Minecraft Stonesword Saga 5 – The Golem’s Game!

The Golem’s Game, from the Minecraft Stonesword Saga, is a gaming adventure for 8 year olds about a boy who's used to being the expert and suddenly isn't.

What happens

It's the fifth Stonesword Saga book. Morgan, his sister Jodi and their friends have VR goggles, souped up by their science teacher, that take them right inside Minecraft. There they're on a quest to gather the scattered pieces of a digital being called the Evoker King.

This time the trail leads into the Nether. Waiting by a campfire of eerie blue flames is a golem made of netherite, so tough that Morgan's diamond sword doesn't hurt it at all. It'll help them, it says. But first each of them must run its gauntlet. Alone.

That's a problem for Morgan. He's the team's Minecraft expert and everyone counts on him. But he hasn't been to the Nether in ages, and he's never really mastered it. He'd rather read up on it in secret than admit it.

In real life he's hobbling about on crutches with a sprained ankle, and Field Day is on Friday. His relay team would quite like to find a replacement. Morgan would quite like everyone to stop fussing!

So underneath the adventure this is a story about pride. Have you ever known a child who'd rather struggle than ask for help? Morgan is exactly that, and it's very easy to recognise.

Minecraft fans will love the details (piglins, soul fire, netherite). If your reader doesn't play, don't worry. The friends explain things as they go.

There's plenty of silliness at school too. The teachers are taking Field Day FAR too seriously. Doc is doing jumping jacks in the science lab. Ms Minerva is meditating with butterflies in her hair. Even the chapter titles are jokes (one swears that P.E. stands for PIGLIN EDUCATION).

The school is American (middle school and gym class), but it reads easily. The battles are video-game battles, with mobs that fall and players who worry about losing their gear rather than anything worse.

What to read next

For more of Jodi, Morgan and the gang, New Pets on the Block is an earlier Stonesword Saga book in the library. Jodi wants a pet more than anything, and she's made a whole slideshow to prove she's ready.