Dreams Come to Life

July 15, 2019
Kress (The Quest for the Kid, 2019, etc.) creates a hair-raising tale based on the popular survival horror video game "Bendy and the Ink Machine." She capitalizes on its survivalist plot and creepy ambience by setting her story--like the video game--largely on the premises of Joey Drew Studios, a New York City-based production house dedicated to creating "Bendy" cartoons. Emulating the shifting perspective of this genre, in which players have less control than in a typical action video game, the 16-year-old Jewish protagonist, Daniel "Buddy" Lewek, begins his story by ominously looking back to the summer of 1946, warning readers that while dreams may come true, nightmares do as well. Though somewhat cagey as a narrator, Buddy is an extremely likable character, having dropped out of school to help support his recently widowed mother. He's now dealing with the unannounced arrival to their Lower East Side tenement of his Polish grandfather, who speaks little English, is pale and shockingly thin, and has strange numbers tattooed on his arm. Buddy thinks his dreams of financial solvency and becoming an artist are about to become a reality when Mister Drew hires him to be an errand boy and art apprentice, but he soon discovers something as dark as the ink that animates the Bendy figures lurks in the Drew Studios halls, forcing him to reexamine his entire worldview. Sinister and twisted, this Faustian page-turner enlightens as it frightens. (Horror. 12-18)

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October 25, 2019

Gr 7 Up-Seventeen-year-old Buddy thinks it's a dream come true when he's hired by Joey Drew Studios as a gopher and an apprentice artist in post-World War II New York. Although people at the studio are strange, he finds a friend in Dot, and Buddy's family (including his artist grandfather, newly liberated from a concentration camp) can use the money. Of course, things are not what they seem at the studio, as a series of events, from strange noises and creeping shadows to monstrous plots and mysterious disappearances, goes from frightening to downright deadly. Now that it's too late, Buddy must find a way to send his cautionary tale out into the world-and possibly save his friend Dot before she too falls victim to the living ink. Fans of the online game Bendy and the Ink Machine will enjoy this noir backstory to the puzzle/horror game, which unashamedly leaves itself wide open for a sequel and probably a series. Unusual for a marketing tie-in, readers come to care about Buddy, and although the characterizations of the secondary characters are rather thin, it's possible they may be more fully realized in subsequent volumes. This is for a very different audience than the author's tween series "The Explorers" and is not suitable for ES readers. That said, even teens who don't play the game will be drawn in by the creepy cover art. VERDICT Considering its built-in audience, this one is sure to be in demand.-Elizabeth Friend, Wester Middle School, TX

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2019
Grades 9-12 From an unspecified time in the future, Buddy writes his musings of what really happened at Joey Drew Studios in 1946. As a 16-year-old high-school dropout, he works to help support his single mother and Polish grandfather, who speaks very little English. He's excited when he makes a delivery to Mr. Drew, the creator of the famous Bendy cartoons, who offers him a job as an office gofer and potential animation apprentice. What appears to be a dream come true, however, soon turns into a nightmare as Buddy investigates what happened to the person who occupied his desk before him, and a coworker, Sam, grows increasingly obsessed with a special kind of ink?to the point where he may be consuming it. A likable character, Buddy makes it clear from the beginning that his memory of the events are not 100 percent accurate. This well-written, diverse horror novel will primarily appeal to fans of the Bendy and the Ink Machine video game franchise.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)