Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2008 (Vol. 76, No. 8))
This exciting sequel's concept explodes far beyond Epic, its 2007 predecessor. Epic (the game) is defunct, but a new game—Saga—has mysteriously appeared on New Earth's computer system. Erik's Cindella is the only character allowed to carry over; other people create new avatars. Immediately, vast numbers of players beocme addicted and fall sick. Meanwhile, a girl named Ghost and her anarcho-punk gang raid malls, destroying property to protest unfair class rankings. Ghost has no home; her consciousness goes back only six years to age nine. Who was she before that? Kostick reveals early how Ghost's world features airboarding and anti-gravity technology while Erik's tech-regressive society drives donkey carts: Ghost's world is Saga, the game that Erik's people are currently playing. Thousands of years ago on Earth, Saga's characters sprang into consciousness—Saga's population is human. But two of its original Reprogrammed Autonomous Lifeforms remain, one a Dark Queen thirsting for immortality. Only Cindella and Ghost can challenge the Dark Queen's enslavement and potential genocide of New Earth's meta-humans. Clean prose, remarkable story. 2008, Viking, 368p, $18.99. Category: Science fiction. Ages 13 up. Starred Review. © 2008 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cara Chancellor (KLIATT Review, May 2008 (Vol. 42, No. 3))
In Ghost’s world, several laws have been universal for as long as she can remember: social status is determined by the different-colored cards carried by every member of the public, and the Dark Queen rules over all of Saga with iron control. Of course, 15-year-old Ghost cannot remember anything that happened to her before age nine. As she befriends the exotic Cindella Dragonslayer--whose abilities can only be described as “magic” and who seems under the impression that Saga is simply a computer game she is playing--and encounters the Dark Queen’s confidant turned would-be assassin Michelotto, Ghost begins to realize that Saga’s continued existence depends on her ability to unravel its history…and her own. Nearly every exciting storyline today is spun off into a video game, but Saga finally turns the tide by revealing a world originally created by human programmers that eventually became sentient. Numerous gaming elements remain to appeal to teenage readers--such as the matter-repelling airboards on which Ghost and her friends travel--but the narrative also delves deeper than one might expect into questions of stereotypes, social standing, and morality. While its beginning roots it in 1984-genre literature, Saga’s guardedly optimistic ending allows it to appeal to a much wider YA audience. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JS--Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2008, Penguin, Viking, 367p., $18.99. Ages 12 to 18.

April Spisak (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, June 2008 (Vol. 61, No. 10).)
In this sequel to Epic (BCCB 4/07), the bounds of reality are pushed further as the video game players featured in the previous volume here take a backseat to the characters themselves. Saga is a complex yet flawed follow-up game to Epic, and gaming expert Erik and his friends, residents of New Earth, aren’t sure what to make of its addictive qualities. However, most of the novel takes place in Saga itself, a world that is merely the setting of the game while still feeling entirely real to its inhabitants. The Dark Queen, seeking enslavement of those in the game and without, has a short list of individuals who stand in her way, including Ghost, an anarchist fifteen-year-old airboarder who can’t remember her own past, Cindella, the VR character that Erik has chosen for Saga, and the queen’s own assistant, with whose help she has ruled for centuries. This adventurous, intriguing, and entirely unsettling novel delivers an impeccable balance of philosophical debate about the limits of realness while still delivering enough chase scenes, battles, and twisty plot shifts to keep even the most action-driven SF fan engaged. In addition, Kostick hones in on key memorable characters, providing readers with an emotional connection in this dystopic and mechanical setting: Ghost, Cindella (and the New Earthian Erik), and even the sure to be despised Dark Queen are all intricately developed, and they all face extraordinary challenges that push them far out of their comfort zones and into remarkable new growth. Knowledge of the first volume might aid in understanding Erik’s motivations, but the new setting and fully realized plot guarantees that readers will have no trouble enjoying this as a stand-alone volume, and they will likely be tempted to explore Saga’s VR roots in Epic Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2008, Viking, 368p.; Reviewed from galleys, $18.99. Grades 7-10.

Ann Welton (VOYA, April 2008 (Vol. 31, No. 1))
In a sequel to his highly acclaimed Epic (Viking, 2007/VOYA June 2007), Kostick introduces another world-in-a-computer-game. Saga, the world in question, started out as a game but over a two-thousand-year period, it has diverged and become real. Saga is ruled by a corrupt Dark Queen who has plans to live forever by compelling the inhabitants of New Earth to reprogram the original game. Unfortunately for her, a remnant of the game of Epic is left when she takes over New Earth's computers, and Cindella Dragonslayer, the avatar name of a sixteen-year-old game player, is immune to her powers. Other troubles are brewing in Saga as well. Young people, growing disillusioned with the card system that keeps society stratified and many people at a bare subsistence level, are starting to rebel. Among them is a mysterious airboarder named Ghost who has no memories of her life before the age of nine-but she does have an uncanny ability to slow time. The plot and pacing are near perfect in this tale of a world cramped by fear and tradition. The characterization is a bit weak-the Dark Queen seems like a bare caricature-and some problems are too easily resolved. But for both fans of the first book as well as new readers, this sequel is a sure winner. Compulsively readable and palpable (the descriptions of airboarding are a near-physical experience), it will appeal to SF fans across the board. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M J S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult-marketed book recomm 2008, Viking, 368p., $18.99. Ages 11 to Adult.