The main concept of Winner Takes All centres around an alien species, the Quevvils, deciding to use a video game to get the humans to help them defeat their enemies, the Mantodeans.

I wasn’t very excited to read this book and thought it had only a mildly interesting premise. Indeed, I found the first sections of the book incredibly boring.

And then came the revelation that the game’s players were actually controlling real people. This leads into some great scenes, and instantly changed the book for me.

The introduction of some excellent human drama adds to the enjoyability, and the book instantly gripped me. While before I viewed reading it a chore, I ended up being unable to stop, always ready for another chapter.

While the Robert interludes came off as quite annoying, I realised that was because the character was meant to be annoying. Characterisation is something Jacqueline Rayner excels at here.

The climax was thrilling, and I found it incredibly tense, even though I knew Rose would survive.

The character of Darren Pye, and the horrible things he does, are very well written.

The only fault in this novel is that I might have ended up ditching it after the dull opening. Thank Rassilon I didn’t!

8/10