The Forbidden Game

Infobox Book |
name = The Forbidden Game
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of "The Forbidden Game" trilogy Collector's Omnibus Edition.
author = Ljane Smith
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series = The Forbidden Game
subject =
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher = Scholastic
release_date = 1997
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
pages = 704 pp
isbn = ISBN 978-0671017163 (Collector's Omnibus edition)
preceded_by =
followed_by =

The Forbidden Game trilogy is a series of novels by L. J. Smith about a girl named Jenny who has been watched for years by a Shadow Man named Julian. Julian has fallen in love with Jenny and will do anything to take her for his own. The books are as follows: The Hunter (book 1), The Chase (book 2), and The Kill (book 3).

Publishing History

The Forbidden Game Trilogy was originally published in three parts, in 1994, by Simon and Schuster. The Chase certainly had a second print run in May that year, and it's likely the other books in the series did too.The series was published in the United Kingdom in 1995 by Scholastic's Point Horror imprint, and The Hunter and the Kill both had (at least) second print runs, although The Chase (always a harder book to find new or second hand) may not have been reprinted.All three books were also published together in one volume in the United States, a "Collector's Omnibus Edition", in 1997.

The Novels

*"The Hunter"The first book of the series introduces the main characters of the story who will remain onboard for the other two books. Jenny picks up a game for her boyfriend's party. The game turns out to be real, and she and all her friends are forced to face their nightmares. The man who put them in this game, Julian, reveals his love for Jenny and his plan to keep her with him.

*"The Chase"The second book has the characters recovering from the events of the first. Julian isn't finished with them yet and has a new game which takes them from their world unexpectedly one by one. In the end, Jenny alone has to save her friends and figure out Julian's perplexing clues.

*"The Kill"The third book is the only one not set in California. Jenny and her friends visit her grandfather's house to retrieve their lost members. There, the group shows how much they've changed and grown as they have a final show-down against Julian.

Detailed Plot Summary

In the first book, The Hunter, Jenny is a young woman, living in California, who feels she has always been watched - and protected - in much of what she does. Preparing for a birthday party, she goes to a rough part of town and buys a board game, involving a paper house, simply called "The Game" from an enigmatic blue-eyed stranger. Jenny is then followed home by two thugs who seem curiously interested in The Game. She and her friends (Dee, Audrey, Mike, Zach, Summer and Tom) put together the paper house, invoke a rune, and awake inside the game, where the stranger from the shop - blue eyed Julian - tells them they must travel through each room of the house, facing their worst nightmares. If they make it to the top of the house before dawn, they can go home; if not, they have to stay forever. All but Summer make it through their nightmares, and she is killed because she cannot face her worst fear and escape it. In the end Julian reveals the game they have been playing to actually be "Goats and Tigers." To rescue everyone else Jenny promises herself to Julian before locking him back into the closet. Everyone but Summer makes it out, but the ring Julian gave her is still there. It bears the words "All I refuse & Thee I choose." The group wants to burn the box which holds the game in it in the end but before they can come to a decision the two men who followed Jenny home break in and steal the box, which holds both the game and Jenny's ring, and quickly leave.

In the second book of the trilogy, The Chase, the group of friends has to explain about the disappearance of Summer, while trying to find the box that contains the game. Julian was still trapped in the closet, but there was a chance that the two boys that stole the game might let Julian out. All of the friends begin to have nightmares, and unnatural weird occurrences at school are happening in the daytime. Finally, when Jenny is at the senior prom, Julian appears. Julian gives Jenny a chance to break free, but the stakes were the same as the last game. This time the game is "Lambs and Monsters", where Julian is the monster, and the friends are the lambs trying to hide from him; for the lambs to win, they have to find the monster's base. One by one Jenny's friends start disappearing, and Jenny is the only one left. She manages to find the base by tricking Julian. She finds her friends, but to get out they have to pass through a wall of flames. Everyone makes it but Tom and Zach, and to get them back again, along with Summer, Mike, Dee, Audrey, and Jenny have to find a way into the Shadow World.

In the last of the three, The Kill, the remaining four run away to Monessen, the place where Jenny's grandfather had lived before being taken away by the Shadow Men. They believed that there was a portal to the Shadow World there, and there was. When the four enter the Shadow World, they find themselves in a closed amusement park. After looking and experiencing some of the attractions, which are made to be like nightmares, Julian appears, and he tells them that if they find three Spanish doubloons in the amusement park, everyone will get to go free. The four friends search through the amusement park and find Summer, who is still alive. They also find three other souls being kept by the Shadow Men, the two boys who stole the game, and Jenny's grandfather who had been taken when Jenny opened the closet door. They set the three free without knowing the consequences, and they find the three doubloon coins to save Zach and Tom. Right as they all are leaving, the Shadow Men appear and say that the group has taken the souls, which were theirs. The older Shadow Men want to take Jenny's soul, but Julian says that he will take her place. The seven leave with some despair on Jenny's part, and get back home. When questioned what would happen if the Shadow Men brought Julian back to life, Jenny wished him well. The inscription on her ring now reads "I am my only master."

Characters

Julian: The youngest of the Shadow Men, an ancient race that lived in darkness. He is an old evil spirit who fell in love with five year old Jenny Thornton when she opened the closet, which the Shadow Men had been captured in by her grandfather. He watched Jenny until she reached the age of 16, making sure that nothing bad ever happened to her. He sold Jenny a game for her to play at her Boyfriends birthday party.

Jenny Thornton: The "light to his darkness." She has a natural goodness around her and fought her way through challenges to save both herself and her friends. Julian attempted to manipulate her into staying with him, but she proved stronger than she thought. In the end, she realizes that even if she cares for Tom, she also loves Julian and wants to save him from his darkness.

Tom Locke: Jenny's boyfriend, who in the beginning is controlling and cocky. Tom changes throughout the books, realizing his own faults and shortcomings, as well as Jenny's strength and independence. The two have dated since second grade, when they kissed behind some bushes.

Audrey Myers: One of Jenny's best friends and the newest one to their group. Audrey is slick and chic, her speech peppered with foreign phrases she's picked up during her childhood of moving around the world. Underneath the smooth facade, Audrey is still unsure of her place in the group and often hides her true feelings to avoid being hurt.

Deirdre 'Dee' Eliade: Jenny's other best friend, and often described as a beautiful Egyptian priestess. She is the strength of the group, knowing many martial arts. Dee's faults lie in not believing in herself and a fear of technology for that same reason.

Zach Taylor: Jenny's distant and modern-inclined cousin. Zach has problems in his family, especially because his focus in his art (photography) tends towards the modern style, far from his ruggish father. Julian declares that Zach also has romantic feelings for Jenny, but Julian has a tendency to lie, and the veracity of this claim is debatable.

Michael Cohen: Audrey's boyfriend and a lovable if somewhat cowardly boy. It is hinted at that he is Jewish, and seems to know the traditions of his people, if not an orthodox follower. His father is a science fiction author, which allows Michael to be more accepting of the situations the group faces.

Summer Parker-Pearson: A delicate flower, Summer can be seen as the 'baby' of the group, the one everyone looks after and worries about. She acts a little ditzy, but uses that as a shield to protect herself.

Trivia

Joyland Park, from the third book in the series is loosely based on Kennywood Park located in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.

There have been some comparisons made between Julian and the goblin king in the film Labyrinth, perhaps because they both wished to steal away young girls/women to live with them forever and be their queens. LJ Smith herself has Julian allude to Persephone (from Greek mythology) who was kidnapped by the king of the underworld. Norse mythology also has a strong influence on this trilogy, both through the use of Runes and other references to the Norse and Viking culture.

References

[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0671017160/ The trilogy at Amazon.com]

[http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/lisa-jane-smith/forbidden-game.htm The trilogy at Fantastic Fiction]