A clever plot using the idea of an escape room where everyone needs to work together to solve the clues. There are twists aplenty and Christopher Edge really knows how to create another world. I especially liked the fact the themes of each room (the Mayan one in particular fits so well with our history topic) and they were conjured up with great detail. The story moved headlong from one adventure to the next which made it very difficult to put down. The conclusion arrived with a jolt however, with a profound message but maybe out of step from the rest of the book?

This book is packed to the brim with excitement and adventure, making it a book you can’t help but want to read as quickly as possible. I loved the variety of exciting settings that the characters found themselves in. From a deserted library to a Mayan temple and even a spaceship. I also quite enjoyed the twist and the underlying message that the book was trying to convey. However, despite my enjoyment of these aspects, I just felt that I couldn’t connect to the book. I think that was largely due to the characters. They all felt a bit one note and stereotypical, especially the snarky boy. This meant that I really didn’t care for any of them which definitely negatively impacted on my feelings towards the book overall.

Absolutely loved this escape room book. Excellent choice for a theme for a young adult book. Would love to see more like this.

Back with a bang! Christopher Edge doesn't disappoint with this inclusive, accessible modern mystery which all ability MG readers will be desperate to 'escape' with. Simpler in format and language than most MG reads in this genre, Nosy Crow have again made complex plots and themes accessible to all children. I think every child will find a character to relate to, and see themselves portrayed in the book
Cleverly layered with facts, clues & thought-provoking questions, this is perfect for all KS2 classes, either as class novel or independent reading for pleasure. What an ending!

I loved Ami as a protagonist. Her quick wits, thoughtful gaze, and high intelligence were well-needed throughout her adventures but, just as her personality and strengths were exposed, so too were those of the other children she battled alongside. Each was given a distinct character and their voices made this a fun and immersive read, even if Ami remained a personal favourite throughout.

I have enjoyed other Christopher Edge books, every one is a unique concept, a fusion of fantasy and science, with a healthy dose of mystery.
Escape Room is his latest novel, and it definitely had the element of mystery. The story begins with Ami who is about to start playing an Escape Room, with 4 other children who are strangers to her. Things quickly get intense, and dangerous, as they battle to find the answers, escape and survive!
It became very surreal, and a little too random for me, although there was a reveal at the end which tied it together somewhat plausibly.

In true Christopher Edge style, there is so much more to Escape Room than meets the eye. With layers of symbolism and the complete unexpected, readers are challenged to think about their own place in the world.

12-year-old Ami has been given a fantastic gift – an immersive escape room experience. She absolutely loves puzzles so this is perfect for her. At first, she wonders if she will be playing alone but then four other young people arrive: Adjoa seems seriously cool with her pink sunglasses and so much confidence; Oscar has a sporty swagger; Ibrahim is quietly clever; and Min is a walking encyclopaedia. Together they should make a brilliant team. Their task – Save the World and Find the Answer.

The escape room starts out as they expect – clues, puzzles, messages to decipher. Ami knows she needs to question everything and take nothing for granted. When they come across a strange, automated chess set, the solution seems simple enough – defeat the machine and move on to the next stage of the escape room. But suddenly, the situation takes a dark turn. This is no ordinary game and the threat seems real. Are they supposed to win or lose? Go forward or back? Trust their judgement or find a different way? One thing is clear – this is not going to be easy.

The team find themselves in a series of bizarre rooms: an attic full of old tech, a library with more books than anyone could ever read, a cursed tomb and a deserted shopping mall. Each is more dangerous than the last and none of them are certain they’ll all make it out alive. Some say life is a game but Ami’s not sure this is the game she wants to play.

Ami is pushed to question everything she has ever known about reasoning, logic and her own abilities. Questions of the problems humans have created, the destruction of the environment and the power of a child’s mind run through this captivating story until the mind-blowing final moments. Nothing is as it seems in the Escape Room.

This story will challenge readers to dig deep into their own understanding. They will love joining the team and working through the escape room puzzles with Ami and the others. Then, as the story takes a darker turn, they will find themselves questioning just what it means to have intelligence and our responsibility for what we choose to do with this power. Only with optimism, creativity and imagination can we build a brighter future.

Thank you to Nosy Crow for this intriguing book.

A new book by Christopher Edge is always reason to celebrate and I really enjoyed this one. Once again, he offers his audience a gripping and exciting story whilst also imparting wisdom about human nature and encouraging young readers to question the status quo.

Another enjoyable and action-packed adventure from Christopher Edge.
When Ami enters 'The Escape' both her (and the readers) do not know what to expect. Ami and the other participants enter a series of rooms of ever increasing difficulty and peril. Who will make it to the end and find 'The Answer'.?
A thrilling read with lots of twists and turns with a genuinely thought-provoking ending. My only (slight) criticism is that the ending (not the rest of the book) is very similar to another one of Edge's books and I so I found the final 'twist' a little less satisfying. It is a quite a short read that can be read in a few sessions and perfect for mature and confident readers who struggle with longer narratives.

“Find the Answer. Save the world.”

I love the idea of escape rooms, a group of people working together to find clues that will enable them to solve a series of puzzles. Ami loves solving puzzles and is excited by the challenge The Escape presents.

Ami is joined by four other participants. There’s enthusiastic Adjoa - “Think Lara Croft meets Indiana Jones, but with a better sense of style.” There’s Ibrahaim, who notices things other miss, and Min, the smart one. Then there’s obnoxious Oscar, the one I really, really wanted to vote off the island. And Ami? She’s the all-rounder.

There’s plenty of action in this book, with a need to not only solve each individual room but the overall puzzle. I consistently felt the characters were facing impending danger. This all made for a compulsive read.

The rooms the group explores included one where “old computers come to die” and an abandoned mall. I loved trying to figure the rooms out alongside the kids. Had I been invited to play, though, I would have been eliminated very early on.

Even if I somehow managed to survive the first room, the library (of all places) would have taken me out. While all of the connections that were needed to level up made sense, I don’t think there will be too many readers who will be able to confidently say they would have made it through the entire game.

The message, which quickly became obvious to me as Ami and her team moved through each room, was a really good one but it came across pretty heavy handed. Granted, subtle probably wouldn’t be the best approach given the gravity of the situation, but the twist that accompanied its reveal felt so jarring that it lessened the impact for me. I’m hoping the target audience will just go with it and find the message empowering.

When the kids were explaining things like the Mayan calendar and space dust, they sounded suspiciously like walking encyclopaedias. This will make sense by the end of the book.

I couldn’t figure out why Ami didn’t immediately recognise the Host’s voice. I absolutely adored the literal firewall.

I haven’t managed to find the correct alphabet to decipher the symbols on Ami’s library card. Yet.

I loved David Dean’s cover image and the illustration that accompanied the beginning of each chapter.

“Do you still think it’s a game?”

Content warnings include the death of an animal.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Nosy Crow for the opportunity to read this book.

This book is fast paced and full of action and reminiscent in places of Jumanji. I have enjoyed other Christopher Edge books and, as a Y6 teacher, his books are popular with my class.
The book moved along at pace and I think it would be enjoyed by children who enjoy fast action and frequent changing scenes. I am aware I am not the target audience for this book but I found it quite flat. I think the main reason I found it difficult to connect with the book was that I found it really difficult to picture the main character. The reason for this became clear towards the end of the book but it had lost me.
This is the first book published by Nosy Crow that I have not enjoyed and would not go out of my way to recommend to the children in my class,

Whenever I read a book for young adults or middle grade students I always hope that it will be one that I will be desperate to shove in their hands and recommend…and for 90% of this book I would have been doing that. However, the fantastic build up of this novel was severely let down by its ending.

The title Escape Room kind of gives away what this novel is about. It is about going into an escape room and trying to get out again by solving a series of problems. So far, so good. Our cast of characters each have individual skills and talents that will allow them to escape but when the tasks get hairier and harder to solve you begin to fight to turn the pages to find out what happens. Sadly, for me, the ending let it down so much. It felt like such a massive compromise on the story and that the writer didn't now how to end it so used the story as a platform for his own opinions. As a reader, I felt robbed.

This did not have the ending I was expecting. The third act twist was not impressive and I frowned through the last 10%. Great story. Tragically weak ending.

Escape Room by Christopher Edge is available now.

For more information regarding Christopher Edge (@edgechristopher) please visit www.christopheredge.co.uk.

For more information regarding Nosy Crow (@NosyCrow) please visit www.nosycrow.com.

Ami is out young protagonist, she is treated to an escape room experience from her father. On arrival she is teamed up with a small group of other children. Each child brings their own skill set to the game (Oscar being the exception - annoying child)
The escape room starts in a very extreme fashion and gradually children are lost to the game (not in a hunger games style as such, they just don't make it through a particular room).

The ending is what makes this book stand apart from its other middle grade reads. I won't give it away but I think it will be seen as an important read for this age group. It tackles much deeper/important issues than you would expect. I'm not convinced this agr group would 'get' the ending but would certainly raise talking points after the book ends

I went into this based on the title and cover alone, hoping for a fun middle grade set in an escape room - so you can imagine my surprise when some weird and wonderful and very unlikely things start happening! I don't want to spoil the fun but I loved this. It loses a star however, for that ending. It was rushed and also not that unexpected (at least for me, this may well shock a child, though there are a few moments in the book that would make me hesitant to recommend to some kids as I felt a bit shocked and gut punched!).

Forgiving how unsurprising the end was, it was just too forced. We had someone literally telling us the whole message of the book which just ruined it. Especially as they tried to make it seamless with the story but even the main character points out she already knows this info and is annoyed she's being told again. It could have been done as an internal monologue rather than third party.

Twelve-year-old Ami loves puzzles – escape rooms in particular. So as she arrives at The Escape, she’s grateful to her father for sending her as a reward for all of her hard work. Her teammates Adjoa, Ibrahim, Oscar, and Min soon join her, and The Host instructs them that to save the world, they must find the answer. But this is no ordinary escape room… Ami and her teammates quickly discover that this escape room is larger than life, as they battle intelligent foes, perilous puzzles and exposing environments. Can they work together to find the answer before it’s too late?

The premise of this book intrigued and excited me – I absolutely LOVE an escape room, and thought this was an absolutely brilliant idea for a middle grade adventure. I really enjoyed the characters, and how each represented a different element in solving the riddles, and the building of the different environments within the escape room was fantastic. My favourite was, of course, the Bibliotheque Universelle – the answer can always be found in the library. But I also loved the shopping mall, and the riddle that came with it!

And then for Christopher to add THAT ENDING into the mix… Without wanting to give too much away, the ending absolutely blew my mind. Once I’d picked my jaw up off the floor and read the ending again more than once, I immediately wanted to read The Escape Room again, with a whole new perspective. The clues must have been there. Everything is part of the game. But I’m not ashamed to admit, I didn’t see it coming, and I’m glad I didn’t. Brilliantly pitched for a middle grade audience, I truly hope it draws in middle grade readers and encourages them to find the answer and save the world themselves.

Ami arrives at the The Escape eager for a new escape room experience and, hopefully, some new friends to puzzle out the clues with. None of them could have ever anticipated the dangerous scenarios they would soon be put in or just how far their strengths and fragile new bonds would be tested. It seems that winning the escape room isn't all they are fighting for, the continuation of the entire planet is!

I loved Ami as a protagonist. Her quick wits, thoughtful gaze, and high intelligence were well-needed throughout her adventures but, just as her personality and strengths were exposed, so too were those of the other children she battled alongside. Each was given a distinct character and their voices made this a fun and immersive read, even if Ami remained a personal favourite throughout.

Every element this contained combined to ensure it a fun reading experience, which centred upon an escape room but included so much more. It proved more educational than expected and definitely included more twists than anticipated, too. Every reader, of all ages, will benefit from the moral ending and I closed this book feeling far more pensive and melancholy than I thought this seemingly fun children's book could ever make me.

5 teenagers go into an escape room to try and solve the clues and find the answer. The escape room isn’t quite what they expect though and events quickly become far more dangerous than they had anticipated.
I loved the setting of this story and the different parts of the escape room are vividly described. The puzzles are far more threatening than the characters and the reader expects and the unfolding of events definitely takes you by surprise. The characters are all individuals and are thrown together seemingly by chance to make a team that can solve the puzzles. It’s definitely on the dark side for a Middle Grade book but the danger and threat level feels just on the right side for this age group.
The ending did take me completely by surprise and I wasn’t completely convinced by the final couple of pages. The environmental message was present throughout the book but I felt the way it was delivered right at the end was out of keeping with the rest of the book.
This is a great MG read though and any child who loves escape rooms, adventures and puzzles will really enjoy it.
Thanks to Net Galley and Nosy Crow for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I had no idea where this story would take me: an escape room that AMI is given as a treat from her father, a watching host, and four other players who must find THE ANSWER.

It was a captivating read and will definitely recommend this to my students!

Ami loves puzzles and her dad bought her a trip to ‘The Escape’ - the ultimate escape room experience. Instead of going with her own team, Ami gets matched with other players Adjoa, Oscar, Ibrahim and Min to create a team. The Host explains the game: they are the last humans and their task is to save the world by finding ‘the Answer’. All five of them have got a different approach to solving the puzzles, which makes it difficult for them to work together. There is something different about ‘The Escape’ though; it’s not like other escape rooms. The rooms are huge and it’s a lot more dangerous than any of them expected. Ami finds herself doubting whether it’s actually a game or whether they really are trying to save the world.
It’s difficult to say much more about the book without giving the story away, but expect the usual twist and turns from Christopher Edge. Nothing is ever what it seems and the story is dark and at times creepy. The plot is clever, confusing (that’s not a negative) and manages to pack an astonishing amount into a couple of hundred pages.

Wow! This was a whirlwind of a read - so exciting! Perfect for young (and old) escape room fans and anyone in search of a fast-paced, high-stakes adventure. The twist at the end brought everything together nicely too.