絶体絶命ゲーム

What it says on the tin

This was a survival death game book for kids. It features kids in a survival death game. The games themself were a little quirky and silly at times, but the plot moves quickly, gives all the characters a motive, and throws in a little interpersonal drama.

Language-wise, it's what I would think of as the standard difficulty for a modern kid's novel- nothing stands out as being harder or more obscure than normal. The host for the games speaks in a bit of dialect, so that's the only thing to watch out for.

I think this would be a good first novel choice for someone who's looking for something that's not overly cutesy and has more action and higher stakes.