Hayley's an orphan and an only child being brought up by her grandparents. Her grandmother's rule-bound, hates colouring outside the lines, and despairs of Hayley's chaotic hair; her grandfather teaches her a little about the world but is always very busy, and spends half his time either working (which includes fielding calls from the PM's office) or visiting his other family. When Hayley's shipped off to her aunt's in Ireland she's overwhelmed - there are cousins galore and a bewildering array of aunts. When they play the Game, a timed quest for various articles from the mythosphere (the realities of fairytale, fable and folklore), the reign of her feared Uncle Jolyon is threatened.
Like many of Jones' most meaty works, The Game is (obviously) strongly influenced by a rich tapestry of storytelling from almost every European tradition, from Russia's Baba Yaga to the Brothers Grimm, but most heavily of all the legends and mythology of Ancient Greece - the old gods, the Hesperides and Pleiades, and interwoven through them all the culture-crossing golden apples.
Included at the end are a brief discussion of a number of the elements contained in the books (most interesting was a listing of the number of cultures in which golden apples appear), and suggested further novels for young readers.
Unfortunately, The Game is a novel that reads as an outline for a fantastic new world that combines elements of her Eight World/Chrestomanci series and her stand alone mythology novels (Dogsbody, Archer's Goon and Eight Days of Luke also contain transformed mythological figures, with greater characterisation and world building). I'm hoping that The Game is the first of what will be a more developed world, though I'm not sure now Jones could return to the universe now that many of the central tensions have been resolved. - Alex
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