Enjoyable and different: This is a terrific story, with many classic bits and a very realistic portrayal of kids in primary school. Johnny's best friends include Wobbler (a computer hacker), Yo-less (named because he never says Yo), and Bigmac (who lives in the rough part of town).Johnny Maxwell, while his parents are going through "trying times" and the Gulf War is getting going on the tele, was playing a shoot-em-up computer game when he found that the Mighty ScreeWee(tm) Empire had no interest in fighting back, and wanted to surrender. This becomes quite complicated.There are deeper meanings, etc, but don't let them frighten you off a book that is also very entertaining for adult Pratchett fans. :)

It makes you want to read on ( )

A young adult book, and rated as such. Good for a light and interesting read, raises some thoughts about "Us" versus "Them".I wish more adults had such thoughts running through their head. ( )

It was written back in the early 90s. I think the most interesting part of the book was the forward explaining the few changes the author made when it was reissued. "If you were away from home you had to use a phone attached by a wire to the wall. It was terrible." It is funny to watch old movies, or not even that old movies and see how things have changed in just the last five or ten years. Watching someone talk on a cell phone the size of a brick and feel cool about it is pretty funny.
This is a lot like the movie the Last Starfighter. Same basic premise. Or so my husband told me, I haven't actually seen that movie. It was alright, but nothing wonderful. Pratchett has definitely gotten better as a writer over the last fifteen years. ( )

The Johnny Maxwell books are not Terry Pratchett's usual Discworld books. They are set in a very ordinary run down town in England, centering around Johnny Maxwell and his three friends. Johnny, whose parents are going through Trying Times, is playing his favorite video game when the aliens suddenly surrender to him instead of fighting back. He and his friends suspect a computer virus but things get even stranger when Johnny finds himself in incredibly lifelike dreams piloting a starfighter, leading the alien fleet home where they will be safe from mankind, and communicating with a girl who also is dreaming of the alien fleet. Pratchett adds those extra touches that regular readers love such as when they go by the ruined hulks of Space Invader ships tumbling in space that the aliens use to show each other what happens when you take a stand. His special genius, to my way of thinking, comes in how he treats the conversations and thinking of the kids, along with those little unexpected twists. ( )