Los gamers piratas is the story is of two 11 year olds, Pegaso and Delta, who become friends through a shared love and talent for an adventure computer game, and discover a connection they’ve never experienced before. But their success soon goes viral, and before they know it their fame is out of control. Then out of the blue at their joint birthday party, Pegaso gets a huge surprise in the form of his twin brother, whom he didn’t know existed. But before he can really face his shock, a freak accident turns into a life-changing moment and the two adventurers discover that, together, they have the superpower of being able to cure any injury, in themselves and in others.

So with the help and encouragement of Pegaso’s twin brother, the gamers begin a mission to save their neighbourhood from the crimes of the local Zero gang and to prevent all their neighbours being forced to leave their homes. But they soon learn that with power comes great responsibility, and their mission involves the two heroes using different strategies, some more questionable than others, which raises issues of what can be more important in the fight for a good cause, and which include cunning, working together and sticking by a moral code to achieve your goal. But as they fight the fires lit by the Zero gang, more surprises are to come, as they find out that there may be more behind their actions than first appears. And how rivalries and everyday enmities can be overcome to work together towards a common goal and find real connections between siblings.

But the story repeatedly twists around who and what can be believed or trusted, and every time the heroes go off on one mission they come up against a new dilemma and they have to question their thinking all over again, putting their friendship to the test and opening their eyes to new perspectives. Eventually they find themselves facing the ultimate paradox – is the only way to save the Earth to eliminate the cause of its destruction - the human race? And how can Pegaso outwit the misguided evil genius and protect his hoodwinked brother? Sometimes your enemies are where you least expect them, but you can also find support from like-minded people when you join forces. It all comes to an explosive climax in the ultimate battle that merges reality with the gaming world, in which both and neither have real consequences, and leaves readers hyped with a cliffhanger that leaves them eager to know more of the adventurers.

The story deals with several issues that young people can face today relating to identity and a sense of belonging, dealing with family and true friendship and connection. The two are invincible in the game, with an incredible connection that helps them to work together as one to overpower all the obstacles. This idea of relationships within the family or with friends is explored in many different and subtle ways, as well as examining relationship dynamics with others who are our peers or those who have authority over us, showing that adults are not always more sensible or more knowledgeable just because they’re grown up, and are just as affected by unpredictable factors: the hard-marking teacher who turns out to be a fellow gamer and ally, but whose well-intended actions set off a whole chain of explosive events for Delta and Pegaso. The book explores the complicated toing and froing of relationships between friends and family, when people’s opinions are not in agreement and how to accept that people don’t always think the same as you; how feelings can be unclear – you might be angry or disagree with somebody you love, or realise that they understand things very differently from you, but their feelings are equally as valid as yours.

There is also an underlying theme of how things can get out of control, and how even when we have the best intentions the consequences can go beyond our expectations. How one solution can seem to triumph but then continues to have effects that result in disruption. The story deals with many issues young people might face in today’s society of online information and social media, truth and fake news, and the way different people might view the seemingly same facts or events. It addresses who you can or can’t trust and why it might not all be as straightforward as that seems. In various examples it looks at how you have to know the truth behind actions to understand them and not jump to conclusions or judge people,

The text itself is composed in short, compacted sentences in straightforward language, written to suggest a script for a game, with scene and action descriptions. There are a lot of colloquialisms and contemporary children’s expressions, with modern and informal dialogue which a translation would have to recreate. Some research might be required into children’s dialect, and also any references to gaming that come up, although neither go beyond a general familiarity or understanding. The translator would need to be familiar with the modern language and style of social media and gaming to match the language that is ‘trending’ for this age group. Some sections of the book are represented like a graphic novel, which adds an interesting aspect in translation, and might mean extra research into style for a different genre, such as sound effects and sentence length or character limits. None of these factors are problematic beyond the normal scope of recreating a translation.

Cultural references are also very modern but fairly global, and recognisable to children and young adults from their own culture and other children’s media. The neighbourhood that the heroes are trying to save is a very typical Spanish suburb, which can be easily represented for a UK audience, and the references to such things as the Spanish school system are familiar enough not to present a problem in translation. The different characters are also quite typical of Spanish culture, making up the community of a neighbourhood. Some of these might lack familiarity in translation and need a little adaptation, but the variety of characters is also relevant in being appealing to many different children, who can find different characters to identify with, in particular from the sisters and brothers of the two main characters.

This book tackles some very relevant issues for today’s young people, in a very thorough and multifaceted approach. It would be as appealing and as useful to children with a love of gaming from any Western culture, with its focus on uniting diversity and respecting differences, and would therefore be effective for a UK readership as in Spain. The book meets many of the criteria of what makes popular content in today’s society, and is inclusive and far-reaching in its ideas. It shows all the markers of doing well in the English-speaking market, with the added appeal to gamers and lovers of comics in particular.