I rarely read books about sports - I’m not big on sports so it’s not really my kind of books. Yet something made me want to read The Academy: Game on and I’ve got to be honest: It was the cover. Seriously, just look at it - it’s so pretty and it had this whole easy-summer-read to it which was just what I was looking for.

Maya started out like the greatest protagonist; she’s sweet, nervous and very determind. She makes friends easily and she’s easy to like eventhough she makes a fool of herself and makes mistakes - really, she’s the perfect teen protagonist and very easy to relate to (I should think - I’m not really a teen anymore). Unfortunately she turns out to be insanely naïve. Like REALLY!! She can figure out even the most obvious things and she trusts everyone she meets. Most of the time I just wanted to shake some sense into her.

Maya doesn’t really develop as a character - it’s more like she takes a step back and becomes an entirely different person and then, in the end, she turns back to being who she was in the beginning, only with a slightly different outlook on guys. It does, however, make a promise to make the next book more interesting regarding Maya.

The story has surprisingly little sports in it, considering it takes place at a sports academy and Maya shows very little interest in training through most of the story. During the second half of the book she shows some interest, but even then it’s for an entirely different reason than the love of tennis. It seems to me that Monica Seles wanted to write a young adult book and just chose the sports academy as her setting, because she knows a lot about tennis. She doesn’t really use it, which I think is a shame (and keep in mind that I don’t even like sports!).

The YA part of the book is quite good though. Seeking your identity, wanting true friendship and being in love for the first time - all of this is very important and even if the plot is weak and easily figured out, I still liked it. It’s cute and would work pretty well as a summer read for young teenage girls. I might continue the series to find out what happens to Maya, but it’s not a must-read at this point.
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I had a difficult time with this book. Honestly, I went into it without high hopes for spectacular writing, but I did hope to get inside the mind of an elite athlete. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

My biggest problem with this book was the clichés and stereotypes. Maya fought to get into The Academy. It’s her dream, her mission in life. The novel opens with Maya fulfilling her dream. She steps inside the gates and is where she wants to be, where she needs to be to become a pro tennis player. That’s where I expected the story to go, but it turned into chick-lit. There wasn’t enough of Maya the athlete. In fact, there was very little tennis in the book and very little sports all together.

Maya could’ve been written younger. Her voice often times sounds more middle grade than young adult. At others, she sounds more like an adult in her thirties. The inconsistencies in her character come across as unbelievable and most readers will jump on those.

The Academy: Game On is more of a prequel to the series. It’s an obvious set up for more books, and I hope the athletics take top priority in the next several novels. Monica Seles clearly has a unique insight into the world of elite sports. I would love to read about a character involved in that world. Maybe that will be Maya in the next book. ( )