RanVan: A Worthy Opponent

Children's Literature - Mary Sue Preissner

Fifteen-year old RanVan lives with his grandmother, managing an apartment building. As with many boys of his age today, he is engrossed in hanging out, smoking, immersed in playing video quest games, and trying to find his true self. Eventually RanVan realizes that life is much like playing a video game, with its bonuses and pitfalls, courses and detours. It will be his personal code of conduct, just like the knights of the Middle Ages in his quest games that will determine his future. In A Worthy Opponent, he must face his most challenging adversary. Other books in the series include RanVan: The Defender and RanVan: Magic Nation.

School Library Journal

Gr 7-10With a blend of idealism and realism, superhero and knight RanVan begins his unplanned quest to defend good and defeat evil and unfairness. In "real life," high-school freshman Rhan plays video games, helps his grandmother manage an apartment complex, and attends school. After noting inequities such as the popular kids hazing freshmen and not allowing anyone else to sit at the cafeteria tables, as well as meeting Thalie, who has problems with her mother's boyfriend, Rhan stands up to defend the underdogs and becomes RanVan: The Defender. In doing so, he discovers that his real life often parallels the fantasy world of his video game, with unexpected twists and turns and, often, near destruction. In Worthy Opponent, the teen and his grandmother move across Canada. With a new video game to purchase and conquer, he needs money so he finds a joband a girlfriend. The game, which involves a good and an evil twin, again begins to parallel his real life as he tries to defend himself against "The Iceman." Canadian author Wieler has created an intriguing character who shows both strength and vulnerability. Rhan's ability to keep fighting despite his numerous setbacks and wrong decisions makes him a character with whom readers will empathize. Well-constructed parallel plots both within and between the books stretch the bounds of realism and provide readers with a strong story and a sympathetic hero.Janet Hilbun, Sam Houston Middle School, Garland, TX