The Ghost Network establishes a fun A.I science-fiction 3-book series

Middle school kids who like computers more than books can be a tough crowd to convert. They like the puzzle and immediateness of computers or coding and books just don’t offer that thrill. That crowd will really enjoy The Ghost Network. It’s a new series of YA books by I. I. Davidson. Even by her pen name, Gillian Philip has created something that sounds like a password for a deep state organization intent on something sinister and most definitely illegal.

That’s exactly where The Ghost Network picks up. Akane, a gifted hacker is about to something in real life that could be both of those things. Unfortunately, she starts hearing John Laine, a friend of hers who is spilling the beans that her plans have been hacked. This is a quick start to the book that’s in an equally short chapter that offers promise and hope as to what young readers will encounter in the book. 

To John’s surprise he’s been accepted into an incredibly exclusive top-secret school for coders. Once he’s there he meets up with Slack, Salame and a couple others who are attending this school that’s in the middle of the Alaskan tundra. As the things escalate, and our students get to know the instructors at the school-they start to think that this might not be the sought after educational experience that they’d hoped. It might actually be closer to the point to say that the school is closer to an incubation tank for something evil on a world-conquering level. Toss is back story of artificial intelligence, a long-lost missing father that might be involved in all of this to some degree and all of the elements exist for a book that will hook upper elementary through middle school.

Our 9 year-old enjoyed the book. I was quite frankly surprised that he could read and follow the story. The target range for The Ghost Network is those readers who are 10-12 years old and it does a very good job and knowing its audience. Those who are older than 13 will see some of the twists coming and want more from their science-fiction books. I was like that when I read The Ghost Network. It was entertaining and very engaging at times, but it’s clearly aimed at those in that age range. The other great thing about the book is that it’s established itself as a nice, neat 3-book series. It’s not going to go on too long and at the pace that The Ghost Network established it’ll hook in readers with ease and have them looking forward to the middle and then finale in the series.