Title: Game On!
Author: Himanjali Sankar
Illustrator: Chetan Sharma
Publisher: Duckbill (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
Length: 98 pages
Type: Paperback
Age recommendation: 8 years and above
Himanjali Shankar’s Game On is a blend of science fiction and horror that feels both playful and unsettling. The story follows siblings Sammy and Simmy, who set out to fetch a glass of water but instead, they find their house glitching into a surreal game. Corridors stretch endlessly, rooms transform without warning, and familiar faces twist into something strange. Trapped in this eerie version of their home, the siblings must navigate shifting rules to find safety—and a way out.
About ten pages in, their father’s face begins to distort, mirroring the warped world around them. At that point, I wanted to fling the book away and yell, “Die book, die! What did you do to the father?”
My 12 year old kid, Kyra, who’d already finished reading it, promptly called me a coward. Fine! I get spooked easily—but curiosity always wins. So I read on. This is horror like the parents-with-eerie-eyes-that-are-buttons from Coraline, that leave you with a what-if dread. Of course considering this is aimed at younger children, it is a lot more gentle and not as grotesque.
We loved the premise – but for quite different reasons. Kyra liked the premise of them being trapped in a game. I loved that the chaos stems from the mother’s mistakes—a rare, refreshing honesty about how mothers can make mistakes too. Also the uncomfortable parallels to real life: governance was not part of the design, the systems were full of gaps, and clueless adults were fumbling to maintain order after the fact.
The people in charge seem quite clueless—don’t they?
Across a little less than 100 pages, Game On moves briskly, balancing regular occurrences at home and dark tension at every corner. The sibling relationship anchors the story, offering comfort amid the chaos. The game’s plot points provide striking visuals that Chetan Sharma has done full justice to. The novel touches on children’s resilience amidst uncertainty and chaos. Kyra also adds that she really liked how the “game-world” pages were distorted at the page boundary—it enhanced her reading experience. She also suggested that the images could have added more chromatic aberration to the illustrations for further disorientation and a sense of glitch.
I struggle with characters with the same first letter – and here there were two characters with almost the same name. Had to read twice to figure whether a certain thing happened to the brother or the sister. But the visuals helped.
I wish this was a slightly longer format. Given its brevity, character depth and world building remained somewhat limited. Nevertheless, HImanjali did a very good job of avoiding expositions, and portraying the world building quite organically.
Overall Game On is a well-paced and spooky adventure with striking visuals, and an intriguing premise. It’s a well-crafted, imaginative read—and proof that even in a glitching world resilient children will flourish.
If this review intrigued you, you might want to order the book from Amazon (kbc affiliate link),
CLICK & BUY NOW!You can find other books by Himanjali Sankar here. Asha and Aarini have most of her books.
Disclaimer: Mandira is part of the #kbcReviewerSquad and received this book as a review copy from the publisher via kbc. She is the author of the award winning book Children of the Hidden Land. Her new release Muniya’s Quest for middle graders has been reviewed here with high praise and lots of love!
