Grundidee wirklich nicht schlecht, aber viel zu verwirrend. Vielleicht liegt dies auch nur daran, dass ich den ersten Teil der Reihe nicht kenne, aber ich bezweifle das. Die Handlung ist sehr gesellschaftskritisch, aber auf mich wirkte da ganze wie Zeigefingerpädagogik mit dem Holzhammer vermittelt. Wie viel von dieser Gesellschaftskritik, die angepeilte Lesergruppe (Jugendliche) mit bekommt, weiß ich nicht. Auf mich als Erwachsenen wirkte es auf jeden Fall zu deutlich.

Es handelt sich hier um ein szenische Lesung. Mir persönlich liegt so etwas grundsätzlich nicht und ich fand es hier auch ziemlich übertrieben jugendlich hipp umgesetzt. Es wirkte auf mich eher wie etwas, das in den 90er aufgezeichnet wurde. Alles war so extrem cool, futuristisch und abgefahren. Ich fühlte mich auf negative Art und Weise in meine Jugend zurückversetzt, obwohl es hier um die Zukunft geht. Es ist wirklich schwer zu erklären.

Die Sprecher machen ihre Arbeit grundsätzlich gut, aber es wirkt einfach schrecklich lächerlich wenn Erwachsene die 'coole' Sprache der Jugendlichen nachmachen. Vor allem ein Junge, der sich mit Drogen zudröhnt, wurde derart lächerlich dargestellt, dass ich kurz davor stand das Hörspiel abzubrechen. Ob das der Zielgruppe gefällt oder ob sie sich eher darüber kaputt lachen? Ich würde einiges auf die letzte Option setzten. Die Soundeffekte waren um einiges besser als in manch anderen Hörspielen. Ich höre ja ziemlich häufig Hörbücher und Hörspiele und wage daher das Urteil das die Soundeffekte äußerst effektiv eingesetzt wurden. Auch die Musikeinlagen passten.

Emotionen kamen bei mir während des Hörens keine auf und ich fühlte weder mit jemandem mit, noch hatte ich das Gefühl irgendeinen der Charaktere näher kennenzulernen.

Die Spannung war moderat und für ein Jugendbuch okay. Den heutigen Ansprüchen würde es wohl eher nicht mehr entsprechen. Mir lag es ganz gut so wie es war. Man wollte wissen, was hinter SAGA und der dunklen Königin steckt und was eigentlich mit der Hauptfigur Ghost los ist. Mit der Auflösung hatte ich nicht gerechnet und kreide das dem Hörbuch mal positiv an. Wenn es ein wenig emotionaler herüber gebracht worden wäre, hätte es auch eine bessere Bewertung bekommen können.

Die Charaktere blieben flach und wie schon beim Thema Emotionen erläutert, ließen sie mich kalt.

Für eine Kurzmeinung ist es nun doch ganz schön lang geworden. Dafür lasse ich mal das Fazit weg. Ich hatte ganz einfach, dass Gefühl ich war nicht die angezielte Leserschaft und trotzdem hat es mich soweit unterhalten, dass ich nicht abschaltete. Herausheben möchte ich auch noch die sehr stabile und hochwertige Pappbox in der die CDs alle noch mal in einer extra Papphülle stecken. Auf der Box befindet sich Bild mit Holografieeffekt.

Meine Wertung:
3 von 5 Sternen

[06charitiJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saga, by Connor Kostick, was an Irish book with 367 pages of an action-packed, well-thought out novel of a computer game. Although it was second in a series, the previous book being Epic, it had a completely different story but a similar plot. The characters and their personalities seemed so real and tangible, it seemed like a real world - it is a book that makes me think more about life, and what if we were actually in a computer game, and we didn't even know it?

"After twenty-seven seconds spent indulging in this unusual sensation, the probe became sober again. It took the plunge. Advance programs stormed all the major entry points so that giant files could pour down uninterrupted into New Earth's system, reworking them, reshaping them, aligning them with the Earth's own system." (pg. 3)This quote was near the beginning of the book - I like it because it shows so much about the book that we don't even know about yet. It is describing the computer like it has a mind of its own, which it actually does. When Epic (the computer game in the first book) was destroyed, another computer game - Saga - was found in "New Earth's" (the setting of the real-life players) system. Ghost and her clan, later known as Defiance, are living in a virtual game system but not knowing it. The Dark Queen who is the ruler of Saga is an ancient and evil person who has made those outside of Saga, on New Earth, who are playing the game addicts. They classic characters from book one such as Bjorn and B.E. all get addicted to Saga because of the Dark Queen and are near death when Erik, who still plays as Cindella, stops the dark queen because his character is immune to her poisons. Ghost and her clan help Erik to defeat the Dark Queen in an epic battle of avatars and real-life players. Through many twists and turns, Ghost becomes the new Queen and Erik plus all of New Earth get to "clip up" to Saga without fear of addiction.


I loved Saga. It is definitely another one of my favorite books. Although characters from the previous book don't show up, the new characters who live in the game are interesting and fun to get to know. The theme of the book seems like freedom since the people are trapped in a cruel computer game enslaved to a dark queen, and those outside of the computer game can't stop playing it. I loved how the end brought everything together, nothing was left out or forgotten. However, Connor Kostick seems to know a lot about video games, and yet he doesn't say much about "clipping up" and the graphics for the games. Other than that, this book was remarkably well written and had the right amounts of action, intensity, and humor. Saga is a perfect book for teenagers and those who love thinking about what could be beyond - are we in our own video game? Is this all real? What is actually out there in the universe?