Format: Paperback
Published by: Macmillan
Pages: 434
ISBN: 9780330440165
Price: 535 INR

‘Quidditch meets Formula One’
– Mirror

HoverCarRacerIn his younger years, Matthew Reilly began to develop a writing style of sorts that would thrill audience later on, in ‘Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves’, ‘The Five Greatest Warriors’ and, at times, even ‘Temple’. While his brand new novel hits shelves later this year, there is no denying each and every single work of his has this oomph factor to it. So, when the author says this novel of his has more heart than any other he has written till now, he’s not far from the truth. While ‘The Tournament’ proved to be a less challenging read for fans of Reilly, it is his only previous work I can compare to. Both are to do with sports, albeit one is chess and the former is racing at 810 km/h hovering just a few centimetres off ground.

Imagine twenty fighter jets racing around a twisting turning serial track, ducking and weaving and overtaking at insanely high speeds and you’ve just imagined a hover car race. Super-fast, super electrifying and super dangerous, as Reilly says he imagined it to be. The world changed forever with its invention. Jason Chaser, rhymes excused, is a hover car racer. At 14, he is the youngest to be enrolled in the International Racing School, the most prestigious racing school in the world. Hover Car Racer (HCR) starts off on a promising note, barely giving the reader space to breath. The introduction gives away the necessary details, before slowly unveiling bits and pieces of the plot. It gets into the centre of all activities without much pretence and therein lies its strength.

It’s quite simple really- Jason is the racer, his little brother ‘Bug’ is the navigator who sits behind him in the car. With his tiny body and thick-lensed glasses, he is the kind of sibling you could keep on hugging throughout the day and never let go. It also helps that he is a mathematical genius. Against all odds, Jason is supposed to excel in the School, keep on winning races and despite being a fourteen year old teenager, show next to no signs of awkwardness while interacting with beautiful girls. While the reader scratches his head and wonders what kind of a magician Jason actually is, we come to realize that in the end, races aren’t always about winning. Winning and coming first are not the same thing. As the Bug says,

“You don’t have to be the best, you just have to do your best!”

There is a lot of heart in this book, yes. Everything’s driven by something and in Jason’s case, its pride. He wants to be the one to finish the race and it hardly matters to him if he comes first or last in this process. Comradeship can’t be bought off and friends aren’t made here without difficulties. Maybe it was just me, but as I went along the book, in many scenarios, I was reminded of Ron Howard’s Rush (starring the Thor-actor Chris Hemsworth). For most part, it’s a movie dealing with Formula One races- only it isn’t set in a sci-fi scenario. Neither did it bring a warm smile on my face as I finally closed the book.

Rating: 8.5/10

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